Over 300 delegates and guests from Jewish communities around the world gathered at the David Citadel Hotel in Jerusalem for an important meeting of the World Jewish Congress Governing Board on 31 August and 1 September 2010. The meeting focused on ways to fight the growing threats against Israel. It was addressed by senior statesmen from Israel and abroad. The writer and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Professor Elie Wiesel was presented with the first WJC ‘Guardian of Jerusalem’ award in recognition of his lifetime accomplishments on behalf of the Jewish people. Members of the Israeli Haiti emergency rescue operation received a special award for their heroic humanitarian efforts in the aftermath of the 2010 Haiti earthquake. Israeli leaders, including President Shimon Peres, Public Diplomacy and Diaspora Affairs Minister Yuli Edelstein, opposition leader and Kadima Chairwoman Tzipi Livni, Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat, Governor of the Bank of Israel Stanley Fischer and Tel Aviv Chief Rabbi Israel Meir Lau also addressed the gathering. Former Spanish Prime Minister José María Aznar gave a keynote address in which he presented his news Friends of Israel Initiative and said that “to defend Israel is to defend Western values.”
 
Speaking at the WJC meeting, Peres called the upcoming Washington peace talks “the most important task of our time.” The 87-year-old Israeli head of state said a solution to the conflict in the Middle East was “two states for two peoples, and the establishment of a democratic, demilitarized Palestinian state” on the side of Israel. “All other solutions are dangerous,” Peres said. In his address, WJC President Ronald S. Lauder called the negotiations between Israel and the Palestinian Authority "one of the most fateful moments" in the history of Israel. Lauder pledged that world Jewry would continue to actively support Israel. "The international threats to Israel only serve to make us stronger," he said, adding: “We stand by Israel. Every one of us stands by Israel, shoulder to shoulder, now and forever.”
 
Delegates adopted concrete actions plans for the World Jewish Congress in the seven priority areas. They also heard reports from different communities and heard experts speak on issues such as Israel’s security needs, international assaults against the Jewish state, and ways to defend Israel on the internet.