Im Tirtzu CEO Matan Peleg on Sunday sent a letter to World Zionist Organization (WZO) Avraham Duvdevani, requesting to prevent the appointment of Uri Zaki, former Director of B’Tselem USA, to the WZO.
Last week Israel Hayom reported that WZO Secretary General Reuben Shalom distributed a letter to members of the WZO Executive asking them to approve Zaki’s appointment to a senior position in the Department for Zionist Operations.
Zaki’s appointment was recommended by Dror Morag, former Meretz Secretary General and current Director of WZO’s Herzl Center. Zaki previously served as Chairman of Tzeiri Meretz, the youth wing of the Meretz party where his partner, Tamar Zandberg, currently serves as a Member of Knesset.
In his letter to Duvdevani, Peleg wrote: “During these days when the Jewish People are reciting the Hanukkah blessing of ‘in those days, in these times,’ it is worth recalling that the Maccabean revolt broke out against the backdrop of sanctions imposed on the Jewish People by a foreign ruler – Antiochus – which were encouraged by a small Jewish elite minority known as the ‘Hellenists.’
“We must insist that at this time, as in the days of old, the Jewish People condemn every attempt of the nations of the world to impose sanctions and forced impositions on the Jewish People.”
Peleg stressed that “the WZO cannot incorporate a man in their ranks who served as Director of B’Tselem USA, an organization that deliberately and explicitly calls for the sanctions on Israel in international institutions.”
“We demand that you not confirm the appointment of Mr. Zaki,” Peleg added, “before he declares outright that he strongly opposes the policy of B’Tselem, whose CEO just recently called for international intervention against Israel at the United Nations.”