09/11/2009 - 8:30am
Meretz USA is very pleased to join with other groups in Co-Sponsoring a program featuring special guests from Washington,
D.C. and Israel.
Please make your plans
to join us for a breakfast program with:
COLETTE AVITAL
Former Knesset Member
&
JEREMY BEN-AMI
J Sreet Founder/Director
Friday, September 11,
2009, 8:30 a.m.
(note the time is 1/2
hour later than our usual start)
Institute of Jewish
Education - Library
8339 W. 3rd Street, Los Angeles
(at the corner of N. Flores St., several blocks east of
La Cienega / Use parking lot or street parking)
$10 - Includes Bagel
Breakfast (pay at the door)
RSVP to meretzusa.la@gmail.com or 310/600-7232
------------------------------
SPEAKER BIOS
Ambassador Colette
Avital was born in Rumania and immigrated to Israel at the age of 10.
After her army service she joined the Ministry for Foreign Affairs, while still
completing her BA in Political Science and English Literature at The Hebrew
University of Jerusalem. She subsequently held a variety of key Foreign
Ministry posts and led the Ministry's efforts to upgrade the status of women in
Diplomatic Service. Ambassador
Avital's distinguished record of foreign postings includes Montreal (as Chancelor) Brussels (Press and Cultural
Attache) Paris (as Minister-Counselor) Boston (Consul) and Lisbon (as Ambassador).
In 1992 Ambassador
Avital was appointed Consul General of Israel in New-York, the highest position
attained by a woman in the Foreign Service.
Ambassador Avital turned
to politics and was elected to the Israeli Knesset from the Labor Party in
1999, serving as Chairperson on several committees and as Deputy Speaker in the
17th Knesset.
She has been awarded the
Palmes Academiques and subsequently La Legion d"honneur by the French
Government; the Cavaliere del'ordine della
Republica by the Italian Government and the National Order for Merit with the
rank of High Officer by the Rumanian Government.
Currently Ambassador
Avital serves as Director General of the Berl Katznelson Foundation's
Ideological and EducationalCenter; as International Secretary of the Israel Labour Party, and as
Senior Advisor to JStreet.
Jeremy Ben-Ami is Executive Director of J
Street and JStreetPAC, the
political voice of the pro-Israel, pro-peace movement. He has nearly
twenty-five years of experience in government, politics and communications, in
the United States and internationally, including numerous political
campaigns. In 2003-4, he was Policy Director for Howard Dean's
presidential campaign; in 2001, he was one of the managers of Mark
Green's Mayoral campaign in New
York City; and, from 1992 through
1996, he worked for former President Bill Clinton, serving for two years as the
President's Deputy Domestic Policy Advisor.
Ben-Ami has also been actively involved in Israeli politics and communications.
In 1998, he started a consulting firm in Israel which worked with
Israeli non-profit organizations and politicians. He also has served as
Director of Communications and Regional Director in New York for the New Israel
Fund, a foundation supporting civil rights, social justice and religious
pluralism in Israel and is on the Board of Americans for Peace Now.
Ben-Ami was most recently Senior Vice President of Fenton Communications, a
public interest communications firm, and he spent eight years early in his
career in New York City government and politics for Mayors Dinkins and Koch, primarily in
the field of homeless housing. Ben-Ami received a law degree from New York University and is a graduate of
the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Relations at Princeton University.
J
Street is the political arm of the pro-Israel,
pro-peace movement and seeks to change the direction of American policy in the Middle East and to broaden
the public and policy debate in the U.S. about the Middle East. J Street supports
strong American Leadership to end the Arab-Israeli and Palestinian-Israeli
conflicts peacefully and diplomatically