Budget problems and the selection of a chairman topped the official and unofficial agenda of the Jewish Agency’s Board of Governors meeting here this week.
With Agency Chairman Simcha Dinitz on trial for fraud and abuse of the public trust, the board once again extended the acting chairmanship of Yehiel Leket until February, when it was agreed a permanent chairman will be installed.
At the same time, sources say the Diaspora fund-raisers privately decided they would not support Leket for the permanent post and are seeking a meeting with Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin to express their support for other candidates.
Agency rules call for Rabin, as head of the Labor Party, to put forward the candidate or candidates for chairman. The candidates must then be approved by the party’s central committee.
The Israeli and Diaspora members of the World Zionist Organization then select the final candidate, who must be ratified by the Diaspora fund-raisers under the leadership of the chairman of the Board of Governors, Mendel Kaplan.
At the current meeting, the Zionist General Council, the ruling body of the WZO, called on the Board of Governors to approve Leket as the permanent chairman.
The Council claimed the Agency is being hurt by the failure to appoint a permanent head. But its move was seen mostly as a vote of confidence for Leket and had little impact.
For his part, Leket says he is not yet a candidate and has not actively campaigned for the post. But he has clearly hoped that his performance as acting chairman would win him the support of skeptics who say he does not have the necessary “stature” for the job.
“Of course I want to be permanent chairman,” said Leket this week. “I feel I’m the right man at the right time and the right place” and “I think I proved what I can do.”
But, he added, “I have always said if a better candidate will be introduced I myself will consider supporting him.”
FUNDS HAVEN’T MET PROJECTIONS
Meanwhile, the Jewish Agency was grappling with the fact that this year’s income from the fund-raising campaigns has not met projections. Departments had to scale down their planned programs as a result.
The income for this budget year from the United Jewish Appeal campaign alone is about $200 million, down from the $218 million projected by the fund-raisers and the $230 million projected by the Jewish Agency.
Many of the Israelis have expressed anger that more money has not been raised and more of the pie has not been allocated to Israel, while the fund-raisers say the needs and concerns of American Jewish donors are changing.
“Every year you fight for your budget but this year there’s a difference,” said David Harman, director-general of the Joint Authority for Jewish Zionist Education. “The subtext is the essence of the relationship between Israel and the Diaspora.
“The Jewish Agency system was conceived as a partnership of Israel and the Diaspora,” Harman continued, “and there is a growing feeling (among the Israelis) that as far as the Americans are concerned, the kind of relationship envisioned is becoming less and less attractive.”
In any case, no Jewish Agency activities will be eliminated as a result of the budget approved for next year, according to Treasurer Hanan Ben-Yehuda.
While the operating budget will decrease from $506 million in 1994 to $463 million in 1995, much of the difference will be made up by the decision to have no debt retirement, he said.
In 1994, $35 million went to the debt.
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