Prime Minister Netanyahu will soon ask former minister and dissident Natan Sharansky to serve as chairman of the Jewish Agency, sources close to the two men confirmed on Sunday.
Sharansky, who currently heads the Shalem Center's Adelson Institute for Strategic Studies, wanted to run for the position in 2005, but his candidacy was prevented by then-prime minister Ariel Sharon, who backed then-Ra'anana mayor and current Kadima MK Ze'ev Bielski. But unlike that race, Sharansky would have the prime minister's support this time, making him a certain winner.
"There has not yet been a formal and serious offer, but when there is one, he would take it," said a source close to Netanyahu and Sharansky who spoke about the matter with Sharansky on Sunday.
