During the opening session of the United Nations General Assembly in New York, leaders of the World Jewish Congress (WJC) undertook a series of activities. WJC president Ronald S. Lauder hosted a luncheon in New York in honor of Argentina's president Cristina Fernández de Kirchner.
Rabbi Marc Schneier, chairman of the WJC American Section, was among a handful of US Jewish leaders accompanying Israeli president Shimon Peres for his address to the United Nations General Assembly. He was also one of the six community leaders who had a working lunch with German foreign minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier. During a meeting with representatives of American Jewry, Schneier engaged Indian prime minister Manmohan Singh on the response to Islamic extremism.
Shai Franklin, head of the WJC's International Organizations department and executive director of the WJC American Section, joined representatives of other US Jewish organizations for a consultation with Spanish foreign minister Miguel Angel Moratinos
Chaim Motzen, a member of the World Jewish Diplomatic Corps (WJDC), attended the UN General Assembly high-level meeting on Africa's development needs. Meanwhile, Jacob Strumwasser and Dana Raviv, also WJDC members, attended a community discussion with the Indian prime minister.
Together with Liberty Publishing, the WJC American Section also hosted an International Leaders Forum in celebration of Alexander Machkevitch's new book, 'Dialogue of Civilizations: The Next Stage', in New York. The Institute on Religion and Public Policy awarded Machkevitch with the John Paul II Wellspring of Freedom Award. The late Pope John Paul II, for whom this award was posthumously renamed, was the first recipient, and US president George W. Bush was the second in 2005.
Rabbi Schneier moderated the event, which included remarks by Evelyn Sommer, chairwoman of the North American Jewish Congress, Joseph Grieboski, president of the Institute on Religion and Public Policy, archbishop Celestino Migliore, the permanent observer of the Holy See to the United Nations, Russell Simmons, chairman for the Foundation for Ethnic Understanding, Imam Mohammad Shamsi Ali, head hmam of the Islamic Cultural Center of New York, and John Ruskay of the UJA Federation of New York. Diplomatic envoys to the UN from a number of countries attended the event. Video clips of the event can be viewed here.
Machkevitch comes from Kazakhstan where he, along with his two partners, built a metals and mining business, the Eurasian Natural Resources Corporation. He also serves as president of Jewish Congress of Kazakhstan and as a member of the Steering Committee of the World Jewish Congress. In 2002, he was elected founding president of the Euro-Asian Jewish Congress (EAJC), the WJC's regional affiliate in the Eurasian region.
