A Jewish and Democratic State

Her Royal Highness Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands; Their Royal Highnesses Prince El Hassan bin Talal and Princess Sarvath El Hassan of Jordan; Mrs. Fischer, representing her husband, his Excellency Dr. Heinz Fischer, President of Austria, to whom we wish quick recovery; Our generous host, the Governor and Mayor of Vienna, Dr. Michael Häupl; Read More

Welcoming Prof. Ron Harris, Director of the David Berg Institute, Prof. Yoram Shachar of IDC and the spirit behind this conference and the deliverer of the keynote address Prof. David Armitage of Harvard University. A special welcome to Prof. Aron Shai, Rector of Tel Aviv University. Up till now we saw you at IDC as a visiting beloved lecturer, and today it is a unique pleasure to welcome you as the Rector of Tel Aviv University. I am sure that your wisdom and humane approach will render a great service to your highly respected Academic Institution.

One cannot open the conference today without congratulating the most recent Nobel Prize Laureate Prof. Shechtman and the Technion for the great accomplishment and the honor bestowed on the Israeli academic community.

The Israeli Declaration of Independence was pronounced at a very dramatic moment. The British Mandate was to expire the next day, the envisioned orderly transfer of power through an appointed United Nations commission did not materialize and the Jewish Yishuv (ישוב) was already under attack of Arab forces. The words of the declaration expressed the dreams and values of the Zionist movement. 52 years have passed since Herzl contended in his famous speech in front of the Maccabi Club in London: “The Jews want a state of their own in which they finally can live as a free people”.

“No one in Israel prevents the ideologues of post-Zionism from having their say. The problem is that anyone who takes a principled stand against them is immediately accused of incitement and causing damage to democracy”.Read More