Bayit Yehudi announced today the formation of a new English-Speakers Forum. The forum was created with the goal of increasing activity in the party for tackling Western immigrant issues and increasing the number of party members and voters who speak English. The forum will be represented in the various party institutions, including Knesset faction meetings on relevant issues, and will be a factor in forming all party positions regarding immigration and absorption. It will also be an address for English speaking Bayit Yehudi supporters in the Diaspora.
The forum will assist MKs with English language correspondences and conduct quarterly meetings with MKs on a wide range of topics with the purpose of forming position papers on key issues facing the English-speaking Oleh community. With their Western culture, the forum will also advance the democratic values of accountability, transparency and representation in the party.
On September 10th, 2014 the Bayit Yehudi Central Committee approved a new party constitution and this new constitution redistributed the party control to 13 different party institutions. The new Bayit Yehudi forums, of which 12 new forums were created, count as one of those 13 institutions. The official definition of a “Forum” according to the new Bayit Yehudi Constitution is as follows: “A Forum is an internal party body, comprising Bayit Yehudi Central Committee members and Bayit Yehudi members, and its job is to discuss and present recommendations to the party and the other party institutions regarding the issues it was tasked with dealing with”. The constitution states that “Forums are active within the party membership and act as advisory bodies to all party institutions. Forums will work in cooperation with the institutions of the party.” Forums work alongside three other party institutions, the Central Committee, the Bureau, and the Secretariat. The Central Committee, the supreme party institution, receives reports on the Forum discussions and recommendations, and is has the power to discuss them at Central Committee meetings and adopt them through a vote. The Bureau, the ideological institution, also receives reports on Forum activities and decisions. The Secretariat, the executive branch of the party, determines Forums working methods and the range of their activities.” Bayit Yehudi English Speakers’ Forum Chairman Jeremy Saltan told JewishPress.com:
“The Bayit Yehudi is the natural home Zionist Olim. We are the only party in the Knesset that opposes a Palestinian State west of the Jordan River and protects Jewish sovereignty in Jerusalem. Just this week Minister Bennett initiated the free shuttle bus program from the old train station through the City of David to the Western Wall. This new Forum shows the importance the Bayit Yehudi places on English speaking immigrants. We are the only party promoting accountability, transparency and representation to our voters. I want to thank Bayit Yehudi Chairman Minister Naftali Bennett & Bayit Yehudi Director General Nir Orbach for prioritizing Western Zionist immigrant issues.”
Jeremy Saltan is a veteran “Knesset Insider”, campaigner and political analyst.
Saltan is also a familiar face to JewishPress.com readers. Besides having made Aliyah from Chicago to Israel, his blog has appeared on JewishPress.com, and he is regular guest on the Yishai Fleishers’s JewishPress.com radio show.
Saltan served as the campaign manager for Bayit Yehudi’s highly successful English language campaign for the 19th Knesset, having managed Bayit Yehudi candidate Jeremy Gimpel’s primary campaign and as a political and legislative assistant to National Union leader Yaakov Ketzeleh Katz in the 18th Knesset. He is also Bayit Yehudi’s Party Branch Director in Mevasseret Tzion where he serves on the city council’s Defense, Status of Women and Immigration & Absorption Committees, and holds the Religious Culture portfolio. The Central Committee Member is also a member of Bayit Yehudi’s Party Branch Leader, Women, and Youth Forums. He also works as a contributor on Voice of Israel.
Bayit Yehudi Director General Nir Orbach said, “The Forum is our way to help integrate these quality immigrants, who are here by choice, into Israeli society by addressing issues that are important to them. I want to thank Jeremy Saltan for everything he has done until now, and I look forward to working with him in the near future. Jeremy is a loyal partner on our path towards the leadership of the country.”