(JTA) — Rabbi Brian Lurie, the former CEO of the San Francisco-area Jewish federation, has become president of the New Israel Fund.
Lurie succeeds Naomi Chazan as head of NIF, a nonprofit that funds liberal Israeli groups as well as a few Israeli Arab organizations.
Chazan, a former left-wing member and deputy speaker of the Knesset, faced controversy during her four years leading the NIF, including a 2010 campaign that targeted her personally from Im Tirtzu, a right-wing Israeli nonprofit.
Lurie, who formerly served as NIF’s vice president of North America, was named to the position last year and will hold it for three years, according to San Francisco’s j. weekly. He served as the executive director of the Jewish Community Federation of San Francisco, the Peninsula, Marin and Sonoma Counties for 17 years.
