Two veteran outgoing members of the Birthright-Israel board of directors have sent an urgent letter to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, asking him to interfere in what they called “saving Birthright Israel,” according to a letter that was obtained by The Jerusalem Post.
The two are Prof. Aviad Hacohen, the president of the Sha'arei Mishpat Academic College and Yonatan Bassi who managed many government operations throughout the years. They said that “as [outgoing] public representatives on the board of directors on behalf of the Israeli government, since the establishment of the company before 23 year ago,” that “unfortunately and heartbreakingly, recently there has been a change for the worse in the government's attitude towards Birthright Israel,” they said in their letter.
“Apparently due to differences of opinion, and even though it has already been about four months since the establishment of the government, it has not yet been decided who will be the minister in charge of this project on behalf of the government.”
Historically, it is the Diaspora Affairs minister who is in charge of Birthright on behalf of the government, but for some unknown reason, the current Minister, Amichai Chikli, hasn’t received this mandate from the Prime Minister.
“As a result, even a draft of a new agreement between the project partners has not yet been presented to the government, and all the more so that such an agreement has not yet been signed, even though the agreement expires at the end of 2022. This was known a long time in advance and yet the agreement hasn’t been signed.”
According to Hacohen and Bassi, in Birthright Israel’s current state, “there is an immediate and real danger to the continuation of the entire project.”
They added that “building such a project is a matter of years of hard work and dedication, but it can be destroyed in the blink of an eye. Stopping the project's activity, even for a short time, will cause irreparable damage, not to mention possible claims from suppliers and irreparable damage to the reputation of Birthright, and perhaps also, of the State of Israel.”
Birthright is in a difficult situation
Birthright Israel is in a difficult situation since the funding which they receive from the Israeli government is according to the amount of participants arrive in Israel. Since there is no current contract, they don’t know how many participants they can allow to participate since they don’t have any official document that shows the government will actually fund their visit.
A senior Israel official traveling with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's delegation to London, said the government supported the program and that there was no intention to constrict the program in any way, "emphasizing that the program was "not in any danger."
A second official explained that the Prime Minister's Office was was in the middle of working on details to renew the contract.
There are technical bureaucratic issues and in addition there have been personnel changes which have caused delays, the second official said.
Birthright Israel wouldn't respond to the Post's request for comment.
Birthright Israel has been established as a semi-government owned entity, as a joint venture, that was originally funded by three main partners: The Israeli government, Jewish philanthropic funds and local Jewish organizations, such as Jewish Federations and umbrella organizations around the world.
In November, the Post published exclusively that Birthright Israel’s budget has been cut, causing the organization to slash by up to a third the number of participants it can take to Israel in 2023.
The Birthright Israel Foundation, the organization’s funding arm, told its largest donors it is confident it will be able to continue supporting Birthright Israel.
Hacohen and Bassi have been asked to step down from the board of the organization and wouldn't comment on the matter. Sources in Birthright explained that they are "reorganizing," their board; many members have been in this position for more than two decades.