David Amar
{{Short description|Moroccan Jewish businessman}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=June 2024}}
{{Infobox person
| name = David Amar
| image = David Amar with Limor Livnat & Yuval Steinitz.JPG
| caption = David Amar (left) with Limor Livnat (center) & Yuval Steinitz (right)
| birth_name =
| birth_date = 1920
| birth_place = Settat, Morocco
| death_date = {{death year and age|2000|1920}}
| death_place =
| education =
| alma mater =
| occupation = Businessman
| title =
| term =
| predecessor =
| successor =
| known for = David Amar Worldwide North Africa Jewish Heritage Center
| boards =
| spouse =
| children = 3
| parents =
| relations = Raphael Edery (son-in-law)
Paul J. Fribourg (son-in-law)
| website =
}}
David Amar (1920–2000) was a Moroccan businessman, leader of the Moroccan Jewish community, politician, and philanthropist.
Early life
Business career
Amar was the head of Omnium Nord-Africain, Morocco's largest conglomerate, until he resigned in January 1986, and was replaced by King Hassan's son-in-law Fouad Felalli. The circumstances of this were unclear and may have been due to retirement, or to a loss of influence, and Amar sold all of his shares in the company.{{cite news|author=JUDITH MILLER, Special to the New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1986/07/31/world/moroccan-jews-talk-of-the-king-s-fate-and-theirs.html |title=Moroccan Jews Talk Of The King'S Fate, And Theirs |location=Morocco; Middle East; Israel, State Of |work=NYTimes.com |date=31 July 1986 |access-date=13 June 2017}}
Political career
Amar was president of the Jewish community in Kenitra, which was where he started his business career. He established connections with Moroccan nationalists, which helped him obtain the position of secretary general of the Conseil des Communautés Israélites du Maroc (CCIM) after Moroccan independence in 1956.
Amar was involved in Operation Yachin, in which 97,000 Moroccan Jews emigrated to Israel in 1961 to 1964.{{cite book|author=C. R. Pennell|title=Morocco Since 1830: A History|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=g9Mu0faODjsC&pg=PA344|access-date=13 June 2017|year=2000|publisher=C. Hurst & Co. Publishers|isbn=978-1-85065-273-1|page=344}}
For 26 years, from 1965 to 1986 (at least), Amar was president of the Council of Moroccan Jewish Communities.{{cite web|last=Bennyesterday |first=Aluf |url=http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/business/frenchman-to-buy-stake-in-israel-salt-1.127861 |title=Frenchman to buy stake in Israel Salt - Haaretz - Israel News |publisher=Haaretz.com |date=8 July 2004 |access-date=13 June 2017}} He was also president of the World Assembly of Moroccan Jewry.
In 1965, Amar was a member of the Chamber of Moroccan Counselors.{{cite web|url=http://www.jta.org/1965/04/22/archive/two-members-of-moroccan-cabinet-attend-jewish-wedding-in-casablanca |title=Two Members of Moroccan Cabinet Attend Jewish Wedding in Casablanca | Jewish Telegraphic Agency |publisher=Jta.org |date=22 April 1965 |access-date=13 June 2017}}
At the time of the 1971 coup attempt, Amar briefly fled abroad due to his closeness to King Hassan II. In 1984, Amar was made an Officer in the Order of the Throne by King Hassan.{{cite web|url=http://www.jta.org/1984/07/18/archive/hassan-honors-moroccan-jewish-leader |title=Hassan Honors Moroccan Jewish Leader | Jewish Telegraphic Agency |publisher=Jta.org |date=18 July 1984 |access-date=13 June 2017}}
Philanthropy
He funded the restoration of the North Africa Jewish Heritage Center in Jerusalem, which was named the David Amar Worldwide North Africa Jewish Heritage Center in his honour.{{cite web|last=Bennyesterday |first=Aluf |url=http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/features/a-touch-of-morocco-in-the-heart-of-jerusalem-1.366698 |title=A touch of Morocco in the heart of Jerusalem - Haaretz - Israel News |publisher=Haaretz.com |date=9 June 2011 |access-date=13 June 2017}}
Personal life
In 1965, his daughter Annie-Claude Amar (died 6 August 1993){{cite web|url=https://www.dansnoscoeurs.fr/annie-claude-amar-edery/1119645/avis |title=Avis de décès - Annie-Claude AMAR EDERY - Avis obsèques - Paris (75) - Dans nos coeurs |publisher=Dansnoscoeurs.fr |access-date=13 June 2017}} married Raphael Cohen (later known as Raphael Edery, a member of the Knesset from 1981 to 1999 and a government minister), an oil company engineer, in the presence of two members of the Moroccan Cabinet, several former Ministers and the National Police Chief.
His son Daniel Amar is a French-Jewish businessman, who owns stakes in Israel Salt Industries and Bank Hapoalim.
Amar lived in a villa in "Casablanca's wealthiest district".
References
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Category:20th-century Moroccan businesspeople
Category:Moroccan philanthropists
Category:20th-century Moroccan Jews
Category:People from Casablanca
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