June 24th 2010

Haaretz Daily Newspaper
Letter to the Editor

Re: False Information Appearing in Today’s Paper

I was very surprised to read Nir Hasson’s article in today’s Haaretz English edition and its translation of the Hebrew edition.

The article states that the Jewish Agency is planning to divert funds to programs in the Diaspora at the expense of educational and welfare programs in Israel, according to the new Strategic Plan just passed at its Board of Governors meeting.

This statement is misleading to your readers and is a mis-representation of the facts. The Board of Governors of the Jewish Agency indeed approved a new Strategic Plan but it did not include any decision on diverting funds or cancellation of projects and there certainly was no decision on diverting funds from youth villages, as appeared in the article.

Not only does the article contain a false statement, it also does damage to the Jewish Agency, in terms of our relationships with our donors but most importantly – it is detrimental to the youth studying in our youth villages.

I request that your newspaper, which has the reputation of truthfully representing the facts, will correct this false statement at once in both the English and Hebrew editions.

Sincerely yours,

Richie Pearlstone
Chairman of the Board of Governors
Jewish Agency for Israel