Businessman Lev Leviyev is a partner in the Ezrat Menahem non profit organization, which purchased a portion of the plaza at the Western Wall from the State. "Globes" has learned that Leviyev apparently funded the purchase. Leviyev declined to comment on the matter.
Other members in the non profit organization are: the head of the Habad "kolel" (institute of higher Jewish education); Rabbi Adin Steinzaltz; Shlomo Eliahu (son of the National Religious Party spiritual leader Rabbi Mordechai Eliahu); Binyamin Klein, the former secretary of the Lubavitcher Rebbe; former Ministry of Education director-general Ben Zion Del and former Ministry of Finance director general Shmuel Slavin.
Last week "Globes" reported that, a half year ago, the Government Company for the Rehabilitation and Development of the Jewish Quarter of Jerusalem sold a portion of the Western Wall courtyard to the Ezrat Menahem non profit organization. The sale was conducted via a tender offered last July by the Government Company for the Rehabilitation and Development of the Jewish Quarter of Jerusalem.
Ezrat Menahem was the only bidder. According to the terms agreed on by the non profit organization and the government company, Ezrat Menahem may build a large visitors center on the site, which will also serve as a yeshiva and events hall for private bar mitzvas events. Directly before the "Globes" item appeared, Gilad Baniel, general manager of the Government Company for the Rehabilitation and Development of the Jewish Quarter, said there was no sale involved in the matter but rather a donation given by donors wishing to erect a public facility.
Senior government officials have known of the sale for a long time but preferred to keep it confidential, apparently, due to the public outcry over previous sales conducted by the Government Company for the Rehabilitation and Development of the Jewish Quarter
A government committee established to examine the Western Wall courtyard sale approved the sale of a portion of the plaza to Ezrat Menachem but forbade the building of an events hall on the site. The committee was set up by the State Attorney's office following an interim injunction issued by the Jerusalem District Court that prevented the sale from going ahead.
The Israel Land Administration is now fighting to cancel the deal. ILA Director General Avi Drexler appealed to Prime Minister Ehud Barak, asking that the deal be canceled. Drexler maintains that the transaction deviates from the conditions under which the ILA transferred the property in question over to the Government Company for the Rehabilitation and Development of the Jewish Quarter.
The terms of the agreement state that in cases of a dispute between the Government Company for the Rehabilitation and Development of the Jewish Quarter of Jerusalem and the Israel Land Administration, the Prime Minister or a minister of his choice will settle the conflict.
Published by Israel's Business Arena on March 13, 2000.