April 11, 2008

A nominating committee has selected Bruce Arbit to replace Richard Wexler as chairman of the United Israel Appeal.

The UIA acts as the legal conduit for dollars from the North American Jewish federation system to the Jewish Agency for Israel. The UIA also receives tens of millions of dollars in grants from the U.S. government to resettle Jewish refugees from countries of distress in Israel.

Wexler, currently in his second term as UIA chairman, informed the organization's board he would not seek a third term.

The nominating committee selected Arbit in a meeting on Monday, Wexler said. Arbit is the president of the Milwaukee Jewish Federation and is on the Jewish Agency's board of governors.

The UIA board will approve the selection later this month, and Arbit will take over as the organization's chairman at the United Jewish Communities General Assembly in Jerusalem this fall.

As UIA chairman, Arbit will get a seat on the Jewish Agency's executive committee and on its nominating committee.