Analysis: Expanded Diaspora affairs ministry may be on tap

Tzipi Livni does not seem to have a clear vision for the Diaspora.

By HAVIV RETTIG GUR
livni in da hood 224 88 aj (photo credit: Ariel Jerozolimksi )
livni in da hood 224 88 aj
(photo credit: Ariel Jerozolimksi )
The Olmert years saw a sharp spike in consultations between Israeli officials and Diaspora leaders, and the launching of several initiatives to improve Israel-Diaspora relations. But all this attention may wane now that Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has resigned, and new Kadima leader Tzipi Livni struggles to form a coalition before any of the planned initiatives have even been budgeted. The ideas for engaging some seven million Diaspora Jews included establishing a world Jewish parliament, founding an on-line Jewish university, scattering Israel culture centers around the globe, unifying organizations and bureaucracies representing Israel abroad, bringing Jewish teachers on paid study trips to Israel and founding new institutions to encourage the flowering of Jewish art and creativity. Discussions are continuing, with a research institute and project coordinator for new Diaspora initiatives expected to be chosen in the coming days by Cabinet Secretary Oved Yehezkel and Jewish Agency Education Committee Dir.-Gen. Alan Hoffman. But serious questions are being raised about whether these programs will be able to survive a coalition change. Livni herself does not seem to have a clear vision for the Diaspora, and Kadima has no active Diaspora planners and no plans to appoint any, according to senior Kadima sources. Two Kadima MKs and a senior party official separately confirmed to The Jerusalem Post on Sunday that Livni does not even have a staff member functioning as a Diaspora affairs adviser. "I don't think it's a topic Tzipi has thought about," said one Kadima MK. "She has her opinions on aliya from when she was absorption minister [from 2003 to 2006], but I have a hard time believing she's formed views on the Diaspora itself in that time." Another Kadima official insisted the criticism was premature, saying, "Livni will develop a Diaspora policy when it becomes part of her portfolio." But the Post has learned that no Diaspora-related issues, including questions of religion and state, have been raised in the current coalition negotiations. The Post has learned, however, of a meeting Monday morning between Yehezkel and the part-time Diaspora Affairs Minister Isaac Herzog (whose primary portfolio is Welfare and Social Services) at which the two will discuss fashioning a new Diaspora Affairs Ministry. Diaspora-related functions are now scattered throughout the government, with the battle against anti-Semitism handled by a tiny department in the Foreign Ministry, Holocaust restitution and survivor care by the Pensioners Affairs Ministry, and Masa, Nativ, the Conversion Authority and other agencies residing in the Prime Minister's Office. Long-term planning for the Jewish world was turned over to the Jewish Agency-founded Jewish People Policy Planning Institute - and then quickly ignored. No government body is actively responsible for the connection to the Jewish communities themselves. The new Diaspora affairs minister, under a plan conceived in the Prime Minister's Office some three months ago, would combine many of these functions - combating anti-Semitism, promoting Jewish identity inside and out of Israel, managing Masa and other agencies, and the day-to-day connection to the Diaspora - into one permanent cabinet-level position. A Herzog representative would not comment on whether he would consider this new portfolio. Gil Hoffman contributed to this report.