There are many people deserving of the Israel Prize, who for some odd reason have never been nominated. One such person is Moshe Edery, who together with his late brother Leon has done more for Israel’s film and television industries than anyone else. There have been award-winning screenwriters, directors, actors, camera and sound crews who have chalked up great achievements, but many of their achievements would not have seen the light of day without Edery’s input as a producer and distributor.
Some forty years ago, the Edery brothers – who were born in Tangier, Morocco, and who grew up in Dimona where they developed a love of cinema – began to distribute films and subsequently launched United King. In a relatively short space of time, they became Israel’s leading distributors, producers and marketers of Israeli films, and also entered into other aspects of the entertainment industry, including television, DVD and stage performances. The brothers produced an average of 15 films per year, often working together with foreign producers and directors. In 2002, together with French producers Samuel and Victor Hadida and local investor Yaacov Cohen, they opened the first in their network of Cinema Cities each with numerous screens. They also acquired individual movie theaters, a music production and distribution company, television studios and more.
Last week, Hannah Brown, who reports and reviews extensively developments in Israel’s movie and television industry, reported that Moshe Edery has founded a new international streaming service, Screen Il that will give Israeli expatriates the opportunity to remain connected to the motherland by having access to all major Israel TV content and Israeli movies. It’s more than just an additional business venture. It’s a subtle form of Zionist outreach. It doesn’t matter how well anyone speaks a language other than their mother tongue, they are always drawn to the literature, cinema and television of their first language. This is particularly the case with people who continue to speak that language at home and in their social circles. Edery announced his new enterprise on the day following his 70th birthday. Instead of giving himself a milestone birthday present, he gave it to Israelis living far from home. While watching Israeli programs and productions on their television sets, and sitting in a family environment, Israeli expats will be imbuing something of Israel in their children that will prove to be more effective than efforts by any Israeli youth emissary. For that, the very least that Edery deserves is an Israel Prize life achievement award.
■ WHOEVER THOUGHT that the “Me Too” movement was a passing phase that would capture media headlines for a short period of time and then fade into obscurity, is about to get an Israeli version of the Harvey Weinstein story. Admittedly the alleged villain is somewhat better looking than Weinstein, but just as evil in forcing his unwanted attentions on vulnerable young women. A double-digit number of women have come forward with tales of the sexual harassment and assault they suffered from models’ agent Shai Avital. It takes only one courageous woman to set the ball rolling. In this case, it was Gal Gvaram who filed a complaint against him and was initially rebuffed by police. Unafraid to reveal her name and her face, the courageous young model set the tone for others to follow. According to the complaints, the alleged assailant, who is presently abroad, is a sexual predator who refuses to take no for an answer and has threatened young models that he will ruin their careers if they continue to resist his advance
s. Avital is not the only influential person in Israel’s fashion industry, who uses his position to sexually exploit young women. There are others whose names will undoubtedly be divulged if Avital is charged and has to go on trial. One of the lawyers representing Avital is Sassy Gez, who is arguably Israel’s best-known criminal lawyer.
■ CORONA AND Delta scares notwithstanding, life goes on and so does business. With this in mind, attorney Erez Knister and finance expert Tamir Peleg together with the law firm of Gilad Bachar & Co, hosted a capital markets conference for long-term savings at the Orient and Inbal hotels in Jerusalem. Among those attending were Jerusalem Mayor Moshe Lion, chairman of the New Histadrut – Arnon Bar-David, commissioner of the Capital Market Authority – Dr. Moshe Barkat, co-CEO, founder and coowner of Altshuler Shaham Investment House – Gilad Altshuler, founder and member of the board of directors of Meitav Dash Investment House – Zvi Stepak, founder and co-CEO of More Investment House – Yossi Levy, CEO of the Ministry of Economy – Dr. Ron Malka, partner and founder of IBI Investment House – Dave Lubetzky, chairman of the Halman-Aldubi Investment Group – Uri Aldubi, owner of Infinity Investment House – Amir Eyal, former Finance Minister Dan Meridor, businessman Itzik Dayan, economist Shlomo Maoz, CEO of Harel Fina
nce – Tal Kedem and many others. Getting such a distinguished group together is quite a coup.
■ UNFORTUNATELY, SOME Israeli employers are very mean when it comes to compensating employees for working from home, and thereby incurring additional expenses for electricity and internet use. A case in point is Bank Leumi, whose employees were refused a very small addition to their salaries because they are forced to work at home due to the new pandemic scare. They are now in the process of declaring a work dispute.
On the other hand, a year after the acquisition deal between two kibbutz companies, Ari owned by Kfar Haruv and Dorot owned by the Spanish Mat Holding Group, their new company launched under the name Aquestia derived from Aqua, the Latin word for water, and Quest, meaning a journey towards a noble goal, hosted some 400 employees at the Burge event park in Binyamina to celebrate the launch of the new company. The event included not only a sumptuous dinner but also a show by comedian Adir Miller. On hand were Aquestia’s CEO Guy Sagie and Erez Beat, the company’s technical director for the Israel market.
The decision makers at Bank Leumi could learn something from them about employer-employee relations.
■ EVEN BEFORE the Ministry for Environmental Protection mounted a campaign to clean up the country’s beaches, the Ministry of Tourism together with the Association of Kinneret Municipalities (AKM) decided to upgrade and further develop the Duga Beach on the Sea of Galilee and bring it up to European resort standards. With the completion of the NIS 30 million project, Tourism Ministry Director-General Amir Halevi participated in a relaunching ceremony with head of the Jordan Valley Regional Council Idan Grinbaum, head of the Golan Regional Council Haim Rokach, businessman Boaz Yosef, along with Tiberias Mayor Mooney Ma’atok, hotel managers, building contractors and tourists. Duga Beach, is the first of the Gallilee beaches to be redeveloped under the AKM’s Tama 13/13A plan.
At the relaunching ceremony, Halevi announced that the Ministry of Tourism is prepared to make a massive strategic investment in the Galilee in order to attract greater numbers of pilgrim tourists. Various sites in the Galilee are holy to Jews, Christians and Muslims, and it is believed that if facilities in the Galilee in general, are made more attractive, more pilgrims from all three monotheistic faiths will come to the area.
■ AGAINST THE backdrop of rising antisemitism, neo-Nazism, white supremacy, and the distortion of history, the documentary film The Meaning of Hitler will be released worldwide on August 13. Based on the 1978 prize-winning book by German historian, journalist and author Raimund Pretzel who wrote under the pseudonym of Sebastian Haffner, both the book and the film explore the different aspects Hitler’s character and achievements. Filmmakers Petra Epperlein and Michael Tucker shot the film in nine countries, featured prominent historians and writers and even Holocaust denier David Irving. Other on-camera speakers include: Martin Amis, Koen Baert, Prof. Yehuda Bauer, Dr. Mark Benecke, Prof. Sir Richard J. Evans, Sarah Forgey, Prof. Ute Frevert, Prof. Saul Friedlander, Prof. Jan T. Gross, Georg Hamann, Klaus Heyne, Dr. Mathias Irlinger, Beate and Serge Klarsfeld, Jadwiga Korowaj, Florian Kotanko, Enno Lenze, Prof. Deborah Lipstadt, Wojciech Mazurek, Prof. Winfried Nerdinger, Francine Prose, Prof. Gavriel Rosenfel
d, Dr. Peter Theiss-Abendroth and Prof. Klaus Thewele.
Best known to Israeli audiences is historian Bauer, who never hesitates to speak his mind, and remarks in the film: “Unfortunately you can’t put Hitler on a psychologist’s couch.” Another Bauer comment is: “The problem that we have is not that the Nazis were inhuman – they were human.”
■ EVEN A celebrity of the status of Eyal Golan has to follow health regulations. Golan is temporarily separated from his wife Danielle Greenberg and their infant daughter because Greenberg had to go into quarantine following contact with her sister who has been diagnosed as testing positive for the COVID-19 virus. Golan has a series of concerts coming up and cannot risk getting infected.
■ IN ISRAEL, there have been some tasteless examples of politicians doing almost anything to hang on to their Knesset seats. But in America, at least one would-be politician has put his Judaism ahead of a political career.
Dave Schechter of the Atlanta Jewish Times reports that attorney Brandon Goldberg, a member of Ahavath Achim Synagogue, who is running for an at-large seat on the city council, has declined to appear in a preelection Clark Atlanta University forum because the event is scheduled for Rosh Hashanah.
Goldberg has explained his predicament to the organizers and asked for a change of date. Although they tried to accommodate him, they said that too many invitations had already been sent out. As the event is in the early evening, Goldberg asked if the time frame could be extended because Rosh Hashanah will not end before 8.31 p.m., but the forum is scheduled to end at 7.30. Goldberg is still hopeful that organizers will reschedule. If not, it will simply be a no-show on his part, though he thinks that given the fact that organizers know that he’s Jewish, they should have looked at the calendar before deciding on a date.
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