Dani Dayan Israel’s former consul general to New York and a leader involved in Israel’s West Bank settlements is soon to be the next chair of Yad Vashem, Israel’s Holocaust museum.
Dayan would now succeed Avner Shalev, who had been the head of the museum for 27 years. In his four-year term as a diplomat in New York until last year, Dayan gained a reputation for building bridges and advocating for religious pluralism and minority rights.
Source: JYA (Courtesy of Dayan)
As reported by the Jerusalem Post, Colette Avital, who chairs the umbrella association for Holocaust survivors in Israel and served in the New York consul post in the 1990s said of Dayan, “He is a man of broad horizons who was a successful consul general in New York.”
Dayan is also the former chair of the Yesha Council, an umbrella organization for Israeli West Bank settlements. He has lost two bids in recent years for Israel’s parliament, the Knesset.
Earlier on, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reportedly hoped to appoint Effi Eitam, a former general and far-right politician to the same post. The choice drew widespread opposition from Holocaust survivors, politicians and Jewish organizations because in 2006, Eitam had called to “remove Israeli Arabs from the political system.” He also had been reprimanded by the military’s chief of staff because in 1988, soldiers under his command beat two Palestinians, and one died of his wounds. His appointment never went through, but nonetheless, he wished Dayan good luck for the role.
As it stands, the full and final appointment for the position now rests with the Israeli government.
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