Ayelet Shaked not only changed her status from MK to that of MK and justice minister, but she also changed her address.
By GREER FAY CASHMAN
■ THERE’S AN old Jewish saying that if you change your address, you change your luck. Ayelet Shaked not only changed her status from MK to that of MK and justice minister, but she also changed her address. She is moving from her Bavli penthouse to a 250-square meter residence in trendy Ramat Hahayal, for which she reportedly paid NIS 6.7 million. Given the size and the location of the apartment, the price is extremely reasonable by Tel Aviv and environs standards.■ THE FINANCIAL daily Globes reports that one of the biggest gaming gatherings in the world is coming to Israel. The Israeli Playtika company is collaborating with the Casual Games Association to bring to Tel Aviv the international games conference Casual Connect from October 19 to 21. The conference is expected to attract more than 1,500 executives and experts from leading companies in the gaming and social games industry, with more than 700 companies from 30 countries among the participants.“We’ve been following the Israeli gaming industry for a while, and there is no doubt that Israel has become a global powerhouse in the category,” said Casual Games Association managing director Jessica Tams. “We are super excited to host our first Casual Connect in Tel Aviv and thank Playtika for playing a big role in making it happen.Tel Aviv will be added to our yearly roster of global events alongside our annual events in San Francisco, Singapore and Amsterdam.”While Israel runs various lotteries in which individuals spend thousands of shekels each week buying tickets, filling out forms or scratching cards, all attempts to set up legalized casino gambling in Israel have failed thus far. For many years, American casino mogul Sheldon Adelson tried to get approval to open a casino in Eilat but was refused time and again, until he finally gave up. But just across the border from Eilat, a casino was established at the Taba Hilton, and every day residents of and visitors to Eilat cross the border into Egypt to gamble in Taba.■ AT THE Tel Aviv Hilton, October 26 marks the Go4Israel international conference. The event, hosted by the Cukierman & Co Investment House, will focus not only on business and technology but also on Israel’s image abroad.The speakers will include Education Minister Naftali Bennett; Shengyan Fan, head of Strategic Investment and Development at China Everbright Ltd., which has already invested substantially in Israel; Abe Foxman, former longtime national director of the Anti-Defamation League; Dr. George Lam, chairman of Macquarie for Southeast Asia; Antony Leung, group CEO of the Nan-Fung Group; former agriculture minister Yair Shamir, who is now the managing partner of Catalyst; Roni Sofer, president of Gazit Real Estate; and Yossi Vardi, chairman of International Technologies and who has arguably done more than most other people in the technology field (with the possible exception of Start Up Nation authors Saul Singer and Dan Senor) to make the world aware of Israel’s technological creativity.