#Tomorrow13 Pros and Cons

The #Tomorrow13 conference will be taking place on Wednesday and Thursday here in Jerusalem (after Shimon Peres' birthday party tonight from which bloggers were excluded). I'll be going to part of the conference but definitely will not be there all day like I have been in the past. Way too many other commitments, including - thank God - work! Deena Levenstein summed up the ambivalence that a lot of bloggers are starting to feel about a conference that's sponsored by Shimon Peres (Hat Tip: Mrs. Carl).

Shimon Peres. I’m sorry. I’m not a fan. Am I allowed to say this and then be the president’s guest for two days? I can’t help but grimace when I picture all the sucking up that happens at the conference. What is with that?

Are these people up for another serving of Oslo Accords?

I lived in Jerusalem at the time with bombs blowing up constantly on buses, in cafes and on the streets. I know people who were killed and injured. The idea of having to forgive or forget is appalling.

I can’t figure out why Peres is so respected in Israel (I don’t care about outside of Israel). It’s upsetting.

Also, what is it with leftists stealing words and making them their own? Peres, you do not own the word peace, it doesn’t have to mean what you and your cronies have made it mean (Jews bending over until their backs break in order to make terrorists happy). And I refuse to let you now own the word tomorrow! I will use the word tomorrow and not think of your conference Tomorrow tomorrow. Tomorrow.

But worst of all, I hate when I find myself getting starry-eyed about a public figure I don’t even respect.

Last year I attended the huge opening event where people terribly enthusiastically cheered on the president, standing ovations and all. I also went to the bloggers’ closed meeting with Peres and found that like almost everyone else there, I was hanging on his every word. Why? And how absolutely strange that I was disappointed by what he said when I already knew he speaks a language I proudly do not understand: Fluff.

Read the whole thing and watch the videos.

But it's more than that. Maybe I'm imaging things but it seems that in the past there were more political sessions and more Right leaning panelists. Is it my imagination? Last year, I sat in on a panel with Caroline Glick and Naftali Bennett. Two years ago, I sat in one with Elliott Abrams (okay, he just got up from shiva last week) and another one with Anthony Cordesman. And at the very first conference there was an amazing speech by Jon Voight, which wowed the crowd... but I don't think he's been invited back since.

I haven't been through the entire schedule yet, but the only Right-leaning political figure I have found is Dore Gold.

Will there be a President's Conference when Peres is no longer President?