Yosef Almogi, chairman of the Jewish Agency and World Zionist Organization Executives, is looking for a new director general of the Jewish Agency to replace Moshe Rivlin who is expected to be elected chairman of the Jewish National Fund next month. Rivlin will resign from the post he has held with notable success for the past 11 years.
So far, Almogi has encountered difficulties filling the job. He is known to have approached Simcha Dinitz, currently Israel’s Ambassador to the U.S., and former Information Minister Aharon Yariv, head of the Institute of Strategic Studies at Tel Aviv University. Both turned down the offer. Premier Yitzhak Rabin and Foreign Minister Yigal Allon reportedly favor former Gen. Ze’ev Shaham to take Rivlin’s place but Almogi prefers to look elsewhere.
One possible candidate said to be supported by the Jewish Agency’s American Section is Haim Vinitzki, director general of the United Jewish Appeal in Israel. It is expected here that the Americans will have a say in the appointment to the Jewish Agency’s top administrative post. At any rate, no decision will be made without the prior approval of the American Section.
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