(Jpost).Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu has welcomed his selection as No. 1 in The Jerusalem Post’s first annual list of “The 50 most influential Jews in the world,” which is being published on Tuesday in our Shavuot supplement.
“The fact that the prime minister of the State of Israel is viewed today as being the world’s most influential Jew demonstrates the historic change that Zionism has brought about in the condition of the Jewish people,” he said.
“A scattered, powerless people has been able to reassert its national life in its own sovereign state, in its ancestral homeland,From being mere spectators on the international stage, today the Jews control their own destiny and have returned as a people to the family of nations.”
Netanyahu noted that when Israel was established in 1948, “only some 5% of the world’s Jewish population lived in the new state. Today, Israel contains the largest Jewish community in the world.”
His position at the top of the Post 50, he said, was an honor that testified to “the profound transformation that has occurred in the reality of life for the Jewish people over the last 62 years.”
Immediately following the prime minister at the top of the list are Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel, Google founder Sergey Brin and alternative energy pioneer Shai Agassi, founder of Better Place.
Another top White House official, David Axelrod, who appears at No. 8 on the list, noted in response that, as the son of a father who fled to America from the pogroms in search of freedom and opportunity, he carries “the memory of my family’s miraculous journey with me every day.”
Alan Solow, the chairman of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations who is named at No. 11, said the recognition reflected “the critical role” played by his organization, “especially during a time period when we have seen transitions in the leadership of both the United States and Israel.”
Solow vowed to “work relentlessly to make certain that a clear Jewish voice is heard where policy is made and implemented.”
Alan Dershowitz, the Harvard law professor who came in at No. 9 for his pro-Israel advocacy work, reflected that, since “the case against Israel has increased both in the court of public opinion and real courts... I suspect I will be spending more and more time in Israel.”
“The fact that the prime minister of the State of Israel is viewed today as being the world’s most influential Jew demonstrates the historic change that Zionism has brought about in the condition of the Jewish people,” he said.
“A scattered, powerless people has been able to reassert its national life in its own sovereign state, in its ancestral homeland,From being mere spectators on the international stage, today the Jews control their own destiny and have returned as a people to the family of nations.”
Netanyahu noted that when Israel was established in 1948, “only some 5% of the world’s Jewish population lived in the new state. Today, Israel contains the largest Jewish community in the world.”
His position at the top of the Post 50, he said, was an honor that testified to “the profound transformation that has occurred in the reality of life for the Jewish people over the last 62 years.”
Immediately following the prime minister at the top of the list are Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel, Google founder Sergey Brin and alternative energy pioneer Shai Agassi, founder of Better Place.
Another top White House official, David Axelrod, who appears at No. 8 on the list, noted in response that, as the son of a father who fled to America from the pogroms in search of freedom and opportunity, he carries “the memory of my family’s miraculous journey with me every day.”
Alan Solow, the chairman of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations who is named at No. 11, said the recognition reflected “the critical role” played by his organization, “especially during a time period when we have seen transitions in the leadership of both the United States and Israel.”
Solow vowed to “work relentlessly to make certain that a clear Jewish voice is heard where policy is made and implemented.”
Alan Dershowitz, the Harvard law professor who came in at No. 9 for his pro-Israel advocacy work, reflected that, since “the case against Israel has increased both in the court of public opinion and real courts... I suspect I will be spending more and more time in Israel.”
