JNF America transferred only $8m of $30m donations

The fight for primacy is between the Jewish National Fund in Israel and in North America.

Sources inform “Globes” that Jewish National Fund (JNF) America president Ronald S. Lauder and JNF world chairman Yehiel Leket have disagreed for months about which causes to raise money for.

Consequently, JNF America has transferred to JNF Israel only part of the money it has raised in donations: $8 million out of $30 million. The remaining $22 million has been deposited in a bank account and not transferred to JNF's account.

Behind the clash reportedly lies a power struggle between JNF Israel and JNF America, centered on the latter's effort to transfer control of the organization from Israel to the US, as previously happened with the Jewish Agency.

JNF Israel insists on keeping its primacy in the organization. Disputes between JNF Israel and affiliated overseas organization have turned personal. JNF America S accuses Leket of refusing to listen to its staff.

Several months ago, Leket was elected vice president of the World Jewish Congress, whose president is Edgar Bronfman. Lauder reportedly wants to challenge Bronfman for the chairmanship. Part of this effort includes enhancing his status as president of JNF America.

The present argument is for which purposes money raised by JNF America will be used. JNF US says the money should be used for security issues, whereas JNF Israel says the JNF has nothing to contribute to defense, and should raise money only for its declared purposes - planting and maintaining forests, and preserving Israel's environment.

JNF Israel believes that there is no reason to compete against organizations such as Magen David Adom, the Association for Well-being of Israel Soldiers and ZAKA (Zihui Korbanot Ason - Identifaction of Disaster Victims). The JNF raised only NIS 120 million in 2004, paralleling the decline in revenue from the Israel Land Administration (ILA).

Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes.co.il - on February 23, 2005

Twitter Facebook Linkedin RSS Newsletters גלובס Israel Business Conference 2018