Young Israel Movement Participates In Big Tent For Israel Conference In England

December 29, 2011

On November 27, 2011, the National Council of Young Israel participated in the "Big Tent for Israel" conference in Manchester, UK.  The conference, which was attended by more than 750 people, was organized by Rabbi Jonathan Guttentag, the spiritual leader of the Orthodox Whitefield Synagogue in North Manchester.

Rabbi Guttentag said that the aim of the conference was "to make the Big Tent a massive springboard to mobilize many more grassroots activists who are willing to take on the challenge of reversing the trend of delegitimization of Israel, and to ensure that Israel's image is honestly and positively projected to the many people who have been exposed to anti-Israel propaganda and media bias."

His inspiration was a report published last year by the Tel Aviv-based Reut Institute, titled "Building a Political Firewall against the Assault on Israel's Legitimacy."  The report referred to London as the "Mecca of delegitimization."

Over 750 attendees participated in the groundbreaking "Big Tent for Israel" Israel advocacy conference recently held in Manchester, United Kingdom (www.thebigtentforisrael.org).  From left to right - Rabbi Pesach Lerner, Executive Vice President of the National Council of Young Israel; Ambassador Daniel Taub, Israel's Ambassador to the UK; and Rabbi Jonathan Guttentag, spiritual leader of the Whitefield Hebrew Congregation in Manchester, UK, and the initiator of the Big Tent for Israel event.