The Director General of the Euro-Asian Jewish Congress (EAJC) Haim Ben-Yaakov has participated in the “Integrating, Isolating, Influencing” conference, dedicated to the 25th anniversary of the last wave of repatriation to Israel. The conference examined the most important problems of integrating repatriates into Israeli society.

Haim Ben Yaakov stressed: “Many factors have influenced the societal conventions that were adopted soon after the creation of the State of Israel, including changes in the relationship with the Jewish Diaspora, the sharp increase in population numbers, the large influx of repatriates who are more or less integrated into Israeli society, deep social changes in contemporary society in general. These factors have necessitated the creation of new mechanisms to solve new problems.”

• Haim Ben Yaakov took part in the International Economic Forum at St. Petersburg. The Forum was attended by a representative delegation from Israel, including former President Shimon Peres, former Prime Minister Ehud Barak, and former Governor of the Bank of Israel Jacob Frenkel. First EAJC Vice President Michael Mirilashvili hosted the traditional reception and Shabbat celebration as part of the forum.

• Haim Ben Yaakov participated in a meeting of the JAFI Trustee Board. The EAJC works together with JAFI on a whole number of matters, and venues of furthering that cooperation are being discussed currently.

Members of the “Dor Vahetzi” (“One-and-a-half Generation”) group took part in the Trustee Board meeting. They represented Russian-speaking Israelis, who repatriated to Israel with their parents when they were children. They said their worldview was based in both Jewish and Russian cultures, which do not contradict but complement one another. The EAJC Director General and the leaders of this new active movement are planning a meeting soon.

• A working meeting took place between Haim Ben Yaakob and the World Jewish Congress (WJC) Executive Vice President Robert Singer and chief of the WJC representative office Sam Greenwald. Coordination between the WJC and EAJC was discussed at the meeting.