The Board of Directors of the Israel Corporation has decided not to participate in a consortium of creditors attempting to save the troubled financial empire of Swiss Jewish financier Tibor Rosenbaum. But the Israel Corporation, which had large sums invested in Rosenbaum’s ventures, will not press its claims for restitution at this time while efforts are being made to salvage Rosenbaum’s International Credit Bank in Geneva, it was learned.
The compromise was reached here at a two-day meeting of the board chaired by Baron Edmund de Rothschild. Before returning to Paris Friday, the French Jewish banker and philanthropist said he had assured Premier Yitzhak Rabin. Finance Minister Yehoshua Rabinowitz and Minister of Commerce Haim Barlev that the Rosenbaum scandal would have no effect on his support and devotion to Israel.
Another board action named Israel Gal-Edd, a former director general of the Development Ministry, managing director of the Israel Corporation. He succeeds Michael Tsur who was suspended last month for alleged questionable financial dealings with Rosenbaum. The board also voted 9-4 to appoint former Chief of Staff Gen. David Elazar director general of the Zim Lines in which the Israel Corporation holds a 50 percent interest.
Zim, from which Tsur was also ousted last month, was one of several major Israeli companies that had funds invested in the Rosenbaum enterprises. Elazar, who commanded Israeli forces in the Yom Kippur War, was forced to resign after the Agranat Committee investigating the war found him responsible for Israel’s lack of preparedness.
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.
