The Jewish Agency Board of Governors approved the governance resolutions passed earlier in the day by the Assembly. The vote appeared to be unanimous.

Richie Pearlstone, JAFI’s Board Chair, announced the nominating committee would meet at 10:30 tomorrow morning and we should look for “the white smoke” to signal a candidate has been chosen. However, there is little doubt Natan Sharansky will not be the nominee. First, as of now there is no opposition. Earlier today, representatives of Kadima agreed to support Sharansky. In return, look for other political plums to be negotiated: perhaps the CEO position at the Jewish National Fund here in Israel to Kadima; maybe Michael Melchoir taking over the top role at the WZO. All this and more is possible as the Israeli political parties jockey for power.

Also this afternoon, Sharansky met with members of the Reform Zionist movements to asssure them of an open mind in matters dealing with religious pluralism.