Samuel Lahis, 52, has been appointed Director General of the Jewish Agency to succeed the late Aviad Yaffe who died last year, it was announced here.
The appointment was approved by the Jewish Agency Board of Governors last week, on the recommendation of a four-man committee consisting of Jewish Agency Treasurer Leon Dulzin, Max Fisher of Detroit, chairman of the Board of Governors, Yosef Almogi, chairman of the Jewish Agency and World Zionist Organization Executives and Michael Sacher, of Britain, a member of the Board of Governors and the Jewish Agency Executive.
Lahis was born in Poland and came to Palestine as a child with his family. He earned a law degree at the Hebrew University and later established the Jewish Agency’s legal department in Haifa. From 1961-73 he served as legal advisor and counsel to the Jewish Agency for Haifa and the northern region. He was sent to New York in 1973 as executive vice-president of the American Section of the WZO, the post he holds at present.
Jewish Agency sources told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency that Lahis is close to Dulzin who is expected to be elected chairman of the Jewish Agency and WZO at the 29th World Zionist Congress which convenes here Feb. 20.
The Board of Governors has also appointed Harry Rosen, 65, as Secretary General of the Jewish Agency. Rosen, American-born, has been serving as acting Director General since Yaffe’s death. He settled in Israel 10 years ago after working in executive capacities for many years in Jewish communities in the U.S. and France. He also served as advisor to the late Jewish Agency chairman Louis Pincus and Pinchas Sapir.
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
