The 21 “non-Zionist” members of the 42-man Jewish Agency Board of Governors met in caucus last Thursday over the Agency chairmanship and resolved that both current candidates–Leon Dulzin and Yosef Almogi–would be “acceptable” as far as they were concerned.
They agreed, too, that whomever the Zionist General Council electors World Zionist Organization chairman next January will become Agency chairman too. (He will be formally elected by the Agency assembly later in the year. His term would be until the Zionist congress in December.) Dulzin is presently acting chairman and treasurer of the Jewish Agency. Almogi is the Mayor of Haifa. The “non-Zionist” statement was welcomed by the adherents of both candidates, Each side thought it would help their candidate.
The “non-Zionist” caucus also drafted a set of six “criteria” which they said any candidate for the post of Agency chairman must fill. Both the current candidates, Almogi and Dulzin, filled them, the “non-Zionists” noted.
The six criteria are; “familiarity with Agency activities”; “an experienced and competent administrator”; “good working relationship with the government of Israel”; “the chairman must respect the non-political character of the Jewish Agency and refrain from political action and statements which may embarrass the Agency”; “well known and accepted by Jewry throughout the world” and “able to participate effectively in worldwide fund-raising by the United Jewish Appeal and Keren Hayesod.”
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