Dani Dayan‘s position as chairman of Yad Vashem is safe amid an international outcry over alleged efforts by Israel’s ruling coalition to dismiss him, Channel 12 reports.
The Israeli news channel on Sunday cited senior government officials as saying that the issue had been taken “off the table” after it was reported earlier by the network that Education Minister Yoav Kisch was for several months seeking Dayan’s removal, eventually sending him a letter accusing him of mismanagement at Israel’s national Holocaust memorial and museum in Jerusalem.
Dayan has denied Kisch’s allegations and threatened to take the matter to Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara.
Dayan was appointed to head Yad Vashem in August 2021 under the government of Prime Minister Naftali Bennett.
Condemnations of the alleged move to replace Dayan came from around the world, including a letter signed by 123 Holocaust educators and comments from deputy chairman of the World Zionist Organization Gil Segal.
Katharina von Schnurbein, the European Union’s coordinator on combating antisemitism, and Ellen Germain, the U.S. Special Envoy for Holocaust Issues at the State Department, also voiced their concerns.
“The U.S. values the crucial work of Yad Vashem and its director’s leadership as we work together on Holocaust education, remembrance, and research. Maintaining the independence of such institutions around the world is key as we face efforts to distort/deny the facts of the Holocaust,” Germain wrote on X, formerly Twitter.
