William Daroff, CEO of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, tells Israel National News about the organization’s recent conference.
The event featured the participation of over 70 leaders of the American jewish community who met with Israeli political, government and civic society officials, including Prime Minister Netanyahu, Defense Minister Galant, Foreign Minister Cohen, leaders of opposition, and members of Knesset from every party.
“It was really a wonderful experience,” Daroff says.
They talked about judicial reform, having a constructive conversation on the topic.
“We had a wonderful discussion with President Herzog about judicial reform where his path of looking for a middle ground, a way to calm the waves and end the divisiveness, is something that really has great affinity and impact on a lot of the American Jewish leaders here.”
When asked if there is a concern that judicial reform may cause a rift with the diaspora, he replies:
“As much divisiveness as there is here, it bleeds into divisivness in America among American Jewry. So we are looking for ways to form a consensus here to bring people together, and that will help bring American Jewry back together as well. Together we have so many things we need to focus on, the rise in antisemitism, the rise in delegitimization of Israel and Iran.”
He adds they could be focusing on the “great opportunities” of the Abraham Accords if the community focused all their energy in a “positive direction.”
He believes that diaspora Jews have a “clear role” to play in the discussion.
“I think that people who live in Israel are living here [holding] it in trust for Jews around the world who don’t have the opportunity or the ability to live here right now,” he says. “So it’s important for Israelis to recognize that you speak not just for yourselves but for Jews all over the world&hellip we realize the relationship that we have between our two peoples. It’s something we need to continue to ensure is strong across the board.”
The idea behind the conference is that the participants go home to their organizations and continue the mission from there.
He speaks about what he hopes this conference will achieve and what it will bring to the next conference.

“We continue to engage with the [Israeli] government, engage with the opposition, engage with Israeli leaders across the board to ensure that there’s understanding, that there’s conversation and that the dialogue continues,” he says.
He adds that, for him, supporting Israel internationally is not a question of who is in government.
“I am an unconditional supporter of the State of Israel, regardless of the government, regardless of the people, regardless of the state. I’m here for Israel from start to finish,” he says.
He adds that the way to fight back against delegitimization is “through unity, straight through unity of the Jewish people. We look [past] our differences in order to come together as one people.”