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As Corruption Allegations Mount, KKL in Israel Elects New Leader; Stenzler Gets the Axe

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Efi Stenzler has served as Chairman of the Board of KKL since 2006. Prior to that, Stenzler was Mayor of Givatayim and Chairman of the Planning and Building Committee, and member of the Central Committee of the Histadrut Labor Union. He has been a member of The Jewish Agency’s Board of Governors since 2002.
At the recently held World Zionist Congress in Jerusalem, Labor MK Dani Atar emerged victorious in an election for the post of Chairman of the Board of Directors of the KKL among activists in the party and delegates to the convention.

It appears that the Keren Kayemeth LeYisrael, the Israeli arm of the Jewish National Fund has a new leader. At the recently held World Zionist Congress in Jerusalem, Labor MK Dani Atar emerged victorious in an election for the post of Chairman of the Board of Directors among activists in the party and delegates to the convention.

According to published reports, Atar garnered 683 votes, which gave him a decisive victory over the other nominees; namely Yeroham Mayor Michael Biton and the incumbent KKL chieftain Efi Stenzler.

Stenzler has served in this position since 2006. Prior to that, Stenzler was Mayor of Givatayim and Chairman of the Planning and Building Committee, and member of the Central Committee of the Histadrut Labor Union. He has been a member of The Jewish Agency’s Board of Governors since 2002.

Founded in 1901 as a non-profit charitable entity, the Keren Kayemet LeYisrael was tasked with buying and developing land in Ottoman Palestine (later British Mandate for Palestine, and subsequently Israel) for Jewish settlement. The organization now holds about 13% of the total land in Israel, most of it in areas of high demand; its total worth being $1.68 billion. According to the data manager of Israeli lands in the central areas, KKL holds more land than the State, and in the Tel Aviv area the amount of land held by KKL equals that of the State.

A JPost report said that Atar thanked the MKs who supported him, counting among them Labor leader Isaac Herzog and secretary-general Hilik Bar, both of whom have repeatedly denied intervening in the race.

After the World Zionist Congress formally approves the agreement later this week, Atar will quit the Knesset.

“I am emotional about my election and I am aware of the challenge of the mission of restoring the public’s trust in the KKL,” Atar said. “The KKL is starting a new era – an era of transparency, trust and serving the public with proper management.”

Atar was referencing the financial debacles and corporate malfeasance that has plagued the KKL for years. When the media spotlight began to shine on the massive imbroglio that had consumed the KKL for years under the leadership of Effi Stenzler, the government stepped in with its own proposals to rectify the organizational problems.

In February of 2015, Yesh Atid Chairman and former Finance Minister Yair Lapid presented his plan for the nationalization of the KKL in front of their offices in Tel Aviv.

“Today the symbol of the KKL is corruption and the money that is transferred in the shadows from place to place without reporting to anyone, and the strange appointments like the co-Chairman and tens of members of the Board of Directors and emissaries across the world, “ Lapid said.

He added that, “It’s no surprise that everyone was against our attempt to bring transparency to the KKL and to bring it under the supervision of the state as part of the 2015 budget. All the politicians were against it because they understood that it will put an end to the corrupt machine which they have enjoyed for so many years.”

Lapid essentially charged the KKL brass with dipping their hands into the proverbial cookie jar way too often. He said that the KKL had “lost its way” over the years and became “a body pre-occupied with oiling the wheels of the corrupt machine.”

Referencing the profligate spending of an organization that subsists on the generosity of individual donors, Lapid declared: “Instead of using the money to fund political operatives and expensive trips abroad and limitless expense accounts, we’ll use the money so that the middle class won’t end each month in debt and the weakest in society won’t start it in debt.”

The KKL’s mounting troubles, however, don’t stop with the revelation of the lavish lifestyle they provide to their highest echelon.

According to the “Calculist,” an Israeli business newspaper, most of the employees of KKL are entitled to a funded pension, which gives them a regular income for the rest of their lives. Long term employees are entitled to a maximum pension of 70% of their final salary for 35 years of employment. Just last year alone, pension payments to its retirees amounted to $29.7 million. Financial pensions of KKL are more generous than those to employees of the State. According to the financial report, employees who have worked for KKL for 15 years will be entitled to a pension of 40% of their salary (compared with only 30% for employees of the State who receive a budgetary pension).

According to the agreement that was signed between the management and the employees in April 2013, KKL designated up to $550 million to fulfill the obligation to employees and retirees of KKL. One of the assumptions in calculating this sum is that the salaries of the employees will go up every year at an average rate of 3%, and that is after taking off the increase in cost of living. (That is to say, that the nominal increase in salaries is even greater).

What has also been a source for concern for government officials are the disparate numbers in the KKL’s accounting sheets.

As was previously reported in the Jewish Voice, the KKL began 2013 with the vast sum of more than a billion shekels in cash, yet by the end of the year its reserves had dwindled, and the balance had been reduced to $124.9 million. In addition, the evaluation of the funds of the organization (land and securities), stood at $2.21 billion at the end of the previous year, while at the beginning of the year it stood at $2.76 billion.

Many Israeli political insiders have intimated that the election of Atar was a sign that KKL needed to have some fresh blood infused into the organizational structure. While the controversy ensued and KKL’s financial improprieties dominated the headlines, KKL Chairman Stenzler remained mum when accusations of nefarious conduct were being leveled against the organization.

In November of 2014, Stenzler’s alleged comments directed to former Israeli Ambassador to the US Colette Avital made headlines. Ha’Aretz reported that Stenzler made an indecent proposal to her at the home of the Italian ambassador in Israel during a JNF pomegranate tree planting ceremony.

Roger Kohankin

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