Last update - 00:00 26/02/2007
Herzog: I took Diaspora portfolio due to deep ties to Jewish people
By Amiram Barkat, Haaretz Correspondent
"I wanted the Diaspora Affairs portfolio because of my family's deep connections to the Jewish people," outgoing Tourism Minister Isaac Herzog, who is expected to be given ministerial responsibility over ties with Jewish communities abroad, told Haaretz Sunday.
The Diaspora Affairs position has been unmanned since elections nearly a year ago. The last civil servants at the Prime Minister's Office whose job covered Diaspora relations were fired recently.
Herzog and Prime Minister Ehud Olmert decided at a meeting Wednesday to restore the cabinet position. On Sunday, the cabinet approved Herzog's appointment to the post, in addition to his new and main responsibility as welfare minister. The Knesset is expected to approve the appointments in 10 days.
Herzog, who promised to be a full-time welfare minister, claims he can do both jobs at once. "I can do many things simultaneously," he said. Herzog believes there is a strong relationship between welfare and Diaspora Affairs, because, he claims, a significant proportion of Israel's welfare budget comes from money raised by Jewish organizations abroad.
While the country's welfare issues must top Herzog's priorities, his second portfolio will offer a number of challenges as well. The Diaspora Affairs Ministry no longer exists, and Herzog has no budget to work with at present.
Pensioners Affairs Minister Rafi Eitan has assumed responsibility for restoring Jewish property to Holocaust survivors and their heirs, while other ministers have taken over other issues that had been the responsibility of the Diaspora Affairs Ministry under former ministers Natan Sharansky and Michael Melchior.
While Herzog intends to leave Holocaust property restoration in Eitan's hands, there is expected to be a struggle between him and Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, who has assumed responsibility for fighting anti-Semitism. "The issue was temporarily assigned to the Foreign Ministry," Herzog said. "It belongs to the jurisdiction of the Diaspora Affairs minister."
Herzog is one of the last Israeli politicians to define himself, above all, as a child of the Jewish people. His grandfather, Rabbi Isaac Herzog, was chief rabbi of Ireland before becoming chief rabbi of Palestine and then the State of Israel's first chief rabbi. His father, Chaim Herzog, was Israel's sixth president and served as Israeli ambassador to the United Nations. When his father was ambassador, Isaac studied at New York's prestigious Ramaz Jewish school, where he became aware of the Jewish Diaspora.