Ex-MK Lipman leaves WZO post
Quits for role as independent public diplomacy consultant
Former Knesset member Rabbi Dov Lipman left his position as director of public diplomacy in the vice chairman’s office of the World Zionist Organization last week, Lipman told The Jerusalem Post Saturday night.
Lipman said he has decided to serve as an independent consultant on public diplomacy and Israel-Diaspora relations. As part of this new direction, Lipman will embark on speaking tours on behalf of Nefesh B’Nefesh to assist their aliya efforts.
“I want to inspire anyone considering moving to Israel to take the step and fulfill their dreams,” Lipman said.
The former Knesset member will also continue working on Israel advocacy projects and speaking to parliamentary and student delegations visiting Israel from throughout the world.
Lipman’s efforts for the WZO brought him to Sweden, Germany, Turkey, Australia, Hong Kong, New Zealand and the United States.
“I thank the World Zionist Organization for giving me the opportunity to conduct Israel advocacy this past year,” he said. “I am looking forward to my new opportunity in which I will continue these same efforts, as well as focus on inspiring more Jews throughout the Diaspora to make Israel their home.”
In addition to serving in the Knesset for two years, Lipman has worked as a talk show host on the now defunct Internet radio station VoiceofIsrael. com.
WZO vice chairman David Breaktsone, who was Lipman’s boss, said he was sorry to see him go.
“The WZO is appreciative of the opportunity we had to have former MK Dov Lipman serve as our director of public diplomacy over the past year,” he said. “His passion for presenting Israel positively without whitewashing the complexities of the issues with which we have to deal translated into thousands of high-impact hours with Israel activists, community leaders, students, and politicians around the world.”
Breakstone added that “Dov’s ability to deconstruct the most complicated situations and present them in a coherent fashion so that even the uninitiated can understand the difficulties Israel is facing and why we are responding as we do, added immeasurably to our ability to champion the Zionist cause at a time when so many are working to delegitimize it.”
Lipman’s first trip abroad for Nefesh B’Nefesh will be this week to Montreal and Toronto. He still hopes to return to the next Knesset, which could be likely with his Yesh Atid Party doing well in the polls and party leader Yair Lapid’s own recent focus on Israel advocacy.