The Jewish Agency for Israel (JAFI) has just announced that Larry Weinberg, former executive director of ISRAEL21c, has been named its Chief Communications Officer.

Since Natan Sharansky took over as chairman about a year ago, he has completely revamped JAFI’s top brass.
Another significant change is that the agency’s central marketing office will be moved from Jerusalem to New York.

Sharansky is trying to set the organization on a new path, focusing on Jewish identity-building around the world instead of its traditional mission of convincing Diaspora Jews to immigrate to Israel.

According to the JAFI press release, Weinberg will be responsible for the management of the agency’s brand, its marketing and communications activities, and lead its efforts to reach out to the world Jewish community.

A marketing and communications professional with 30 years experience Weinberg most recently served as executive vice president of ISRAEL21c, and helped to conceive, create and set the standard for the “Beyond the Conflict” branch of pro-Israel communications, which had led to extensive adoption of the positive messaging approach to Israel’s image.

Prior to joining ISRAEL21c, Larry served as marketing vice chair for the Birthright Israel initiative.