L
CLOSE-UPI
MENDEL KAPLAN, THE NEW
CHAIRMAN OF THE AGENCY'S
BOARD OF GOVERNORS, AND
SIMCHA DINITZ, THE EXECUTIVE
CHAIRMAN OF THE AGENCY AND
THE WORLD ZIONIST
ORGANIZATION, ARE SHAKING THE
ORGANIZATION UNTIL THE
WINDOWS RATTLE - AND TO
GOOD EFFECT.
Putting
The Jewish Agency
On A Businesslike Basis
HELEN DAVIS
Jerusalem Correspondent
eyond all the reports, speeches,
issues and resolutions, the 750
delegates and observers who
descended on Jerusalem this
month for the Jewish Agency
Assembly had one question on their lips:
How is the marriage working out?
The "marriage" that generated so much
interest, of course, was contracted just six
months ago between Mendel Kaplan, who
was elected chairman of the Board of
Governors of the Jewish Agency, and Sim-
cha Dinitz, who was elected executive
chairman of both the Jewish Agency and
the World Zionist Organization.
Nor was this intense interest in the state
of their relationship simply a matter of idle
curiosity, for just six months ago the
Jewish Agency was facing a critical mo-
ment of truth.
Widely regarded as unaccountable to its
donors and unresponsive to those it was in-
tended to help, the organization was chok-
ing to death on its overblown bureaucracy
and its internal politicking.
Wielding their new brooms, Kaplan and
Dinitz vowed to change all that; to initiate
their own brand of perestroika which would
restructure the outmoded, inefficient
machinery and pull the organization back
from the brink.
Great expectations were invested in the
new Kaplan-Dinitz partnership. Indeed,
many believed that the fate of the Jewish
Agency itself rested on their ability to pull
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26
FRIDAY, JULY 29, 1988
the organization out of its malaise.
No one doubted their skill and deter-
mination. The question, rather, was
whether they possessed that indefinable
quality — personal chemistry — that is
necessary for translating high ideals into
hard facts.
Could the Israeli diplomat-politician and
the high-flying South African industrialist
achieve a successful cohabitation? Could
they deliver the goods?
What the delegates found when they
arrived in Jerusalem six months into the
new partnership was change, change and
more change. Kaplan and Dinitz had not
only swept out some very dusty corners,
but they had also taken the entire edifice
by its foundations and shaken it until the
windows rattled.
Budgets had been slashed to the bone;
dubious methods of funding for political
and special-interest groups had been
rooted out; sacred cows had been slaugh-
tered. Moreover, brand new faces filled
senior slots in both the Jewish Agency and
the WZO.
Delegates who had not done their home-
work were thrown into a state of shock and
confusion by a dazzling array of radical
new projects and programs which will pro-
foundly affect the future direction of both
bodies and will be felt well into the next
century.
One reaction was euphoric: "There is a
general resurgence of belief," said an
American communal leader and veteran of
many Jewish Agency assemblies. "There
is a return of confidence and real support
for what is being done here.
"I used to come to Jerusalem each year
knowing that I would read through the
financial reports and, as a businessman,
see how things were fudged and fiddled.
"But this year it was different. Not only
were the budgets, financial reports and the
comptroller's report ready on time, but
nothing was hidden, everything was up
front. I'm enormously impressed," he said.
"These guys really mean business. -
Even more enthusiastic was Ra'anan
Weitz, retired chairman of the Settlement
Department and architect of much of
Israel's regional development program.
"We should," he said, "regard the
reconstruction of the Jewish Agency and
the WZO as a blueprint for what Israel
itself should do after its elections. -
Not everyone, however, was dazzled by
the Kaplan-Dinitz achievements. Some
delegates and organizational professionals
were concerned both at the hectic pace of
change and at the men who were forcing
it.
"Dinitz is sharp-witted, funny and im-
pressive," said one source. "But he is
disorganized, driving himself and his staff
in all-night work marathons. I doubt if the
Minister of Defense puts in such hours at
his desk.
"But while Dinitz talks, Kaplan does. He
is the real power. He is an autocrat who
runs things here the same way he runs his
business in South Africa. He prides him-
self on making a decision and moving
quickly on it, regardless of whether the
decision is good, bad or indifferent — and
sometimes he takes decisions without suf-
ficient consultation.