Head of Israel-diaspora Committee, Disgusted by Politics, Resigns Post

The chairman of a fledgling Foreign Ministry-sponsored committee on Israel-Diaspora relations has resigned his post, saying Jewish organizational politics got in the way.

Uri Gordon, head of the immigration and absorption department of the Jewish Agency-World Zionist Organization, was appointed last year by Foreign Minister Shimon Peres to head the new panel.

At the time, Peres said he was forming the committee in recognition of the “significant transformation” of Diaspora Jewry in recent decades and the weakening connection between the Diaspora and Israel.

Gordon had expressed enthusiasm for the new venture, proclaiming the committee marked a departure from business as usual and took “a completely fresh look at the problem.”

But although Gordon says he tried to name members to the committee, the panel never met.

Last week Gordon said he still supported the aims of the committee, which he sees as evidence of a serious commitment by the Israeli government to the changing Israel-Diaspora relationship.

He also said he has received “many letters from key people in the Diaspora” who believed the committee was important. But he said he grew frustrated because there are people inside the Jewish Agency who did not support the effort.

He said he preferred to not waste his time fighting people “who prefer the status quo and are afraid of new ideas.”

Instead, he said, he will concentrate his efforts on the absorption of new immigrants.

RESENTMENT AT SIDESTEPPING JEWISH AGENCY

Although Gordon declined to be specific in his charges, sources say Jewish Agency Acting Chairman Yehiel Leket and Board of Governors Chairman Mendel Kaplan resented the effort to address Israel-Diaspora relations outside the Jewish Agency framework and sought to circumscribe the committee’s agenda.

Leket, for one, denied any such initiative. He said he discussed the committee with Peres about a month ago, talking about ways to strengthen cooperation between the Foreign Ministry and the Jewish Agency.

Although he admitted initial skepticism that the committee could accomplish anything practical, he said he supported the idea after hearing Peres explain his reasons for establishing the committee.

Kaplan could not be reached for comment.

In his resignation letter to Peres, Gordon said he was torn between the conflicting impulses to continue the work “as an obligation to the Jewish people and to (Zionism),” and the inability to accomplish the task.

“The Jewish soil is burning and we are beginning to lose the next generation of people in the Diaspora,” he wrote. Regrettably, “narrow-minded people” put “personal issues” ahead of the urgency of the situation, he added.

Meanwhile, the fate of the committee remains unclear in the wake of Gordon’s resignation. “Nobody knows whether (it) will continue,” said an informed source in the Foreign Ministry.