Dalia Itzik to Leave Hadassah Board Chair at End of 2026

Dalia Itzik, the former Knesset speaker who chairs the board of Hadassah Medical Center, plans to leave the post at the end of 2026 after six years in the role. Her departure was announced Thursday after she informed the worldwide Hadassah women’s organization, which owns the hospital, of her intention to finish her term. Itzik said she had decided to move on while keeping her connection with Hadassah and continuing her work for Israel’s residents. “Hadassah was and will always remain home,” she said. She thanked the women’s organization, the hospital’s management and her fellow directors. Before taking the board chair, she led Hadassah International in Israel. Carol Ann Schwartz, president of the women’s organization, thanked Itzik for her contribution during both periods. Schwartz pointed to the COVID-19 pandemic and continuing security challenges as difficult periods they had managed together. The announcement credited work by Itzik, the board and management on the rehabilitation center at Mount Scopus, hospital expansion, a clinic in Netivot and efforts to stabilize the institution’s finances. After leaving the chairmanship, Itzik is to become an honorary global ambassador for Hadassah. The women’s organization expects to decide in the coming days how to organize the search for a new board chair. The announcement did not name a successor or set a date for an appointment.