Jerusalem Venture Partners (JVP) managing partner Erel Margalit has withdrawn his candidacy for chairman of the Israel Broadcasting Authority (IBA) a few weeks before the cabinet was due to confirm it. Sources inform ''Globes'' that, on Friday, Margalit told Minister without portfolio Eitan Cabel, who is responsible for the IBA, that he wished to withdraw his candidacy because of a possible conflict of interests raise by various parties between the appointment and his involvement in animation studio in Jerusalem.
Margalit wrote to Cabel, “The animation studio is a project of paramount importance that will encourage leading professionals to come to Israel and turn Jerusalem into a leading center for digital animation. I initiated and founded the studio, and I intend to be involved in its activity. I see no chance that I can be freed from my business with the project.”
Margalit thanked Cabel for the confidence placed in him, and said that he would continue to help in every way to revive public broadcasting in Israel. Cabel’s office will shortly announce a new candidate for IBA chairman.
The appointment of Margalit, 45, a millionaire and high-tech personality, took the broadcasting industry by surprise, partly because he lacked experience in the field. Margalit founded JVP, and his venture capital activities have made him a prominent figure on the Israeli and international high-tech scene.
Israel Media Watch and Ometz - Citizens for Proper Administration, Judicial and Social Justice called for Margalit’s appointment as IBA chairman to be voided on the grounds that it was an political appointment that was made unlawfully and that Margalit lacked the necessary experience for the job.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes.co.il - on July 18, 2006
© Copyright of Globes Publisher Itonut (1983) Ltd. 2006