Israeli Jubilee Loses Another Key Leader

JERUSALEM — Israel’s tourism minister has resigned as coordinator of Israel’s 50th anniversary celebrations, the latest casualty of the trouble-plagued festivities.

Moshe Katsav said he was resigning because of criticism from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office.

David Bar-Illan, a top advisor to the prime minister, said Netanyahu would oversee the celebration planning himself.

Katsav’s resignation comes a month after Yitzhak Modai quit as chairman of the jubilee planning committee. Modai, a former finance minister, was the third chairperson of the committee to resign.

Planning for the celebrations has been bogged down by financial problems, disorganization and political infighting.

Katsav, a member of Netanyahu’s ruling Likud Party, said he had considered resigning from the government entirely, but changed his mind after Netanyahu issued a statement expressing his full support and condemning the criticism of Katsav.