In an unprecedented move, The Jewish Agency has [at the last-minute] closed today’s final Board plenary to non-members, including the media. The plenary largely focuses on discussions surrounding next year’s budget. In the past, the Agency has been widely praised – including on eJP – for having this process open.

An Agency representative told eJP the reason was so board members would not be inhibited to express their thoughts openly. Having attended this session every year since 2007, and listening to the extremely forthright comments being made, one can only assume this last minute closure is because The Agency has something to hide, not because members will not speak their mind!

Jim Tisch; Natan Sharansky; Alan Hoffmann:
Shame on you.