Race heating up to head Keren Hayesod

In the World Zionist Organization’s coalition agreement, Keren Hayesod belongs to Netanyahu’s Likud.

By GIL HOFFMAN
Eliezer Sandberg 248 88 aj (photo credit: Ariel Jerozolimski)
Eliezer Sandberg 248 88 aj
(photo credit: Ariel Jerozolimski)
After the election of Isaac Herzog as Jewish Agency chairman last month, the next political battle in the Jewish world is over the world chairmanship of Keren Hayesod.
Keren Hayesod – United Israel Appeal is the official fundraising organization for Israel across the globe other than the United States, with campaigns in 45 countries.
The organization is looking for a replacement for Eliezer (Moodi) Sandberg, who resigned after he became a suspect in Case 3000, the submarine affair. Sandberg was arrested in September on suspicion of involvement in improprieties in Israel's purchase of submarines from Germany.
Keren Hayesod officials told The Jerusalem Post at the Agency’s Board of Governors meeting that there would be a lengthy, organized process to choose the organization’s next world chairman and that after the Agency picked Herzog despite Netanyahu’s opposition, Keren Hayesod’s selection would be coordinated with the prime minister.
In the World Zionist Organization’s coalition agreement, Keren Hayesod belongs to Netanyahu’s Likud. Unlike the Agency, where Jewish leaders changed the rules so they could bypass the prime minister, with Keren Hayesod, Netanyahu is likely to have veto power as the leader of the Likud.
Makor Rishon’s Jewish world correspondent Zvika Klein reported Friday that Netanyahu offered the post to Israel Experience director-general Amos Hermon, but he turned it down. Klein reported that Keren Hayesod officials told the Prime Minister’s Office they were interested in former IDF chiefs of staff Benny Gantz and Gabi Ashkenazi and former ambassador to the United Nations Ron Prosor. The name of the head of Mifal Hapayis, former IDF deputy chief of staff Uzi Dayan, was also raised.
When Klein published his report, there was an outcry on social media that there were no women on the list. When there was a similar uproar last November after The Post published the six candidates for Agency chairman, who were all men, Netanyahu offered the post to Yohanna Arbib-Perugia, a former head of the Keren Hayesod World Board of Trustees.
Keren Hayesod will have a search committee, which will include representatives of the organization and the WZO. The committee, which has not yet convened, will include WZO chairman Avraham Duvdevani and the head of World Likud, Yaakov Hagoel.