David Appel

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David Appel (Hebrew: דוד אפל‎, born 7 August 1950) is a successful Israeli businessman, general contractor, and Likud party activist.

[edit] Background

Appel was raised by his grandparents, and educated in an ORT technical dormitory school in Magdiel, where he studied printing. He was not drafted into the IDF due to an injury sustained when printing machinery fell on his hand. At age 20 he joined the Likud youth organisation where he formed lifelong friendships with many people who would later become influential Israeli politicians.

In 1975 he opened a baby products store in Tel Aviv, which eventually became a national chain. He was also a partner in the Gazan UP-7 company. In 1977 he sold his chain and opened a general contracting firm with partner Shalom Ganish, which became state-recognised within three years and ultimately built thousands of housing units, many of them under contract for the Israeli Housing Ministry.

[edit] Corruption charges

The Attorney General of Israel ruled that between 1983 and 1986, Appel's contracting company had operated in a manner violating the law, and only 13 years later in 1997 he was cleared of all charges.

In 2003 the State again brought charges against Appel, this time dealing with four separate cases of bribery and dishonest business practices. The indictment charged that he had promised civil servants reelection in exchange for approving his projects in Central Israel, especially Lod and Giv'at Shmuel. Among those accused of accepting bribes were former MK Nehama Ronen, then director of the Environment Ministry, Israel Lands Administration official Oded Tal, Lod mayor Benny Regev, and Giv'at Shmuel council head Zamir ben Ari.

In 2004 he was charged with bribing Israeli prime minister Ariel Sharon, in what became known as the Greek Island Affair, and was also charged with five other bribe offenses.^[1] Attorney General Menachem Mazuz eventually ruled that Sharon could not be charged with receiving bribes from Appel, and a few months later three of the charges were dropped, including the one involving Ariel Sharon.

Appel faced accusations in the press that he used his wealth to affect Israeli politics, though he argues that he is persecuted by the Israeli establishment because of his views.^{[citation needed]}