The Knesset is the unicameral national legislature of Israel. As the legislative branch of the Israeli government, the Knesset passes all laws, elects the president and prime minister, approves the cabinet, and supervises the work of the government. In addition, the Knesset elects the state comptroller. It also has the power to waive the immunity of its members, remove the president and the state comptroller from office, dissolve the government in a constructive vote of no confidence, and to dissolve itself and call new elections. The prime minister may also dissolve the Knesset. However, until an election is completed, the Knesset maintains authority in its current composition. The Knesset is located in Givat Ram, Western Jerusalem. The Knesset was elected on 2 March 2020. On 23 December 2020, the Knesset officially dissolved after a failure to come to a budget agreement and will not be restored until a new election is held.
Rabbi Binyamin "Benny" Elon was an Israeli Orthodox rabbi and politician who served as a member of the Knesset for Moledet and the National Union between 1996 and 2009. A ninth-generation Jerusalemite, Elon lived in Beit El, an Israeli settlement in the West Bank, for over twenty years, and was married to author and journalist Emuna Elon. They had six children. His father, Menachem Elon, was the former Deputy Chief Justice of Israel. His brother, disgraced Rabbi Mordechai Elon, has been a prominent controversial figure in the Religious Zionist Movement.
Natan Sharansky is an Israeli politician, human rights activist, and author who, as a refusenik in the Soviet Union during the 1970s and 1980s, spent nine years in Soviet prisons. He served as Chair of the Executive of the Jewish Agency from June 2009 to August 2018. Natan Sharansky currently serves as the Chairman of the Institute of the Study of Global Antisemitism and Policy (ISGAP) (www.isgap.org).
Yosef Mendelevitch, was a refusenik from the former Soviet Union, also known as a "Prisoner of Zion" and now a politically unaffiliated rabbi living in Jerusalem who gained fame for his adherence to Judaism and public attempts to emigrate to Israel at a time when it was against the law in the USSR.
Yisrael BaAliyah was a political party in Israel between its formation in 1996 and its merger into Likud in 2003. It was formed to represent the interests of Russian immigrants by former refuseniks Natan Sharansky and Yuli-Yoel Edelstein. Initially a centrist party, it drifted to the right towards the end of its existence.
Ron Dermer is an American-born Israeli political consultant and diplomat who served as the Israeli Ambassador to the United States. He previously served as Israel's economic envoy to the United States from 2005 to 2008, a position requiring him to give up his American citizenship, and subsequently served as senior adviser to current Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for four years. On July 9, 2013 Dermer was confirmed by the government of Israel as Israel's ambassador to the United States, replacing Michael Oren. He began serving as Israel's Ambassador to the United States in October 2013. In July 2019, it was announced that the Israeli Civil Service Commission would not extend his term and that Dermer will resign as Ambassador to the United States in September 2019. In January 2021 Dermer stopped serving as the ambassador and Gilad Erdan replaced him.
Women of the Wall is a multi-denominational feminist organization based in Israel whose goal is to secure the rights of women to pray at the Western Wall, also called the Kotel, in a fashion that includes singing, reading aloud from the Torah and wearing religious garments. Pew Research Center has identified Israel as one of the countries that place "high" restrictions on religion, and there have been limits placed on non-Orthodox streams of Judaism. One of those restrictions is that the Rabbi of the Western Wall has enforced gender segregation and limitations on religious garb worn by women. When the "Women of the Wall" hold monthly prayer services for women on Rosh Hodesh, they observe gender segregation so that Orthodox members may fully participate. But their use of religious garb, singing and reading from a Torah have upset many members of the Orthodox Jewish community, sparking protests and arrests. In May 2013 a judge ruled that a 2003 Israeli Supreme Court ruling prohibiting women from carrying a Torah or wearing prayer shawls had been misinterpreted and that Women of the Wall prayer gatherings at the wall should not be deemed illegal.
The International Council of Jewish Parliamentarians (ICJP) is a project supported by the Knesset, the World Jewish Congress, the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Israel Forum. Its goal is to bring together Jewish legislators and parliamentarians from around the world to engage in a dialogue of cooperation to achieve the goals of the ICJP's Mission.
The International Fellowship of Christians and Jews is a philanthropic organization founded in 1983 by Yechiel Eckstein whose stated goal is to promote understanding and cooperation between Jews and Christians, and build broad support for the State of Israel.
The Coordinating Council on Jerusalem was a lobbying group launched on October 23 2007, in order to unite American Jewish organizations on behalf of a secure and unified Jerusalem. The creation of political strategist Jeff Ballabon, it was founded to provide a united public front of Jewish American organizations towards the principle of keeping Jerusalem united. Initial funding was provided by Rabbi Pesach Lerner, Executive Vice President of the National Council of Young Israel. It has been endorsed by hundreds of Jewish leaders in the Diaspora and Israel.
Yuli-Yoel Edelstein is an Israeli politician serving as Minister of Health since 2020. One of the most prominent refuseniks in the Soviet Union, he was the 16th Speaker of the Knesset from 2013 until his resignation on 25 March 2020.
A Day of Prayer is a day allocated to prayer, either by leaders of religions or the general public, for a specific purpose. Such days are usually ecumenical in nature. They usually are treated as commemorative in nature, rather than as actual liturgical feast days or memorials.
Jerusalem Christian Review is a newspaper for Christians published in Jerusalem.
The Annapolis Conference was a Middle East peace conference held on 27 November 2007, at the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland, United States. The conference aimed to revive the Israeli–Palestinian peace process and implement the "Roadmap for peace". The conference ended with the issuing of a joint statement from all parties. After the Annapolis Conference, the negotiations were continued.
David Nekrutman is an American-Israeli Orthodox Jewish theologian, writer, director, columnist, public speaker, and pro-Israel activist. He is a prominent figure and pioneer in the world of Jewish-Christian relations, and is the executive director of the Center for Jewish-Christian Understanding and Cooperation (CJCUC), co-founder of the Day to Praise global interfaith initiative, and founder of the Blessing Bethlehem aid organization. In addition, Nekrutman is a columnist who has written for The Jerusalem Post, Charisma Magazine, and The Times of Israel.
Avital Sharansky is a former activist and public figure in the Soviet Jewry Movement who fought for the release of her husband, Natan Sharansky, from Soviet imprisonment.
Johnnie Moore is an American evangelical leader and business person who founded the Kairos Company, a public relations firm. Moore is a commissioner for the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom and president of Congress of Christian Leaders.
Josh Reinstein is the Director of the Knesset Christian Allies Caucus and President of the Israel Allies Foundation, a nongovernmental, not for profit organization formed in January 2004 by Yuri Stern to encourage faith-based support for Israel among elected members of legislatures and parliaments worldwide, with an emphasis on faith-based, Christian support of Israel.
The Israel Allies Foundation is an Israeli umbrella organization coordinating an international network of pro-Israel lobbies. IAF works with politicians around the world to mobilize support for Israel based Judeo-Christian values. One of its main goals is keeping Jerusalem fully under Israeli sovereignty. Palestinians want East Jerusalem to be the capital of their future state.
Robert Stearns is an American pastor and evangelist who founded Eagles Wings Ministries located in Clarence, New York and currently pastors the Full Gospel Tabernacle in Orchard Park, New York. A "leading voice in the Christian Zionist movement," Stearns is the leader and was the co-founder of the annual Day of Prayer for the Peace of Jerusalem, the single largest international Christian Zionist event, during which thousands of churches worldwide pray for the peace of Jerusalem. Currentaly he resides in Clarence, New York.
