More honors for Kahn and Mobileye’s Aviram

"We managed to find a group of people who are willing to devote their lives to the goal and without them we wouldn’t achieve this."

By GREER FAY CASHMAN
Updated: JUNE 26, 2017 14:42
JERUSALEM MAYOR Nir Barkat is flanked by Ilia Salita (left) and Gennady Gazin at the opening of the new Genesis office in the capital’s Har Hotzvim. (photo credit: Courtesy)
JERUSALEM MAYOR Nir Barkat is flanked by Ilia Salita (left) and Gennady Gazin at the opening of the new Genesis office in the capital’s Har Hotzvim.
(photo credit: Courtesy)
Last week, Prof. Uriel Reichman, president and founder of IDC Herzliya, conferred honorary fellowships on prominent figures who collectively represent Zionism, entrepreneurship, social responsibility, academia, philanthropy and highly successful business.
The honors conferred on Morris Kahn, Ziv Aviram, Dr. Orna Berry, Zahi Arabov, Dafna Meitar- Nechmad and Robert R. Wiener were in recognition of their outstanding contributions to the State of Israel, the Jewish people and IDC Herzliya. In addition to being named an honorary fellow, Naomi Stuchiner was also presented with the annual Social Entrepreneurship Award.
Morris Kahn is an entrepreneur and philanthropist in the fields of education, science, technology and the environment; one of the founders of Israel’s Yellow Pages and Amdocs. Ziv Aviram, one of Israel’s leading entrepreneurs, is the founding partner, president and CEO of Mobileye .
Dr. Orna Berry, is vice president, Dell EMC and CEO of Israel’s Center of Excellence. She is one of Israel’s leading women in science and technology.
Zahi Arabov, founder of the real estate company Acro Group is an IDC Herzliya alumnus.
Dafna Meitar-Nechmad, CEO of the Zvi and the Ofra Meitar Family Fund, is a major philanthropist, as is Robert R. Wiener who is also an enterprising businessman.
Naomi Stuchiner is a social entrepreneur and founder of Beit Issie Shapiro, which has done wonders in treating children and adults with developmental disabilities.
IDC students are educated to a two-word approach: freedom and responsibility, said Reichman. The freedom of doing is the freedom of the individual to set his own path and be responsible for himself.
Alongside this freedom there is the moral responsibility toward those who cannot help themselves or society.
Ziv Aviram, speaking on behalf of the honorary fellows, recalled a lecture he once gave at IDC in which he said an entrepreneur needs to be three things: “young, inexperienced and foolish. When you are smart and experienced and you know the difficulties ahead, you don’t take risks – the risk to influence, to try and to fail. Failing is a learning process and not a mark of disgrace. Many times I would rather hire people who failed, rather than people who never dared.
The fear of failure is an obstacle to entrepreneurship and I believe this is an important topic on which to work with students.”
When he and his partners established Mobileye 19 years ago, “We were naïve. We said lets solve one of the world’s biggest problems – car accidents. Today, Mobileye works with more than 95% of car manufacturers and it is the leading technology in the war against car accidents. But the accomplishment depends on the ability to recruit people to your cause.
“We wouldn’t be able to do this on our own. We managed to find a group of people who are willing to devote their lives to the goal and without them we wouldn’t achieve this. Besides not fearing to fail, it is important to be passionate toward your goal. Doing is essential and it fills our lives.”
■ THE GENESIS philanthropic fund, celebrated the official opening of its new offices in the capital with Mayor Nir Barkat, Jewish Agency chairman Natan Sharansky and other dignitaries, including members of Knesset, heads of Taglit-Birthright, MASA and other well-known personalities. GPG chairman Gennady Gazin and CEO Ilia Salita hosted the event, which was held at Har Hotzvim, one of the capital’s hi-tech industrial parks. The mezuza was affixed by Tzohar chairman Rabbi David Stav, who is one of the key leaders of Modern Orthodoxy in Israel.
■ KNOWN IN some circles as the Queen of Curry, Indian restaurateur Reena Pushkarna has been coopted by both the Indian Embassy in Tel Aviv and the King David Hotel in Jerusalem to help with preparations for the visit next month by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who will be the first Indian prime minister to visit Israel. Modi’s threeday visit comes in the wake of Indian President Pranab Mukherjee, who came to Israel in October 2015 and was the first Indian president to do so.
Modi is scheduled to arrive on July 4, and on July 5 will conduct a mega meeting in Tel Aviv of Israel’s Indian community. According to Pushkarna, Modi likes to get together with the Indian diaspora wherever he travels abroad. As of last week, she said, some 10,000 members of Israel’s 80,000-strong Indian community had registered for participation.
Just as she had helped the king’s chefs to prepare Indian cuisine for the president’s delegation, Pushkarna is now helping to prepare Indian food for the prime minister’s entourage.
■ THERE is definitely life after leaving the Prime Minister’s Office. Former PMO director Harel Locker, a lawyer by profession, has joined N.
Firon & Co, one of Israel’s largest law firms as a senior partner. The firm, which is managed by attorneys Zvi Firon and Itzhak Narkiss, was among the first in Israel to become an international law firm and currently has six offices around the world.
Locker is currently involved in investment banking and consultancy and representing foreign investors – mainly from China, Hong and Japan – as well as Israeli technology companies operating in those countries. In addition, Locker serves on the board of directors of Leumi Partners, BATM Communications, Matomy Media, Op Vital and NRGene, and serves as chairman of the Alin Beit Noam for people with disabilities. Before joining the PMO, Locker worked for some 20 years as a lawyer in Israel and New York.
■ CYBER SECURITY is the glue that is holding many nations together these days, and several are looking to Israel as an expert in the field. The June 28 Tel Aviv’s MSC Cyber Security Summit 2017 (CSS), co-hosted with Deutsche Telekom, brings the MSC Cyber Security Series to one of the most dynamic cyber hubs in the world. During Israel’s Cyber Week 2017, the MSC and Deutsche Telekom will cooperate with the Israeli National Cyber Directorate at the Prime Minister’s Office and the Blavatnik Interdisciplinary Cyber Research Center at Tel Aviv University for discussions on critical cyber security issues at a conference at TAU.
MSC will once again bring together a select group of some 120 policy- makers, academics, business and military leaders for a Cyber Security Summit. The day-long event will feature three discussion sessions as well as a lunch discussion and a nightcap session. Topics on the agenda will revolve around updating grand strategies for the cyber age, protecting critical infrastructure in an interconnected world, confronting cyber norms with reality, defending democracy in the digital age and technological innovations in warfare.
Just ahead of the Cyber Security Summit, an intelligence roundtable will convene intelligence experts and practitioners to discuss counterterrorism approaches for the digital age. Discussion sessions and keynote speeches are on the menu, while the nightcap session and the roundtable will follow the Chatham House Rules. Confirmed participants include former prime minister and defense minister Ehud Barak, NATO Assistant Secretary-General for Intelligence Arndt Freiherr Freytag von Loringhoven, Deutsche Telekom AG board member Thomas Kremer, Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman, Estonian Foreign Minister Sven Mikser and Europol director Rob Wainwright.
■ FOR SOME time now, the Jerusalem Waldorf Astoria hotel has been on the market or rumored to be on the market. Near sales and sales awaiting finalization have been reported, but according to a well-informed source within the hotel, there has been no final sale and the hotel remains in the hands of the Reichman family, which was responsible for its rehabilitation and development.
■ SAUDI BILLIONAIRE arms dealer Adnan Khashoggi, who died in London on June 6, had a long connection with Israel, that more than 30 years ago was extensively reported in the Israeli media as well as in major international publications. Khashoggi’s closest Israeli associates were Jacob Nimrodi, who at the time was one of Israel’s leading arms dealers, the late Al Schwimmer of Israel Aircraft Industries, the late Dave Kimche, deputy director of the Mossad and later director general of the Foreign Ministry, and the late Ariel Sharon, both as MK and defense minister.
At the time Israel was interested in helping Riza Pahlevi, the exiled son of the deposed Shah of Persia, to mount a revolution against the Ayatollah Khoumeini. Israel was also interested in selling arms to Africa and Asia, and such sales were not always direct.
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