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Photo: AP
Bronfman
Photo: AP

Bronfman resigns as WJC head

Billionaire businessman stands down following a leadership struggle within the organization; elections for a replacement will be held in June; Mendel Kaplan and Ron Lauder to challenge for the post

Edgar Bronfman resigned as president of the World Jewish Congress on Monday at a WJC steering committee meeting in New York.

 

The billionaire businessman's resignation, after quarter of a century in the role, came as a surprise and followed a bitter struggle in the WJC between the organization's New York headquarters and the European Jewish Congress over funding and management practices. The Israeli branch of the WJC has also been at loggerheads with the New York headquarters for the same reasons.

 

The steering committee meeting was convened to discuss the leadership crisis within the WJC following these clashes.

 

Pierre Besnainou, the president of the European Jewish Congress, said that he would support the candidacy of Mendel Kaplan in June's elections for a new WJC head. American billionaire Ronald Lauder is also expected to stand for election. Bronfman's son Matthew, whom many thought was being groomed by his father for the job, will not be competing, according to WJC sources.

 

In March, Bronfman fired his right-hand man at the WJC, Rabbi Israel Singer, and accused him of having stolen from him. Singer denied the charges. The firing came over a year after then New York attorney general Elliot Spitzer issued a sharply critical report into financial shortcomings and mismanagement at the WJC.

 


פרסום ראשון: 05.07.07, 22:51
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