The Petah Tikva District Court ruled Thursday that the Labor Party’s executive committee must convene in order to decide whether to hold a race for the party’s candidate to head the Jewish National Fund/Keren Kayemet L’Israel.Labor chairman Ehud Barak, who wants his ally, Agriculture Minister Shalom Simhon, to replace current JNF head Effi Stenzler, decided in a smaller forum that Labor would give up on the post in order to allow Simhon to run as the candidate of Meretz and the Reform Movement. But in a victory for Stenzler, the court ruled that the executive committee must meet to decide the matter. Meanwhile, Attorney-General Yehuda Weinstein ruled Wednesday that Simhon is eligible to become JNF head and that his current job would not create a conflict of interest.
(photo credit: The Jerusalem Post)ByGIL STERN STERN HOFFMAN