The Jewish National Fund (JNF) will open a special bank account for donations that are designated for specific projects. The decision followed a series of meetings between the leadership of JNF Israel, JNF World co-chairman Ezra Binyamini, and JNF leaders.
The parties also agreed that money deposited in the account would only be used to finance projects approved by JNF Israel. Depositing money in a separate account will also enable regular monitoring of performance.
The parties reached the arrangement after a series of arguments and confrontations between JNF Israel and JNF America centered on which projects the donations would be used for. The disputes led JNF America to open a separate bank account, where it deposited some donations.
JNF world chairman Yehiel Leket also expressed his displeasure at remarks by JNF officials cited by "Globes" yesterday criticizing activities by JNF America president Ronald S. Lauder. Leket said JNF America had many achievements in recent years under Lauder's leadership. Lauder was behind JNF's database project, named for him, and Lauder personally donated money to JNF.
Leket said there was no reason for criticizing Lauder's contributions as president of JNF America.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes.co.il - on March 15, 2005