Advertisement
Advertisements
March 30, 2008 | 10:53 am
On March 24th three members of the Israeli parliament held a press conference at the Beverly Hills offices of the Citizens Empowerment Center in Israel (CECI) a non-profit organization advocating electoral reform in Israel. One influential Knesset Member and Chairman of the Internal Affairs Committee, Ophir Pines-Paz was at hand to discuss new legislation he recently introduced in the Knesset on this very topic. His new bill is designed to create greater stability in future Israeli governments by having Israeli citizens vote directly for their representatives that will be directly accountable to them. Currently Israel’s governments are held together by coalitions of both small and large parties. If any faction is unhappy with the direction of the government, they can essentially bring the government down and call for new elections.
Also at hand in the press conference to discuss the need for electoral reform in Israel were Members of Knesset Yoel Hasson and Nadia Hilou. The purpose of the gathering was to inform the Jewish community here in Los Angeles about this new legislation that can potentially transform the landscape of Israeli politics.
CECI was founded by the very successful Iranian Jewish businessman and philanthropist, Parviz Nazarian. CECI is based in Israel and was established nearly four years ago with the objective of promoting more stable and effective governments in Israel through education as well as advocacy of the Israeli public. CECI is advocating for a change in the system of government in Israel where direct elections would be held for individual lawmakers in parliament rather than the current system where the public votes for a political party that later appoints representatives. Their belief is that such elections would create greater stability in the Israeli government and greater accountability of the elected officials to their constiutency. It gives me as an Iranian American Jew, great pride to see influential forces within our community such as Nazarian taking proactive steps to not only to support Israel financially but also in other facets. His organization is yet another example of the Zionism and the remarkable contributions Iranian Jews in America are making to Israel-- a historical achievement considering the fact that only a few generations ago, Jews lived in ghettos and extreme poverty in Iran!
I had a chance to chat with Pines-Paz, Hasson, and Nazarian about this new legislation and the substantial support of Iranian Jews for Israel. My podcast interview with them can be heard here.
Here are some photos from that press conference…
(Knesset Member Ophir Pines-Paz)
(Knesset Member Yoel Hasson)
(Knesset Member Nadia Hilou)
(left to right; Nadia Hilou, Ophir Pines-Paz, CECI Founder Parviz Nazarian, and Yoel Hasson)
(CECI Executive Director Mrs. Dora Kadisha)
Posted by Karmel Melamed in Multimedia | 0 Comments — Leave your comment
Share this post:
del.icio.us
Digg
Facebook
Google Bookmarks
Reddit
StumbleUpon
Technorati
YahooMyWeb
We welcome your feedback.
Your information will not be shared or sold without your consent. Get all the details.
2008 elections amnon netzer anti-semitism by muslims bahais chadorchi domestic violence taboo gaza gina nahai great neck new york hezbollah homeless iran iran divestment bill iran expert iranian anti-semitism iranian government propoganda iranian jewish podcast iranian jews iranian jews podcast iranian mullahs iranian muslims iranian revolution iranian studies israel israel independence day jewish conspiracy joel anderson john mccain karmel melamed nateq-nouri nessah synagogue nouriel cohan obama persian jews purim super tuesday thirty years after violence yom ha'atzmaut zoroastrians
Advertisement
July 2008
June 2008
May 2008
April 2008
March 2008
February 2008
January 2008
December 2007
November 2007
October 2007
September 2007
August 2007
July 2007
June 2007
May 2007
April 2007
March 2007
February 2007
Advertisements
JDub was never supposed to be just a record label, and as JDub records celebrates its fifth anniversary with a free concert on July 27 downtown at California Plaza, it is more clear than ever that the organization's founders have greater ambitions than merely putting out good
Diet books don't often include approbations from rabbis, but they're appropriate for "The Life-Transforming Diet," a structured eating plan based on the writings of physician and Torah scholar Maimonides.
Barack Obama arrived in Israel and stressed the historic ties between the United States and the Jewish state. The presumptive Democratic presidential nominee is on a Middle East and European tour aimed at shoring up his foreign policy credentials.
But the surveys had bad news for Obama: If the U.S. presidential election were held today, American Jews would support the Illinois senator at a significantly lower level than they did his most recent Democratic predecessors.
The new Contemporary Jewish Museum in San Francisco is a hip amalgam of modern art. Daniel Liebeskind's peculiar architectural dazzle looks like a giant Rubik's Cube in metallic steel, standing on its tip beneath the city's downtown skyscrapers. Beside it is the Jessie Street
Jewish groups have taken lead roles in drawing attention to China's policies and specifically sought to spotlight the country's record in advance of this summer's Olympic Games in Beijing. Yet it appears as if China will suffer no significant international sanction when the
"I wish I had 10 percent of the success with the Israeli government as I have with private donors," sighed Moshe Kaveh, the president of Bar-Ilan University.
Jewish groups have taken lead roles in drawing attention to China's policies and specifically sought to spotlight the country's record in advance of this summer's Olympic Games in Beijing. Yet it appears as if China will suffer no significant international sanction when the
Parshat Pinchas (Numbers 25:10-30:1) "God spoke to Moses, saying: 'Pinchas, son of Eleazar, son of Aaron the Kohen, turned back My wrath from the children of Israel with his zealotry for My sake ... Therefore ... I grant him My covenant of peace....'"
Natan Sharansky's previous book, "The Case for Democracy," changed the world. It inspired a generation of U.S. policymakers and influenced President George
W. Bush in his decision to go to war against Saddam Hussein. So when Sharansky's second book, "Defending Identity," came
Serving a community of 600,000, The Jewish Journal of Greater Los Angles is the largest Jewish weekly outside New York City. Our award-winning paper reaches over 150,000 educated, involved and affluent readers each week. Subscribe here.
© Copyright 2008 The Jewish Journal and JewishJournal.com
All rights reserved. JewishJournal.com is hosted by Nexcess.net
