JERUSALEM (JTA) — The World Jewish Congress has confirmed the appointment of Dan Diker as the organization’s secretary general.
Diker’s appointment was approved in Jerusalem Monday during a meeting of the governing board of the World Jewish Congress, the umbrella organization of 92 Jewish communities throughout the world. The meeting marked the 75th anniversary of the founding of the organization.
Diker succeeds Michael Schneider, who has served in the position for the past four years.
Diker has had a long career as a public policy analyst and journalist. He previously served as a senior foreign policy analyst for the Institute for Contemporary Affairs at the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, and as an adjunct fellow of the Hudson Institute in Washington.
“The power of the World Jewish Congress is in our ability to unite the Jewish world around the values of human rights, civil rights and equal rights and to stand firmly, courageously and even defiantly as a free people," Diker told the meeting in his acceptance speech. "With all the sweeping developments and constant threats to our very existence, it is incumbent upon us as a global Jewish people to rally behind these historic values to promote our unity and resolve.”
WJC President Ronald Lauder, referring specifically to the protests across the Arab world and the planned vote on Palestinian statehood in the United Nations, told the assembly that “Perhaps more than ever before, the international community is witnessing a variety of pivotal changes which will impact very heavily on the global Jewish community. The coming months present an important opportunity for the Jewish world to offer a united voice on these developments so that the vital interests of the global Jewish communities are recognized and acted upon.”
