WZO drops cushy post for Yair Netanyahu after nomination backfires

Following the dramatic collapse Wednesday night of an agreement on appointments at key Zionist institutions, World Zionist Organization heads were voting Sunday on a new list of incoming executive appointments that does not include Yair Netanyahu, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s elder son.

A source in the WZO said there is currently no path for Yair to receive the appointment. The Prime Minister’s Office had made an effort overnight, which was rebuffed, to torpedo the new list so that he would still be included, the source said.

Under the arrangement currently up for vote, Rabbi Doron Perez, chairman of the religious Zionist World Mizrachi movement — and father of Cpt. Daniel Perez, who was killed in the October 7 Hamas attack and whose body was held in Gaza for two years — will become the next WZO chair. Halfway through the five-year term, Yaakov Hagoel, the current chairman, will replace him.

A list of about 30 other people is set to be approved as members of the WZO Executive. In addition to these, the current draft of appointments allows for two other members to be added by the World Likud party in the future, to be approved by a vote of the Zionist General Council (ZGC).

While it is possible that Netanyahu loyalist Miki Zohar might try to put Yair Netanyahu up for one of those spots, the WZO source said there is no chance ZGC would ever approve his nomination, thereby closing off any possibility of him getting in.

The online vote began Sunday and closes on Tuesday morning.

On Saturday night, Netanyahu’s office reached out to Perez’s Mizrachi movement to try to get the vote canceled or postponed, the WZO source said. That effort did not succeed.

It is widely believed that the prime minister had coordinated with Zohar earlier this week, helping him win the election for the leadership of World Likud over his rival Hagoel, in exchange for Yair’s nomination.

However, Zohar told Hebrew media outlets on Saturday night that it was his idea to nominate Yair Netanyahu, and that the prime minister was unaware of the effort.

On Wednesday night, a compromise agreement on appointments at key Zionist institutions, conducted in tandem with the World Zionist Congress in Jerusalem, fell apart after the younger Netanyahu was unexpectedly added at the last minute.

That move crossed a red line for many WZO members and backfired on Zohar, a Netanyahu loyalist who currently serves as culture and sports minister. It will likely see his rival Hagoel return to the position Zohar had long coveted, the chairmanship of the WZO.

The position for which Yair Netanyahu had been nominated, said to be the leadership of the WZO’s Diaspora and Information Department, comes with an office, a car, and a salary commensurate with that of a government minister.

It is not clear who would get the position instead.

The younger Netanyahu, who has spent much of the past two years living in Miami, Florida, is best known for his firebrand social media presence and association with far-right European and American politicians and figures. In recent months, he has denounced the current IDF chief of staff, called Qatar’s leader a modern-day Hitler, blamed the Israeli left for major forest fires, and castigated the president of France.

Under the current plan, the arrangement for the leadership of the Jewish National Fund-KKL will remain as previously agreed before the deal blew up. Yesh Atid MK Meir Cohen would serve as the next chairman of the Jewish National Fund-KKL, retiring from the Knesset after 12 years. He would be replaced in the middle of his term by a representative of the Likud party.

That arrangement is set to be approved by JNF-KKL in the coming weeks.