It’s about character

Two and a half years after his appointment as Israel Consul-General in New York, the former director-general of the Israel branch of the World Jewish Congress is returning to Israel. He will take up the position of world chairman of Keren Hayesod to fill the position vacated by

who was a suspect in the German submarine Case 3000, one of several cases for which Prime Minister

was investigated. Grundwerg has certainly led an interesting life. After working as a lawyer in Florida, he joined the WJC, where he mixed a lot with current and former diplomats, visiting foreign ministers and other dignitaries. Then he went to Los Angeles, where he began rubbing shoulders with people such as

Eliezer Sandberg, Benjamin Netanyahu

Billy Crystal, Mayim Bialik, Elon Gold, Robert De Niro, Michael Douglas, Barbra Streisand

Omri Casspi, Ninet Tayeb, Noa Tishby Gal Gadot.

and semi-expats, such as

and

In his new role, he’ll be mixing with millionaires and Jewish community leaders in all the countries in which Keren Hayesod is active.

Before joining the WJC, Grundwerg worked for a major international law firm in the US. After moving to Israel in 1990, he served as a combat soldier in the armored corps of the IDF, and later as an officer in the reserves. Grundwerg’s wife,

is a nurse by profession. They are parents to three children: and

Grundwerg’s new appointment was made in consultation with Netanyahu.

Julia, Sarita. Sam Grundwerg, Elisha, Felicia

■ ANOTHER TEMPORARY expat who keeps yo-yoing back to Israel is

of Jerusalem, who for the past couple of years has been living in the United States with his American wife, whom he married last year. Since his early teens, Friedson, now 29, was involved in paramedics working first as a volunteer with Magen David Adom and then for United Hatzalah. He is now spokesman and deputy director for international operations for the latter, and now travels across the United States and Canada. The fact that he wears a suit most of the time has not blunted his paramedic instincts.

A Tel Aviv University graduate in Emergency and Disaster Management, Friedson was about to leave the airport in Newark, New Jersey, after a flight from Vancouver last week, when he saw what to him was a familiar situation.

An elderly Orthodox woman was being pushed in a wheelchair by her daughter and granddaughter.

As she and her family approached the security line, the woman’s face began to turn blue, then red, and it was obvious that she had stopped responding to her surroundings. Friedson instantly recognized that she was having a heart attack. He flagged the police officers standing upstairs, yelling that he needed a defibrillator and asked them to call 911 for an ICU ambulance. Within seconds, he was able to begin chest compressions. The police helped him to get the woman out of the wheel chair, and together they worked

Friedson Gavi Katie,

on her for about eight minutes until the ambulance arrived. Friedson was very impressed by the fact that the airport police knew exactly what had to be done in terms of CPR.

Ironically, while still in flight, Friedson had told the people sitting alongside him about his experiences as a medic, adding that one never knows when one’s CPR skills will come in handy and possibly save a life. He is forever advising people to learn CPR.

Friedson is one of those naturally friendly fellows who does follow up on his good deeds. He took the daughter’s phone number and later called to find out what happened after they got to the hospital. Even though the elderly woman’s pulse had been restored, she didn’t have the strength to hold out and she died. But it was really important to her daughter and granddaughter that in a time of need, help had instantly been available. The trio had been on the way to Canada for a family wedding. An experienced emergency first responder, Friedson calculates that in Israel he responded to more than 9,500 emergency calls, and continues to do so when he comes home to visit his family and engage in some Hatzalah business.

Born in Florida, he came to Israel with his parents and two older brothers when he was 10 years old. At age 15 he became an ambulance volunteer. When he was 16, he joined the fire department, and when he was 17 he joined the volunteer police. At 18 he was drafted into the army. But through his whole high school career, he was a first responder, often dropped off at school in the morning by an ambulance. After graduating high school and when on leave from the army, he rode a motor bike, or an ambucycle, as United Hatzalah prefer to call it. In addition to talking and raising money for United Hatzalah, Friedson has been helping out at disaster sites across America.

■ ISRAELIS LOVE conspiracy theories. Way back in 1992, when Benjamin Netanyahu’s chief rival for leadership of Likud was Netanyahu in the course of his election campaign had an affair with his campaign manager. Somehow it became public, and the word went out that there was a video cassette of the couple in a compromising position. Someone allegedly called

and threatened to publish the

David Levy, Sara Netanyahu

tape unless her husband withdrew from the race. Netanyahu subsequently filed a complaint with the police saying that two members of his party were attempting to blackmail him. Netanyahu subsequently made a true confessions appearance on television in January 1993, but did not name the two people whom he suspected, though he hinted broadly that one of them was Levy. Netanyahu admitted to having had an extramarital affair, but said that it had ended months earlier.

Levy’s supporters were of the opinion that Netanyahu had fabricated the whole story to garner sympathy and thereby win the election. Levy never did win the chairmanship of Likud, but he’s the only Israeli politician who served three times as foreign minister.

This month, Netanyahu was in Beit She’an, campaigning for Levy’s son,

who is running for mayor. Political wounds don’t always heal quickly, but they heal when necessary. Wounds that spouses inflict on each other sometimes leave permanent scars. Former justice minister Yaakov Neeman, who died in January 2017 and was known to be a brilliant lawyer, was rumored to have patched up the marriage, and the Netanyahus have publicly been lovey-dovey ever since, still walking hand in hand.

Some people have suggested that the story behind this week’s headliner involving Netanyahu and President

was also fabricated, though not necessarily by Netanyahu himself. There is no love lost between Netanyahu and Rivlin. Nor is there any love lost between Netanyahu and former minister

who dropped out of politics and is now making a comeback.

Although it would appear from the article by in Israel Hayom which sparked the latest Netanyahu controversy that a putsch against him was in the works, that if there is a conspiracy of any kind, it may have another target in mind. There was already a move afoot to further limit the very limited powers of the president. Inasmuch as Rivlin is a dyed-in-the-wool Likudnik, who as president has had to put his politics aside, many of his former cronies are under the impression that he has moved politically towards the left, which to them is tantamount to treason. Anyone who commits treason must be punished, and if the president can’t be unseated, it may be possible

Rivlin Sa’ar, Mati Tuchfeld Jackie, Reuven Gideon

to at least clip his wings.

The whole incident could die a natural death, especially in view of the proximity of municipal elections, or it could blow up beyond what anyone imagines. After all, when former president lodged a blackmail and extortion complaint with the police, he never conceived in his wildest dreams that the story would immediately become public and that he would be the one going to prison.

Moshe Katsav

■ THIS WEEK, with municipal elections so close, Netanyahu wanted to improve the chances of one of the candidates for mayor, Jerusalem Affairs Minister

and joined him in a tour of Mahaneh Yehuda market, which is very much a stronghold of fellow contender

who frequently visits the market and is friendly with many of the vendors. The ethnic genie is also at play. Most of the vendors are of North African descent, as is Lion. Elkin is a product of the former Soviet Union.

Elkin, Lion,

■ ON WEDNESDAY night, Netanyahu temporarily put local and national politics aside to focus on international politics and investments at the opening of the Prime Minister’s Conference on Israeli Innovation at Jerusalem’s Orient Hotel.

In addition to Netanyahu and his wife, the conference was attended by senior officials, investors and entrepreneurs from around the globe with delegations from tens of countries. Also present were Culture and Sport Minister Economy and Industry Minister Vice President of China Alibaba founder and

the former CEO of Google.

Cohen; Qishan; Eric Schmidt,

In the course of the evening, Netanyahu awarded the Prime Minister’s Prize for Israeli Innovation to three startups: In the field of health, the recipient was

CEO and co-founder of Emedgene. In the field of food-tech, the prize was awarded to CEO and founder of DouxMatok, and in the cyber field, the award was given to Prof.

founder and chief scientist at Unbound Tech. A milestone event in the 70th anniversary celebrations of the state, the Prime Minister’s conference on Israeli Innovation was initiated by the Culture and Sport Ministry in conjunction with the Peres Center for Peace and Innovation.

Metzer, Lindell, Miri Regev; Eli Wang Jack Ma Eran Baniel, Ze’ev Moshe Einat Yehuda

The first time I met Ze’ev Elkin I asked him a simple question: Why would a senior government minister, in charge of two ministries no less, a security cabinet member and a confidant of the prime minister, want to become the mayor of Jerusalem?

We all know of mayors who dream of becoming government ministers. Until this point, however, I had never met any national political leader who, all but ensured of a great position in the next election, wanted to do things in reverse.

Elkin gave me a compelling answer that had me decide, then and there, that I would join his ticket.

“Firstly,” he said, “Jerusalem, the capital of our nation, is more significant for our country and our people than any ministry in the government. Secondly, what happens in Jerusalem will determine the future of the State of Israel in the next 20 years, as the future demography of the country will mirror that of Jerusalem today. And, thirdly, because I know I can do it.”

Up until that moment I had been wholly uninspired by the candidates who had thrown their hat in the ring. I knew and had worked with all of them. For me, having someone of Elkin’s caliber as mayor of Jerusalem was an exciting prospect.

Having grown up in a political home with a father who was not just respected in Gibraltar but was also truly loved – even by those who didn’t vote for him, having high expectations and standards for the character of a politician is hard to shake off. The two most important traits that he had were honesty and humility, and those are the exact qualities I found in Elkin.

In this social media era where style often trumps substance, and people measure themselves by clicks and shares, Elkin is a rare product. He is known by all – in the coalition and opposition alike – as one whose word is his word. The substance of Elkin is indeed his style. Piv v’libo shavin – he says what he means, and he means what he says, and he speaks truth, even if our views sometimes differ.

Among those who agree with this assessment are [Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu, Speaker of the Knesset Yuli Edelstein, MKs [Naftali] Bennet and [Ayelet] Shaked, Jerusalem Mayor [Nir] Barkat, Natan Sharansky and so many other political, civic and cultural leaders.

This is my second municipal campaign, but in this one my naiveté and innocence have long faded. I have seen a lot. I experienced a Yerushalmim party coup by Rachel Azaria, only to watch her abortive mayoral run flail and fail and, in the end, extend her explicit support to Elkin and me.

I have seen posters calling Elkin a traitor because he has people “like me” on his list. We have seen people in the Lion camp screaming, “Elkin, go home” to his face, with similarly unsavory characters writing on my Facebook wall that I should “go back to Gibraltar.” Elkin’s party is the party of olim (Jewish immigrants to Israel) and in this campaign we have seen Jews telling other Jews in the State of Israel to “go back from where you came from.”

I have seen text messages of a competing candidate – sent out to thousands of people – comparing Elkin to Gargamel, the evil character in the Smurfs, a caricature both obscene and laden with terrible allusions. We hope that this phenomenon – even if rooted in utter cluelessness – of Jews in the State of Israel employing antisemitic chants and tropes against their own, ends.

And in the middle of all this madness is a quiet man who knows his worth, knows his calling, and simply wants to get on with the job. In the last few months I have been privileged to witness true leadership and character. Elkin is an extraordinary gentleman, a visionary leader, and a man ready to roll up his sleeves and do what needs to be done. Jerusalem is in safe hands!

The author is a Jerusalem city council member and No. 2 of mayoral candidate Ze’ev Elkin.