Jewish Agency aliya chief quits over policy changes

The director of the Jewish Agency's Immigration and Absorption Department, Oded Solomon, is resigning in protest over changes the organization is introducing in its activity to encourage aliya.

The JA has been working for the past few months on a sweeping reorganization plan, at the center of which is drastic cuts in immigration activity as well as diverting resources into the fields of Jewish and Zionist education.

Solomon joined the JA just 18 months ago from the private sector, where his last job was as CEO of Gerber for Israel and the Middle East. He brought to the task new marketing methods for encouraging Jewish immigration from affluent Western countries. But he says his plans were not well received within the JA, and that he ran into disagreements with senior officials.

In a letter this week to the agency's board of trustees, which is scheduled to convene next month in Jerusalem, Solomon wrote: "The department staff, together with me, set a new strategic course for immigration and absorption in the 21st century, based on a new approach and plans for encouraging aliya alongside additional options for living in Israel. Unfortunately, we did not receive the necessary backing from the Jewish Agency's leadership in order to implement the plans."

Said a senior JA official, "Oded Solomon wasn't a good fit at the JA because you can't sell it the way you sell baby food. On the other hand, the fact that they even brought him in shows that the organization has lost its path."

The Jewish Agency is facing a deep crisis over its future mission, and debating whether to continue investing its resources in promoting aliya, now that nearly all Diaspora Jews live in Western countries with a high standard of living, and are thus disinclined to immigrate to Israel.