JERUSALEM — A veteran Jewish Agency for Israel official has been tapped to solve a financial crisis at a Negev town with close ties to United Jewish Communities of MetroWest New Jersey.

Arieh Azoulay will serve as mayor of Ofakim for a two-year rehabilitative period. He replaces Avi Asraf, who was fired two months ago for what the Interior Ministry called a failure to manage his budget and for firing municipal workers improperly.

Azoulay will be in charge of implementing a financial recovery plan at the municipality.

"Stabilizing Ofakim and ensuring its success is an important mission to help the public," said Interior Minister Meir Sheetrit. "I am convinced that Azoulay will do the job properly and contribute to the city from his vast experience in the public sector."

Asraf appealed to the Supreme Court, seeking to overturn the ministry's decision and reinstate him as mayor, but the appeal was not expected to succeed.

Ofakim is a sister community to United Jewish Communities of MetroWest NJ under the Jewish Agency's Partnership 2000, or P2K, program. Although the town's financial and political crisis had no impact on joint activities between the partners, UJC officials have been watching the process keenly.

MetroWest Israel operations director Amir Shacham said he was looking forward to working with Azoulay for the betterment of the people of Ofakim. He said the partnership, which includes financial support and exchange programs, would go on as normal.

"I know Arieh Azoulay for many years," Shacham said. "He has a positive record. He's not a superstar and he's not the leader Ofakim was waiting for, but perhaps in the two-year period, he can succeed in stabilizing the town."

At the Jewish Agency, the Moroccan-born Azoulay filled several roles, including heading the agency's delegations in Europe and Latin America, chairing its immigration and absorption committee, and serving as a member of its board of governors.

Azoulay, who is affiliated with the Labor Party, served as vice chair of the Union of Local Authorities in Israel and mayor of the southern coastal city of Ashdod from 1983 to 1989, where his accomplishments included forming the Ashdod Development Company and the Korin Maman Museum of Art.

Although they come from different political backgrounds, Azoulay for decades has worked closely with Sheetrit, who was also born in Morocco and served as mayor of a development town and as a top JAFI official. Being close with the powerful minister should help advance Ofakim and guarantee it crucial allocations of ministry funds, observers say.

Azoulay declined to comment for this article, saying that he first wanted to start his new job and learn the ins and outs of the position. But JAFI officials who know him well said that he was the perfect fit for Ofakim.

"He is friendly, down to earth, and hard-working and gets along well with people," a JAFI official said. "He understands Israeli politics, municipal work, and the Jewish world, which is important because of P2K. He laid the foundation for Ashdod to become a bustling metropolis on the Mediterranean. That was his dream, and he made it come true."

The official compared Azoulay to former Labor Party chair Amram Mitzna, a longtime mayor of Haifa who quit the Knesset to serve as mayor of the struggling Negev development town of Yeroham. Mitzna has been credited with turning the town around and serving as a model for other Negev mayors.

Azoulay "can do for Ofakim what Mitzna did for Yeroham," the official said. "He is not a laid-back guy who can just sit back and enjoy his pension. He is a doer. He always has to be on the ball."