Last update - 00:00 05/07/2007
Israeli Arab appointed as a JNF director despite court appeal
By Ruth Sinai, Haaretz Correspondent
Jerusalem District Court approved recently the appointment of an Israeli Arab to be a director of the Jewish National Fund. In doing so, the court rejected a petition which requested it cancel the appointment.
"As this is one director among a large number, there is no chance he will have the opportunity to cancel the organization's goals. It is unnecessary to emphasize that every debate that can arise in sessions of the directorate will be no less democratic than those in the Knesset, where there are MKs from the Arab sector," the court ruled.
Petitioners Tzvi Raviv, Ruthy Lieberman and Shalom Lerner, all members of the Zionist Executive Committee, which forms the JNF's General Assembly, and Uri Bank, another candidate standing for JNF director, pointed in their appeal to deficiencies related to company law in the process of Israeli Arab Ra'adi Sfori's appointment.
The petitioners argued their appeal was not aimed at questioning the suitability of a non-Jew holding office as a JNF director, but to clarify that such a fundamental issue needs to be presented in an open manner to the General Assembly's members before such an appointment, in order to allow them to express their positions on the subject.
Attorney Eli Shuelyan and professor Ron Shapiro, representing the petitioners, stated the JNF's primary goal is acquiring of land in the Land of Israel for Jewish settlement.
There was inadequate consideration given in the appointment process, Shuelyan and Shapiro claimed, as no information concerning the candidates had been given to the assembly other than their names.
Attorney Yossi Gross, representing the JNF, said the petition was an attempt to foil the election of an Israeli Arab, and there had been no deficiencies during the appointment process.
Judge Ron Shapiro rejected the petitioners' claims and ruled the voting process had been performed in accordance with JNF customs and practice, and there was nothing irregular in the assembly session where the candidates were elected.