Eli Avidar

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Eli Avidar
Ministerial roles
2021–	Minister in the Prime Minister's Office
Faction represented in the Knesset
2019–2021	Yisrael Beiteinu
Personal details
Born	(1964-12-03) 3 December 1964 (age 56) Alexandria, Egypt

Eli Avidar (Hebrew: אֵלִי אֲבִידָר‎; born 3 December 1964) is an Israeli politician. A member of Yisrael Beiteinu, he is currently Minister in the Prime Minister's Office.^[1] Prior to being elected to the Knesset in 2019 he was the president of the fintech start-up, and Vice President of the World Jewellery Confederation. He is former Managing Director of the Israel Diamond Institute Group of Companies, the Israel Diamond Exchange, as well as used to be a senior diplomat in the Israeli Foreign Ministry.^[2]

Biography[]

Avidar was born as Eli Aboudara in Alexandria, Egypt, to Sephardic Jewish parents Isaac and Fortuna Aboudara. His ancestors, originally from Greece, moved to Egypt at the end of the 19th century. His family immigrated to Israel in 1967, immediately after the Six-Day War.

In 1982, Avidar enlisted in the Israel Defense Forces, and served in the Nachal Unit. Later, he graduated from the Intelligence Corps Officer Training School. He served as a case officer in a special unit, with the rank of Captain (Res). Today, he holds the rank of Major (Res).

After completing his army service in 1989, he graduated from the Hebrew University in Jerusalem with a B.A. in Middle East and General Studies, and, in 2009, completed his M.A. degree in Middle Eastern Studies at the Tel Aviv University.

Diplomatic activities[]

In 1992, after his B.A. studies, he was accepted to the Foreign Ministry Cadet Training Course, and, a year later, he was appointed as Vice-Consul in Philadelphia, United States, where he served for three years. His main duties included working with opinion-makers in the Jewish community and American elected politicians in the five states covered by the consulate.

From 1996 to 1998, Avidar was responsible for the Foreign Ministry department dealing with Inter-Religious affairs—specifically with the Islamic issue. He was active in developing contacts with Muslim leaders in countries with which Israel had no diplomatic relations.

This period marked the height of the suicide-bomber era. Despite this, and at his initiative, Avidar managed to get Islamic leaders, together with the Israeli Chief Rabbi, Eliyahu Bakshi-Doron, to sign a "Convention on the Sanctity of Life", which condemned suicide bombings. Amongst signatories to this Pact were Abdurrahman Wahid, later President of Indonesia, and Maulana Ajmal Qadri, an important religious leader in Pakistan.

In 1998, Avidar was appointed as Foreign Policy Advisor to the Director-General of the Foreign Ministry, and, in 1999, as Foreign Policy Advisor to the Minister of Foreign Affairs at the time, Ariel Sharon. During this period, he held the position of the chairman of the "Third Track" peace negotiation committee with the Palestinians.

In 1999, Avidar was sent to the Emirate of Qatar as the Head of the Israeli Delegation. He developed contacts with the Qatar ruling class, and was credited for that. After the eruption of the second Intifada in 2000, Qatar was the only country to maintain diplomatic relations with Israel, as opposed to Oman, Tunisia, and Morocco, which broke off their diplomatic relations with the country. As a mark of appreciation, the then-Foreign Minister, Prof. Shlomo Ben-Ami, appointed Avidar as Consul-General to Hong Kong and Macao.

From 2001–2005, while he was Consul-General in Hong Kong, Avidar devoted most of his efforts to promoting Israeli exports and the Israeli business presence in Hong Kong. The number of Israeli companies operating in Hong Kong doubled, and the value of exports reached US$1.8 billion. In addition, Avidar assisted leading Israeli companies to improve their operational activities and obtain benefits over and above those in place.

In 2006, after returning to Jerusalem, Avidar was given the responsibility for humanitarian and economic contacts with the Palestinian Authority within the Middle East Economic Division of the Foreign Ministry.

During the Second Lebanon War, he volunteered to act as Spokesman to the Arabic language media, and appeared a significant number of times on Al Jazeera, as well as other Arabic satellite channels. Immediately after the end of the Second Lebanon War, Avidar resigned from his position in the Foreign Ministry to take a period of leave.

Business activities[]

In October 2006, Avidar was appointed by the Board of Directors of the Israel Diamond Institute Group of Companies as its Managing Director. Among the companies under his responsibility and direct management are IDI, HODM, IDT, IDINY, and IDI Asia Pacific.

During his tenure as Managing Director, the Institute worked with its counterparts to better enable those in the diamond industry to operate in China. The IDI hosted the World Diamond Congress in May 2007. In November of that year, the Institute also hosted the President of Liberia, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, and a Memorandum of Understanding was signed between the Israeli and the Liberian diamond sectors. In 2008, Avidar visited Sierra Leone, at the invitation of the Sierra Leone government, and met President Dr Ernest Bai Koroma and Vice President Samuel Sam-Sumana and the Liberian Minister for Mines.

In May 2012, Avidar was elected president of the Israel-Africa Chamber of Commerce. The Israel-Africa Chamber of Commerce was established in June 1996 to provide Israeli companies interested in doing business in Africa with pertinent economic knowledge on the continent, allowing them to easily and successfully operate in a cultural, intellectual, and political arena which is different from their own.^[3]

In June 2014, Avidar was elected for the second term, unanimously.

In May 2015, Eli Avidar, Managing Director of the Israel Diamond Institute, was elected VP of Cibjo, the World Jewellery Confederation. Avidar was also elected as a member of the Board of Directors, a member of the Executive Committee, and a member of the President's Council of Cibjo.^[4]

In January 2016, Avidar was appointed Managing Director of the Israel Diamond Exchange, concurrent with his role as Managing Director of IDI.

In June 2016, Avidar completed his role as President of the Israel-Africa Chamber of Commerce, received the Medal of Honor of the Chamber, and was awarded the title "Honorary President".

Between June 2018 to January 2019, Eli Avidar was the President of the Israeli fintech start-up called Dindex ltd., aiming to create the first financial market for diamonds. The company has a daughter company called Carats.io registered in the UK.

Public activities[]

In 2008, Avidar founded – and is the head of – "The Smart Middle East Forum". The objectives of the forum are to encourage new and different policy initiatives and present the leaders and citizens of Israel with alternatives, which will reflect the necessity of creativity and the understanding of the cultural elements of this part of the world.

The basic principles of strategic dialogue of the Forum are:

• Israel must strive towards peaceful relationships with countries in its region, and, whenever this is impossible, keep the lines of communication open.
• In those countries which do not recognize Israel's right to exist, dialogue should be held with moderate groups.
• Israel's policy in the Middle East must be supported by an understanding of the motivation of the regional attitudes and the ability to recognize the cultural differences between the players in the local arena.
• People and leaders in the Middle East do not function on absolute values – "both" are natural phenomena.
• The concept of time in the Middle East can vary – temporary achievements do not negate long-term objectives.
• The processes of the development of ideas, concepts, and dialogue in the Middle East are basically evolutionary: While creativity and reconstruction are accepted with a positive attitude in western culture, in the Middle East, they are regarded as dishonorable and an erosion of heritage. This development must be evolutionary, not revolutionary.
• Initiative and proactive policy are crucial factors in the Middle East. Complacency and the absence of long-term planning are regarded in the Middle East as an irrevocable weakness.

In 2010, Avidar became Chairman of the Leadership Empowerment Society.

He was elected to the Knesset in the April 2019 elections. In August 2021 he was appointed Minister in the Prime Minister's Office, after which he resigned from the Knesset under the Norwegian Law.

Books[]

He wrote two books in Hebrew: The first one was a non-fiction called Hatehom, translated to English as (2015)

The Abyss spans across six decades and explains why the main diplomatic initiatives have so far failed to solve the Israeli–Palestinian conflict, and what needs to be done to break out of the vicious circle of ignorance and mutual suspicion that characterizes the conflict. Avidar uses his experience as the diplomatic advisor to former Foreign Minister Ariel Sharon, and as head of Israel's representative office in Qatar, to reveal secret diplomatic meetings, as well as the dynamics of the unique and complex diplomacy of the Middle East. He also tells about the activities of the 504 division of the Israel Defense Forces Intelligence Unit, in which he served as an operator of agents.

The second book was published in Hebrew, in 2015, called Ictus, a historical novel about the Roman Empire in 200 AD.

Personal life[]

Avidar is married to Ornit and has three children.^[5]

References[]

External links[]

• "Smart Middle East Forum" – Eli Avidar, Chairman
• Television confrontation with a Syrian spokesman during the "Cast Iron" operation.
• Television confrontation on Al-Jazeera TV station during the Second Lebanon War
• Book by Eli Avidar "The Abyss: Bridging the Divide between Israel and the Arab World"
• Article by Eli Avidar "Death of the Iranian ‘fig leaf’ in Lebanon "
• Article by Eli Avidar "As black gold gets cheaper"
• Article by Eli Avidar: "Where is our gratitude to the Kurdish people?"
• Eli Avidar at the Kimberley Process Convention in Israel 2010: "How does a smart phrase from the former president of Egypt, Anwar El Sadat, relates to the Kimberley Process in 2010?"
• Eli Avidar appointed President of Carats.io
• IDEX and Carats.io Sign Agreement On Data Analysis, Financial Vehicles
• Israeli diamond cryptocurrency joins Celsius financing platform
• Exclusive interview with the President of Carats.io, Eli Avidar: "Changing preconceptions in the diamond and financial markets"