World Jewish
Leaders
gathering
in SA in
February

A 50-person high-ranking delegation American Jewry’s preeminent umbrella organization, the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations (COP) will be in SA for a week in Feb. They will be joined by a 15-member delegation of the Euro-Asian Jewish Congress.

The delegations will be in SA from 8 to 15 Feb and will be led by:
For the Conference of Presidents - Chairman Alan Solow and Executive Vice Chairman, Malcolm Hoenlein.
For the Euro-Asian Jewish Congress - President Alexander Mashkevich and Secretary-General Mikhail Chlenov.

The American delegation, approximately 50 people, includes presidents and executive directors of the Conference’s member organizations, whose constituencies represent a broad spectrum of the American Jewish community, influential business leaders and opinion moulders (see member list below). The EAJC delegation includes 10-15 leaders of the Jewish communities under their umbrella.

The delegations are expected to visit Cape Town and Joburg and the program for the delegations in South Africa will be coordinated with representatives of leading Jewish bodies in South Africa - under the auspices of the SA Jewish Board of Deputies.

Substantive objectives of the delegations

“We are confident that this high profile visit presents important opportunities for meaningful high-level dialogues that advance mutual interests and foster cooperation with the government and people of South Africa, a leader on the African continent,” says COP.

“The visit also will deepen ties between the Jewish communities around the world with South Africa, as well as its Jewish community.”

In the past, COP/EAJC delegations have successfully advanced diplomatic and economic cooperation and enhanced understanding of the host country.

Previous successful delegation visits

For nearly 20 years, Conference of Presidents leadership has visited an important region of the world for high-level exchanges with government officials, military, civic and business leaders and the representatives of the local Jewish community. This official visit precedes the Conference’s annual Leadership Mission to Israel.

In prior years, Conference delegations visited NATO and European Union headquarters in Brussels, and were guests of the leaders of Russia Italy, Germany, United Kingdom, Morocco, Jordan, Egypt, and other nations. In 2003, President Nazarbayev of Kazakhstan invited Conference of Presidents and EAJC leaders to Almaty for the first International Conference on Peace and Accord, a summit meeting with leaders of moderate Muslim countries in the region, regional organizations and non-governmental organizations.

Who is the ‘Conference of Presidents’?

For nearly sixty years, the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations has been recognized as American Jewry’s preeminent organization addressing issues of national and international concern. Representing the overwhelming majority of Jews in the United States, the Conference works to counter racial and religious discrimination, including anti-Semitism, and to strengthen and help stabilize peace and stability throughout the world. It also endeavours to promote human rights and international understanding.

The Conference provides a forum for 51 member national Jewish organizations to forge common policy and take collective action on critical issues including maintaining the strong US-Israel alliance, advancing Middle East peace, halting proliferation of conventional and nuclear weapons and countering terrorism and extremism. The Conference supported the struggle against apartheid South Africa was among the first organizations to press for urgent action to halt the genocide in Darfur both in private meetings and publicly as a member of the interfaith Save Darfur Coalition.

From frequent off-the-record consultations with the White House, key members of Congress and world leaders to major public events that draw up to tens of thousands the Conference, together with its member agencies, takes the lead in promoting the interests of the American Jewish community on a wide variety of important issues including fostering the understanding that a safe and secure Israel will continue to be a vital strategic asset and ally for the United States and countries around the world. Conference delegations also engage in meetings with global diplomats as well as with the United Nations Secretary-General and other officials to discuss shared concerns.

National and international media often look to Conference leaders for background, analysis and contextual comments on world developments and events that impact the Conference’s mission.

COP Member Orgs

Ameinu
America-Israel Friendship League
American Friends of Likud
American Gathering/Federation of Jewish Holocaust Survivors
American Israel Public Affairs Committee
American Jewish Committee
American Jewish Congress
American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee
American Sephardi Federation
American Zionist Movement
Americans for Peace Now
AMIT
Anti-Defamation League
ARZA
B’nai B’rith
Bnai Zion
CAMERA
Central Conference of American Rabbis
Development Corporation for Israel
Emunah of America
Friends of the Israel Defense Forces
Hadassah, Women’s Zionist Organization of America
Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society
Hillel: The Foundation for Jewish Campus Life
Jewish Community Centers Association
Jewish Council for Public Affairs
Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs
Jewish Labor Committee
Jewish National Fund
Jewish Reconstructionist Federation
Jewish War Veterans of the USA
Jewish Women International
Mercaz USA
NA’AMAT USA
National Council of Jewish Women
National Council of Young Israel
NCSJ: Advocates on behalf of Jews in Russia, Ukraine, the Baltic States & Eurasia
ORT America, Inc.
Rabbinical Assembly
Rabbinical Council of America
Religious Zionists of America
Union for Reform Judaism
Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America
United Jewish Communities – The Jewish Federations of North America
United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism
WIZO
Women of Reform Judaism
Women’s League for Conservative Judaism
Workmen’s Circle
World ORT USA
World Zionist Executive USA
Zionist Organization of America

Who is the ‘Euro-Asian Jewish Congress’?

As the representative body for Jewish communities of the Euro-Asian region, the Euro-Asian Jewish Congress has close ties to government leaders and international organizations in the region. It fights for human rights and respect for all people, acts to improve relations between Jews and adherents of other religions including Christianity and Islam, to advance tolerance, and to oppose xenophobia and anti-Semitism.

The EAJC also works to support Israel in the international community, to defend and promote the rights and legitimate interests of the Jewish people, and to help meet their needs in communities from eastern Europe to Australia.

The EAJC works across the region to bring about change through legislation and other legitimate means that bring countries into compliance with the norms of international law with respect to minorities, cultural autonomy, rehabilitation of deported peoples, restitution, and taxation.