Conductor Daniel Barenboim Named Honorary Guide of the Raelian Movement
LAS VEGAS, Jan. 17 – Rael today nominated renowned conductor Daniel Barenboim as an Honorary Guide of the Raelian Movement for actions promoting more peace in the Middle East and championing Palestinian rights as a citizen of Israel.
“Barenboim is behaving like a real Jewish Gandhi,” Rael commented.
Barenboim has been a contentious figure in Israel for some time, since he not only shows respect for the Palestinian people but also appears regularly in the Palestinian territories. He even accepted the Palestinian citizenship given to him by President Abbas, declaring, according to the BBC, that “it was a nice gesture.”
“The gesture is remarkable on both sides,” said Rael, who has long advocated the creation of a Palestinian-Jewish state in which both communities could live in peace and under decent conditions, and with a democratically elected government that would allow Palestinian refugees to return and retrieve all their “stolen lands and buildings.”
“Only love and peace can save Israel, which more than ever needs a Jewish Gandhi,” he emphasized.
A recent survey showed that Jewish immigration to Israel, an important factor in Israel's survival as a Jewish state, has fallen to its lowest level in 20 years, with fewer than 20,000 Jews arriving in 2007.
Rael said this trend toward fewer immigrants will accelerate, and that more people will soon be leaving Israel as well.
He added, “Who would like to live in a country that is currently perpetrating the genocide of the Palestinian people, keeping them starving in huge concentration camps surrounded by shameful walls? Israel will survive only if more Israelis raise their voices, like Daniel Barenboim does.”
“Barenboim is behaving like a real Jewish Gandhi,” Rael commented.
Barenboim has been a contentious figure in Israel for some time, since he not only shows respect for the Palestinian people but also appears regularly in the Palestinian territories. He even accepted the Palestinian citizenship given to him by President Abbas, declaring, according to the BBC, that “it was a nice gesture.”
“The gesture is remarkable on both sides,” said Rael, who has long advocated the creation of a Palestinian-Jewish state in which both communities could live in peace and under decent conditions, and with a democratically elected government that would allow Palestinian refugees to return and retrieve all their “stolen lands and buildings.”
“Only love and peace can save Israel, which more than ever needs a Jewish Gandhi,” he emphasized.
A recent survey showed that Jewish immigration to Israel, an important factor in Israel's survival as a Jewish state, has fallen to its lowest level in 20 years, with fewer than 20,000 Jews arriving in 2007.
Rael said this trend toward fewer immigrants will accelerate, and that more people will soon be leaving Israel as well.
He added, “Who would like to live in a country that is currently perpetrating the genocide of the Palestinian people, keeping them starving in huge concentration camps surrounded by shameful walls? Israel will survive only if more Israelis raise their voices, like Daniel Barenboim does.”
 | Thursday 17 January 2008 |  |  |