The Ministry of Tourism of Israel has moved its North American PR account, reportedly worth a half million, from Geoffrey Weill Assocs., New York, to MWWPR, headed by Michael Kempner, a fundraiser for Hillary Clinton.
Weill, which had the account since 2006, had succeeded MWW and 5W Public Relations. It did not seek a new contract.
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Uri Steinberg, who was named Tourism Commissioner in 2014 to succeed Haim Gutin, made the announcement. Before joining the Ministry in 2005, he was senior assistant to the spokesperson of the Interior Ministry of Justice and Israel’s Attorney General for four years.
He served in the Ministry’s North American tourism department in Jerusalem before moving to New York.
“MWWPR has deep expertise in the travel sector and a proven record of successfully executing large-scale tourism efforts, which makes it the perfect strategic communications partner as we work to increase awareness of Israel’s offerings through a multifaceted media campaign,” said Steinberg.
Kempner’s firm had named former New York Congressman Anthony Weiner to its board of advisers on July 23, 2015 but ended the tie in mid-September. The New York Post said an internal memo described Weiner as a “victim of the media who left of his own accord to start his own company.”
Weiner’s alleged “sexting” to women became the subject of a media firestorm including a Sept. 3 column by the New York Post’s John Podhoretz. Focus was also put on his wife, Huma Abedin, one of Clinton’s top aides. She recently announced she was divorcing him.
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