Eli Avidar (born 3 December 1964) is currently the Managing Director of the Israel Diamond Institute Group of Companies and a former official in the Israeli Foreign Ministry.
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Eli Avidar was born in Alexandria, Egypt. His family, originally from Greece, moved to Egypt at the end of the 19th century. His parents Isaac and Fortuna Aboudara immigrated to Israel in 1967, immediately after the Six Day War. His father was a well-known public figure: He was President of the Bnai Brith "Judah Halevi" Lodge, and, from 1973 to 1977, he served as Deputy Mayor of Bat Yam, representing the Likud Party.
In 1982, Avidar enlisted in the IDF and served in the Nachal Unit. Later he graduated from the Intelligence Corps Officer Training School. He served as officer in a special unit (504) with the rank of Captain (Res). Today he holds the rank of Major (Res).
After completing his army service in 1989, he graduated from the Hebrew University in Jerusalem with a B.A. in Middle East and General Studies, and, in 2009, completed his M.A. degree in Middle Eastern Studies at the Tel Aviv University.
Avidar is married to Ornit and has 3 children.
In 1992, after his B.A. studies, he was accepted to the Foreign Ministry Cadet Training Course, and, a year later, he was appointed as Vice-Consul in Philadelphia, USA, where he served for 3 years. His main duties included working with opinion-makers in the Jewish community as well as American elected politicians in the five States covered by the Consulate.
From 1996 to 1998, Avidar was responsible for the Foreign Ministry department dealing with Inter-Religious affairs - specifically with the Islamic issue. He was active in developing contacts with Muslim leaders in countries with which Israel had no diplomatic relations.
This period marked the height of the suicide-bomber era. Despite this, and at his initiative, Avidar managed to get Islamic leaders, together with the Israeli Chief Rabbi, Eliyahu Bakshi-Doron, to sign a "Convention on the Sanctity of Life" which condemned suicide bombings. Amongst signatories to this Pact were Abdurrahman Wahid, later President of Indonesia, and Maulana Ajmal Qadri, an important religious leader in Pakistan.
In 1998, Avidar was appointed as Foreign Policy Advisor to the Director-General of the Foreign Ministry, and, in 1999, as Foreign Policy Advisor to the Minister of Foreign Affairs at the time, Ariel Sharon. During this period, he held the position of the chairman of the "Third Track” peace negotiation committee with the Palestinians.
In 1999, Avidar was sent to the Emirate of Qatar as the Head of the Israeli Delegation. He developed contact with the Qatar ruling class and was credited for that. After the eruption of the second Intifada in 2000, Qatar was the only country to maintain diplomatic relations with Israel, as opposed to Oman, Tunisia and Morocco, which broke off their diplomatic relations with the country. As a mark of appreciation the then Foreign Minister, Prof. Shlomo Ben-Ami appointed him as Consul-General to Hong Kong and Macao.
From 2001-2005, while he was Consul-General in Hong Kong, Avidar devoted most of his efforts to promoting Israeli exports and the Israeli business presence in Hong Kong. The number of Israeli companies operating in Hong Kong doubled and the value of exports reached US$1.8 billion. In addition, Avidar assisted leading Israeli companies to improve their operational activities and obtain benefits over and above those currently in place.
In 2006, after returning to Jerusalem, Avidar was given the responsibility for humanitarian and economic contacts with the Palestinian Authority within the Middle East Economic Division of the Foreign Ministry.
During the Second Lebanon War he volunteered to act as Spokesman to the Arabic language media and appeared a significant number of times on Al-Jazeera as well as other Arabic satellite channels. Immediately after the end of the Second Lebanon War, Avidar resigned from his position in the Foreign Ministry to take a period of leave.
In October 2006, Avidar was appointed by the Board of Directors of the Israel Diamond Institute Group of Companies as its Managing Director. Among the companies under his responsibility and direct management are: IDI, HODM, IDT, IDINY and IDI Asia Pacific.
During his tenure as Managing Director, the Institute worked with its counterparts to better enable those in the diamond industry to operate in China. The IDI hosted the World Diamond Congress in May 2007. In November that year the Institute also hosted the President of Liberia Ellen Johnson Sirleaf and a Memorandum of Understanding was signed between the Israeli and the Liberian diamond sectors. In 2008, Avidar visited Sierra Leone at the invitation of the Sierra Leone government and met President Dr Ernest Bai Koroma and Vice President Samuel Sam-Sumana and the Liberian Minister for Mines.
In 2008, Avidar founded – and is the head of – "The Smart Middle East Forum". The objectives of the Forum are to encourage new and different policy initiatives, and present the leaders and citizens of Israel with alternatives, which will reflect the necessity of creativity and the understanding of the cultural elements of this part of the world.
The basic principles of strategic dialogue of the Forum are:
In 2010, Avidar became Chairman of The Leadership Empowerment Society. The objectives of the society are:
The founders of the Society comprise leading personalities from all walks of life in Israel.