The Jewish Agency’s nominating committee recommended Doron Almog, a storied retired general and a longtime advocate for people with disabilities, to lead the body that bridges Israel and the Jewish Diaspora.
The nomination last Thursday of Almog, 71, now goes to the Jewish Agency’s Board of Governors for a July 10 vote, where it is all but assured of approval. The nomination follows an extended period of consideration since May 2021, when the last chairman of the agency, Isaac Herzog, announced his successful run for the Israeli presidency.
The agency has been led in the interim by an acting chairman, Yaakov Hagoel.
Hagoel, who chairs the Jewish Agency’s Nominating Committee, said, “I extend my congratulations to Almog on his nomination, and I am confident that he will lead The Jewish Agency with the same dedication and determination with which his predecessors in this position acted.”
Almog has a long career in the military, assisting in the 1976 raid on Entebbe, Uganda, to free a plane held hostage by German and Palestinian terrorists. He helped to lead the secret airlift of Ethiopian Jews in the mid-1980s, and led the Southern Command, which had Gaza as a responsibility, during the Second Intifada.
An Israel Prize laureate, Almog has also led disability advocacy. He founded Adi Negev-Nahalat Eran Rehabilitation Village, named for his son Eran, who died at 23 from Castleman’s disease, a lymph disorder. The village serves more than 150 children and young adults with severe disabilities and medical conditions.
The Jewish Agency, established in 1929, handles numerous aspects of the Israel-Diaspora relationship, including fundraising for Israel, encouraging and absorbing immigrants in partnership with the Israeli government, and running Jewish education and identity building programs at home and abroad.
Its funding is provided by North American Jewish federations, together with the federations’ counterparts in other countries and other donors. The Jewish Federations of North America issued this statement about Almog’s nomination:
“We are very excited to begin partnering closely with Doron, who has dedicated his life to the Jewish People, to tikkun olam and to empowering the most vulnerable in Israeli society — values that our North American Jewish community deeply cherishes. We look forward to working with him to further these values and deepen the vibrant relationship between Israel and North American Jewry.”
Locally, the Jewish Federation of Greater Kansas City provides hundreds of thousands of dollars in annual funding to the Jewish Agency, a core overseas partner. Karen Pack, a past president of Federation, has served on the Jewish Agency’s Board of Governors and currently serves on the Jewish Agency’s North American Council Board of Advisors.
“Doron Almog really embodies the best of Israel and the Jewish people,” Pack said. “We are very fortunate and grateful to have him joining Mark Wilf, the incoming board chair of the Jewish Agency. In these times, strong leadership is critical to secure the future of the Jewish people, and The Jewish Agency has wisely made these meaningful choices.”
The Jewish Agency’s nomination committee reportedly considered more than a dozen candidates, including a number of women and Sephardic Jews — neither group is represented among the chairmen of the agency going back to 1929. Serious consideration reportedly was given to Idan Roll, the deputy foreign minister who is a leader of Israel’s LGBTQ community.
The Kansas City Jewish Chronicle Staff supplemented this article.