The KKL-JNF Board of Directors is comprised of 37 members and the new Board of Directors that was elected includes representatives from a variety of denominations and sectors in Israel, including secular, religious and Haredi Jews, liberal-pluralist denominations and organizations, and global movements. The new Board of Directors shall include 13 women from the various factions.
During the meeting, Eyal Ostrinsky was elected as Chairman of the KKL-JNF, with the unanimous support of the Board members. Ostrinsky is a resident of Mevaseret Zion, married and a father of one, holds an LLB from the Hebrew University and has served for the last 5 years as the Director of Israel-Diaspora Relations at the World Zionist Organization and as Chief of Staff to the acting Chairman of the Zionist Executive. Prior to that, Ostrinsky served as a Senior Advisor to the Minister of Economy and Industry Amir Peretz and Chief of Staff for Amir Peretz when he was Chairman of the Labor Party and served in 2015-2017 as a Senior Advisor to the then-Chairman of KKL-JNF, Danny Atar.
Ostrinsky, who will be the 16th Chairman of KKL- JNF since its founding 124 years ago, is also the youngest chairman to ever serve in the position. At the meeting, Ostrinsky said "it is a very great privilege and great responsibility to serve in this position, which was held by titans of our Zionist history. For me, this position is a dream and a profound mission.
Eyal Ostrinsky. Photograph by: Kopitchinski Studio
I have great appreciation for the representatives of all the factions seated here and I believe that together with the dedicated KKL-JNF employees, we will take KKL-JNF to more proper and powerful places than ever. In the coming years, we will focus upon the core of KKL-JNF's work, in the Brown-Blue-Green areas that are more current and relevant today than ever before: beginning with the strengthening of the field of forestation and the policy of zero derogation of forests and expanding tree plantings, empowering the field of urban forestation and shading streets in localities, continuing with the promotion of Israeli agriculture and water supply that supports it and concluding with the restoration and development of the Gaza Envelope and the localities in the confrontation line in the North and expansion of the Zionist settlement of the Galilee and Negev, and south of Gedera and north of Hadera – which is the Zionist vision and challenge in Israel of 2025.
Simultaneously, we will work to strengthen Zionist education with an emphasis upon informal education and national fulfillment enterprises alongside development and cultivation of technological excellence in the social outlying areas and GIS, and we will continue to work to strengthen the Diaspora Jewry vis-à-vis the incredible challenges of combating antisemitism and harm to personal security alongside development of leadership on campuses and the Jewish communities in the diaspora. These are the main objectives that we seek to achieve today, and I believe that with hard work and a great sense of commitment, we can do it together."