US, EU officials concerned over alleged government bid to oust Yad Vashem chairman

The Biden administration on Sunday doubled down on its defense of Yad Vashem chairman Dani Dayan, repeating its suggestion that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government was trying to politicize the Holocaust museum by ousting its leader.

“My research and advocacy about the Holocaust dates back to the 1980s; I have long valued the work of institutions like Yad Vashem. Yad Vashem’s painstaking and invaluable research on the Shoah is in no small part due to its professionalism and independence,” tweeted US antisemitism envoy Deborah Lipstadt.

Hours earlier, US Special Envoy for Holocaust Issues Ellen German tweeted, “The US values the crucial work of Yad Vashem and its director’s leadership as we work together on Holocaust education, remembrance, and research. Maintaining the independence of such institutions around the world is key as we face efforts to distort/deny the facts of the Holocaust.”

The posts represent somewhat rare examples of US officials weighing in on an internal Israeli matter, indicating the extent of the alarm in Washington over what it sees as an attempt to weaken the independence of Yad Vashem.

The US has long relied on the institution as an ally in the fight against antisemitism.

The rhetoric used by the two Biden administration officials appeared to even mirror messaging it has used to chide the record of countries like Hungary and Poland that have been accused of presenting an altered version of their respective roles in the Holocaust.

Also on Sunday, the European Union’s coordinator on combating antisemitism, Katharina von Schnurbein, expressed her support for Yad Vashem, calling it a “key partner” in Holocaust research.

“Its expertise and independence of its leadership are essential in times of Holocaust distortion and attempts to politicize Shoah remembrance,” she tweeted.

According to a Channel 12 news report, Education Minister Yoav Kisch has been seeking to remove Dayan for several months and finally sent him a letter accusing him of mismanagement at the Holocaust memorial museum. Kisch confirmed the existence of the letter to the network.

The report also tied Kisch’s move to the fact that on Holocaust Remembrance Day the Holocaust museum hosted singer Keren Peles, who has spoken out against the government’s judicial overhaul legislation. Netanyahu and Kisch are hoping to replace Dayan with Keren Barak, a former MK for their Likud party, the report said.

Netanyahu responded to the allegations for the first time before boarding a flight to Cyprus Sunday, claiming that the previous unity government had replaced every political appointee who was aligned with the right and his Likud party, and yet no one accused it of politicizing those offices.

Netanyahu declined, however, to say whether the government would be following through with its effort to remove Dayan.

“There is no politicization, but unfortunately, there is no shortage of fake news,” he said while standing beside his wife, Sara.

The latter used the opportunity to deny the report that she had been angered that Dayan invited Peles to perform at the Holocaust Remembrance Day ceremony.

Dayan reportedly booked Peles months before the overhaul was unveiled.

“I heard a story I had absolutely no idea about, and I want to make the facts clear: I am not involved in organizing ceremonies,” Sara Netanyahu said.

“I came to the Yad Vashem ceremony as always, on Yom Hashoah eve… I heard Keren Peles, I didn’t know who she was before, I didn’t know who she was after,” she said, adding she had never reprimanded anyone for the choice and had shaken Peles’s hand and complimented her after the performance.

Dayan, a former head of the Yesha Council for West Bank settlers and former Israeli consul-general to New York, previously ran for the Knesset with Gideon Sa’ar’s opposition New Hope party but failed to win a seat. He was appointed head of Yad Vashem in 2021 by the previous government under then-prime minister Naftali Bennett.

Dayan has refuted Kisch’s allegations of mismanagement and threatened to take the matter to Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara.

In his letter to Dayan, Kisch raised concerns over three board members, each of whom were appointed by the previous government: former MK Collette Avital, former MK and former education minister Rabbi Shai Piron, and former MK Shuli Moalem.

Kisch claimed that their appointments were never reviewed by the appropriate selection committee and therefore were illegitimate.

Their presence at board meetings, he wrote, “is a serious failure on your part as chairman of Yad Vashem, calling into question the legality of all the decisions made at management meetings since you were appointed to your position.”

Dayan wrote back that meetings were held according to regulations and that since the board members in question had not been ousted, there was no reason to prevent them from attending.

An unnamed source close to Dayan told Hebrew media Thursday that Kisch was making a “clumsy” attempt to oust him and replace him with a political ally.

The source claimed that “because of Dayan’s integrity [Kisch] did not find any fault and latched onto several technical matters” — principally the presence of board members Avital, Piron, and Moalem, the source said.

Kisch recently had to backtrack on an attempt to install political appointees on the board of the Israel National Library after a massive outcry alleging the move would destroy the independence of the national institution.

Over 120 Holocaust educators from around the world issued an open letter over the weekend expressing “great concern” over the government’s alleged desire to remove Dayan.

Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.