New absorption minister doesn't speak English
Jul. 7, 2008
Gil Hoffman , THE JERUSALEM POST
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The cabinet voted on Sunday to approve the appointments of Eli Aflalo as
immigrant absorption minister and Ruhama Avraham as minister of tourism -
two positions that require regular dealings with English speakers in Israel
and abroad.

The appointments of the two Kadima ministers will be brought to a vote in
the Knesset on Monday.

In a related appointment, Labor's Avishay Braverman's position as chair of
the Knesset Finance Committee will be voted on when a majority is found to
pass it.
Avraham speaks passable if not completely fluent English while Aflalo speaks
French, but does not speak English. Sources close to Prime Minister Ehud
Olmert said the ministers' language skills were not a factor in the decision
to appoint them.

"Speaking English is not part of the criteria for the jobs," an Olmert
associate said. "No government has ever given its ministers an English test
and we won't be the first to start. There are world leaders like [French
President Nicholas] Sarkozy who don't speak English."

But officials in the ministries and the Jewish Agency and professionals in
the fields of absorption and tourism stressed the importance of speaking
English fluently.
"The appointment of an absorption minister who doesn't speak English like
Aflalo proves that the address for absorption is the Agency, where we take
our job seriously," an Agency official said. "The government shouldn't be
surprised if it plays second fiddle on Jewish world issues if these are the
kind of people they appoint. Maybe it would be better if the ministry was
abolished and the money spent elsewhere."

The Agency official said the last few absorption ministers all "seemed to
hate the job."

Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni held the post in the last government while she
was also justice minister and had her current portfolio.

Ze'ev Boim received the ministry as a consolation prize when Olmert bypassed
him for his preferred job of Knesset speaker when the government was formed
in May 2006. He left the job a year ago in favor of the Construction and
Housing Ministry.

Ya'acov Edri wanted to be interior minister but he agreed to take the
Absorption portfolio last July on the condition that he would also be
appointed minister of Negev and Galilee development. Now, when he was forced
to give Aflalo one of the two jobs, he chose to disappoint him by giving him
Absorption and not letting the Afula resident become Negev and Galilee
development minister.

"It's a scandal that the Absorption Ministry has its third minister in two
years," said former deputy absorption minister Marina Solodkin (Kadima). "It
shows disrespect to the ministry staff and to the million immigrants served
by the ministry. It makes the government look foolish in the eyes of the
Diaspora and sends them a message that the government of Israel is
unprofessional, anti-immigrant and does not want aliya."

A Likud source compared the Aflalo and Avraham appointments to its handling
of the Second Lebanon War, saying that both proved that the government was
"amateurish."

"To place two clearly unqualified ministers whose English leaves what to be
desired in such important positions highlights that this government's only
goal is survival," the Likud source said.

Avraham said Sunday that she "speaks quite good English," and that she feels
comfortable conversing in the language, adding that she spoke at Israel's
60th birthday event in New York City. She said she also spoke a little
Spanish and that she understands Arabic. But tourism officials said that was
not good enough and that they missed former tourism minister Isaac Herzog,
who is a native English speaker.

"It's absurd that in the year 2008 we would even consider appointing a
tourism minister who doesn't speak English fluently and eloquently," said
Mark Feldman, the CEO of the Jerusalem-based travel agency Ziontours.

"It's a slap in the face to tourism professionals in this country and
abroad. We're talking about the second-largest source of income to this
country, so it's imperative that we have someone fluent in English. The
tourism minister represents us abroad in countless forums so they must feel
comfortable speaking English conversationally.

"Israel is a brand and the tourism minister becomes a symbol of the brand. A
pretty smile is not enough to promote this country."