Levanon and Nativ responded by organizing the first World Conference of Jewish Communities for Soviet Jewry in Belgium the following year. The conference included 800 people from 38 countries and attracted attention when the Soviet government mounted a public campaign against the participants and host government. Prominent attendees included Menachem Begin, Elie Wiesel, Albert Shanker, and Gershom Scholem. Levanon intentionally downplayed Israel's involvement with the conference so as to leave the impression that other, more powerful countries (particularly the United States) were especially interested in the issue. The conference was marred by the arrival of controversial rabbi Meir Kahane, who the day before had been convicted in New York of disorderly conduct for his actions at a 1969 protest. After he was denied the opportunity to address the delegates, Kahane denounced the conference as undemocratic and timid. His arrest by Belgian police and dramatic press conference upon his return to the U.S. somewhat overshadowed the gathering in Brussels. (Levanon had a tense relationship with "grass roots" activists like Kahane. He once referred to these activists as "active, impatient, and temperamental ... these groups, while at times positive, were sometimes damaging to the cause.")