The former longstanding president of JNF is back doing her bit for Israel again.
Gail Seal, 60, who last June stepped down as president of the Jewish National Fund, the UK’s leading humanitarian Israel charity, after 14 years at the helm, has spent the past few months deciding where best to invest her time. She has settled on a trio of new projects.
The biggie, she tells People, is helping to establish a museum that will commemorate every Jewish soldier who fought against the Nazis in the Second World War.
“There are some 60,000 British Jewish soldiers that people don’t know about. We are going to be looking for all of them so that they can be remembered,” says Mrs Seal, who will be spearheading the UK campaign.
The museum will be built in Latrun, Jerusalem, at the Yad LaShiryon memorial site. Funding from the Israel government has already been secured. “I am really excited about this. It is something that’s long been needed.”
She has also become a trustee of the Tel Aviv Foundation, an independent body which promotes social change in Tel Aviv. It celebrates its 100th anniversary this year.
Thirdly, she is helping to establish the Friends of Aleh, a fundraising arm of Aleh, Israel’s largest network of residential facilities for children with severe disabilities. The group’s first fundraiser took place last week at the residence of Ron Prosor, London’s Israeli Ambassador.
She says: “I was always going to do something Israel-based, just because of the great love I have for Israel.”
A member of Norrice Lea Synagogue, North London, Mrs Seal is also vice president of the Zionist Federation and a Bicom board member. She has three sons and four grandchildren.