Last update - 00:00 10/10/2007
PM names Jewish Agency Chair to Kadima's top policy team
By Anshel Pfeffer, Haaretz Correspondent
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has added Jewish Agency Chairman Ze'ev Bielski to the forum of Kadima Party ministers knows as Sareinu, thereby effectively giving him the status of a cabinet minister within the party.
Sareinu (literally, "our ministers") is Kadima's top policy-setting body, and it largely sets the agenda for the party's cabinet and Knesset activity.
The move is thought to be an attempt to pacify Bielski, who was outraged by the cabinet's decision two weeks ago to fund two independent organizations that promote immigration - an area that was once the Jewish Agency's exclusive preserve.
Nefesh B'Nefesh, which operates in North America and Britain, and Ami, which operates in France, had received ad hoc government funding before, but the cabinet's decision grants them permanent funding as part of the Absorption Ministry's annual budget.
Bielski, who feared the decision would undermine the Jewish Agency's status, asked that the agency at least be given the authority to set funding criteria for the independent agencies, but the cabinet refused.
Ever since, Olmert has been trying to appease Bielski, who has extensive contacts with overseas Jewish organizations.
Bielski, once a member of the Likud Party, switched to Kadima after former prime minister Ariel Sharon appointed him Jewish Agency chair two years ago.
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