The most influential person according to the people at The Marker, which published a magazine listing the 100 most influential people, is Attorney-General Menahem Mazuz.
By GREER FAY CASHMANmenahem mazuz 88(photo credit: )
AT THIS time of year the Israeli media, taking into account that Rosh Hashana is approaching, begins publishing lists of the wealthiest and most influential people. The Marker, the financial publication of the Schocken Group that is issued as a supplement in the Hebrew edition of Haaretz, publishes a magazine listing the 100 most influential people, and naturally enough markets the magazine in its regular publication. This week, to whet the appetites of readers, it published an excerpt of the first 10.
Although much of the magazine is based on the old adage of the man who pays the piper calls the tune, the first person on the list is actually not of that ilk. Surprisingly, despite some of his faltering decisions, the most influential person according to the people at The Marker is Attorney-General Menahem Mazuz. Four people were deemed worthy of the second slot: State Comptroller Micha Lindenstrauss, State Attorney Moshe Lador, Israel Police chief investigator Cmdr. Yohanan Danino and Yoav Segalovich, head of Lahav 433, an umbrella organization known as Israel's equivalent of the FBI. Supreme Court President Dorit Beinisch is No. 3 and Bank of Israel Governor Stanley Fischer is No. 4.
Now the big-money people come into the list: Yochi Dankner, head of the IDB Holdings Group is No. 5; Sammy Ofer and his son Idan, the chief shareholders in the Israel Corporation, are No. 6; Yitzhak Tshuva, controlling shareholder in the Delek Group, is No. 7; Lev Leviev, who heads the Africa Israel Group is No. 8; Tzadik Bino, who pulls the strings in the Paz Group, the First International Bank of Israel and the Ashdod Refinery, is No. 9; and Bank Leumi CEO Galia Maor is No. 10.
Maor was ranked No. 85 on the Forbes list of the world's 100 most powerful women last year and had appeared on the list in previous years, but did not make it this year. The only Israeli on the Forbes list is Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, who was ranked No. 52.
WHEREVER ONE turns these days to purchase any and every category of merchandise, the label says "Made in China." Go to a souvenir store in Australia and pick out a boomerang; get your new flags ready for Independence Day in Israel; get an Eiffel Tower key ring in France or a mini replica of the Statue of Liberty in the United States. What they all have in common is the "Made in China" label.
hough of us may protest at this because we don't like encroachments on national symbols, most of us happily continue to buy products made in China, because even though they sometimes lack in quality, they are priced so cheaply that one tends to overlook the flaws. Moreover, many of the top-of-the-line fashion houses around the world choose to have their creations manufactured in China because even with the expense involved in shipping, it still makes for a tremendous reduction in production and labor costs.
However, there are still some patriots around and Oren Neiger, the proprietor of Israel Vintage, is one of them. Neiger takes great pride in producing T-shirts and tank tops that are made in Israel, printed in Israel and feature illustrations that are part and parcel of Israeli tradition. Because Israel is a hot country, the simple, comfortable T-shirt is a natural Israeli garment, says Neiger.
But it's not the T-shirt alone that is making people sit up and take notice of Israel Vintage; it's reminders of what used to be, such as the reproduction of an old-fashioned advertisement for Dubek cigarettes, free of the warning of smoking hazards. Or there's a national icon such as Menachem Begin, who in this day and age when so many politicians have allegations of corruption against them, came to the table with clean hands. Or there are historic reminders, such as the front page of the May 1948 edition of The Palestine Post with the banner headline: State of Israel is Born, or the Ma'ariv front page in November 1977 with banner headlines in Hebrew and Arabic welcoming Egyptian president Anwar Sadat.
The choice of Israelabilia is quite large, and if the trend continues to be popular and induces a greater sense of patriotism by virtue of "I am what I wear," as distinct from "I am what I eat," then the chances are high that Neiger will increase the Israel Vintage range. The T-shirts are priced at NIS 69 each. THE CAMPAIGN for creating public awareness of heart diseases and available treatments in advance of Healthy Heart Day will be handled by the Nava Inbar public relations agency, which specializes in health issues. The campaign, initiated by the Israel Heart Association, will run through the month of September and will focus to a large extent on what to do when someone suffers a heart attack. AFTER A five-year hiatus, the Hamashbir department store is returning to the Sharon Mall in Netanya. The store, which closed down in the aftermath of the second intifada, will reopen at an investment of NIS 18 million. The concept of the store has been updated and upgraded with the aim of attracting a more varied clientele than in the past.
The Sharon Mall is now part of the Israel Malls chain, which according to Nissim Hassan, a senior vice president in the Hamashbir Group, aims to strengthen its market share by bringing the country's best-known stores and brands into its purview. It was at the request of Israel Malls that Hamashbir, which now has 30 branches throughout the country, decided to return to the Sharon Mall. M.A.C., THE international beauty-products company, is expanding its Israel horizons, and will officially open its store in the Arim Mall in Kfar Saba today, September 4. The gala event, beginning at 5.30 p.m., will include GoGo dancers and Disco dancers and will feature M.A.C.'s Gold Fever highlights. THE CHAIN of fashion stores under the Chic brand name is expanding; it plans to open 12 additional branches within the next three years at an investment of NIS 4m.-NIS 5m. The chain is owned by Avraham and Moti Golbari. It currently has eight branches of its own and sells to some 300 boutiques throughout the country.
The father and son were among the founders of Golbari, which has become a major brand name in Israeli fashion. They quit the company in 2004 to found Chic, which also seems to be moving at a rapid pace. One of the company's aims is to make up-to-date fashion available to women whose proportions are somewhat larger than average; the company's sizes range from 3848. Chic has invested NIS 500,000 in its fall-winter collection of fashionable trends for women who are above-average size
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