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Adam Milstein
Born1952 (age 71–72)[1]
Haifa, Israel
CitizenshipAmerican, Israeli
EducationTechnion (BSc)
USC (MBA)
OccupationReal estate investor
TitleChairman of the Israeli-American Council
Managing Partner of Hager Pacific Properties
Criminal chargesTax fraud (2009)
Criminal statusConvicted
SpouseGila Milstein
Children3
Military career
AllegianceIsrael
Service/branchIsrael Defense Forces
Years of service1971–1973
Battles/warsYom Kippur War

Adam Milstein (Hebrew: אדם מילשטיין; born 1952) is an Israeli-American real estate investor, lobbyist and philanthropist. He is a managing partner of Hager Pacific Properties.

In 2000, Milstein and his wife Gila founded the Adam and Gila Milstein Family Foundation. He is a co-founder of the Israeli-American Council, where he currently serves as chairman of the board. Both organizations support Israeli-American and Jewish-American identity and support of Israel.

Early life

Milstein was born in Haifa, Israel, the eldest child of Eva (née Temkin), a homemaker, and Hillel Milstein, a real estate developer.[2]

In 1971, Milstein was conscripted into the Israel Defense Forces and served during the 1973 Yom Kippur War. Afterwards he enrolled in the Technion, where he graduated in 1978 with a Bachelor of Science degree in business and economics. While in college, he worked with his father to expand their real estate construction and development business.[2]

In 1974, Milstein married Gila Elgrably in Haifa.[2] In 1981, the family moved to the United States. In 1983, Milstein received an MBA from the University of Southern California.[3] He started working in commercial real estate as a sales agent.[4]

Personal life

Milstein and his wife Gila live in Encino, California. They have three daughters and three grandchildren.[5]

In 2009 Milstein pleaded guilty to tax evasion involving his donations to the Spinka Hasidic sect. Milstein served three months in prison, 600 hours of community service, and paid a $30,000 fine.[6]

Career

Milstein is a managing partner of Hager Pacific Properties, overseeing the firm's financing, disposition and accounting.[7] The firm specializes in acquiring, rehabilitating and repositioning industrial, retail, office and multi-family properties.[8] In 2009 he was convicted of tax fraud.[9][10]

Activism

In 2000, Milstein and his wife Gila founded the Adam and Gila Milstein Family Foundation (MFF). The organization sponsors education of students and young professionals to identify with their Jewish roots, and gain knowledge to advocate for the State of Israel and the Jewish people.[11]

Milstein is a co-founder of the Israeli-American Council.[12][13][14] In 2015, he was named chairman of the group.[15][16][17]

Milstein also sits on the boards of StandWithUs, Israel on Campus Coalition, Hasbara Fellowships, Jewish Funders Network, Birthright Israel, Stand By Me, and the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) National Council.[18][19] However, in 2019, Milstein withdrew from that year's AIPAC conference, amidst controversy over remarks he made on Twitter questioning the loyalty to America of two Muslim Democrat lawmakers.[20]

Milstein and his wife Gila are co-founders of Sifriyat Pijama B'America, which provides free monthly books in Hebrew to more than 70 Israeli-Jewish American families in the United States.[11] In 2016, they started "The Donor Forum," an initiative to connect pro-Israel donors with pro-Israel causes.[21]

In June 2015, Milstein joined with Sheldon Adelson and Haim Saban to organize the inaugural Campus Maccabees summit. The event brought together more than 50 organizations to collaborate against anti-Semitic groups or activities on college campuses in the United States.[22] Milstein strongly opposes the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) Movement,[23][24] and has had several op-ed pieces published on this subject.[25][26]

In 2016, The Jerusalem Post selected Milstein for its list of the world's 50 most influential Jews.[1][27] In 2015 and 2016, Algemeiner Journal named Milstein to its list, "The Top 100 People Positively Influencing Jewish Life, 2015."[28][29]

Gil Troy identifies Milstein as a contemporary leader of cultural Zionism in his book The Zionist Ideas; Visions for the Jewish Homeland — Then, Now, Tomorrow (2018). The section on Milstein presents his "vision of Israeliness to invigorate Zionism and Jewish identity—in Israel and abroad."[30]

References

  1. ^ a b "Jerusalem Post 50 Most Influential Jews: Number 39 - Adam Milstein Orthodox Jew". The Jerusalem Post. September 29, 2016.
  2. ^ a b c "Bio". AdamMilstein.com.
  3. ^ "IAC Board of Directors". Israeli-American Council. Archived from the original on 2015-01-07.
  4. ^ "How to Succeed as an Entrepreneur: Lessons from a Millionaire". Huffington Post.
  5. ^ "Adam Milstein". Hager Pacific. Archived from the original on 2013-07-27.
  6. ^ Right-wing donor Adam Milstein has spent millions of dollars to stifle the BDS movement and attack critics of Israeli policy, Alex Kane, March 25, 2019, The Intercept
  7. ^ "Adam Milstein Bio". Hager Pacific. Archived from the original on 2015-07-11. Retrieved 2015-07-10.
  8. ^ "Hager Pacific". Hager Pacific. Archived from the original on 2013-09-25.
  9. ^ "Active Philanthropist Adam Milstein – a Growing Connector in the Jewish World". JNS. Archived from the original on 2015-02-06.
  10. ^ Gresh, Alain (31 August 2018). "How Israel Spies on US Citizens". The Nation. ISSN 0027-8378. Retrieved 2018-09-13.
  11. ^ a b "Who We Are". Milstein Family Foundation. Archived from the original on 2015-02-15.
  12. ^ "The Israeli-Americans: Who they are, what they want, where they're headed, why they matter". Jewish Journal. May 14, 2015.
  13. ^ "Adam Milstein: Leading by example". Jewish Journal. November 18, 2015.
  14. ^ "Why we set up the Israeli-American Council". Times of Israel.
  15. ^ "Israeli-American group names new leaders ahead of national conference". JNS. September 17, 2015. Archived from the original on April 17, 2016.
  16. ^ "Ascending Israeli-American group seeks to be the 'glue,' not the 'wedge,' for US Jewry". JNS. November 20, 2017.
  17. ^ "Israelis will power the future of American Jewry, IAC chair says". JTA. October 31, 2017.
  18. ^ "Adam Milstein". Milstein Family Foundation.
  19. ^ "'Active' philanthropist Adam Milstein a growing connector in the Jewish world". JNS. February 16, 2015. Archived from the original on December 2, 2016.
  20. ^ Ron Kampeas (2019-03-19). "Prominent pro-Israel donor pulls out of AIPAC conference after saying two Muslim lawmakers 'clash' with American values". JTA.
  21. ^ "Food, money and Jews". Jewish Journal. August 3, 2017.
  22. ^ "We Will Boycott the Boycotters and Make them Illegal". Arutz7. 9 June 2015.
  23. ^ "The Israeli-American connector". The Jerusalem Post. April 25, 2016.
  24. ^ "IAC head Milstein urges: Boycott the boycotters". The Jerusalem Post. May 22, 2016.
  25. ^ "It's Not Just About Israel. BDS Threatens Us All". Huffington Post. 22 December 2015.
  26. ^ "Israel to invest to track potential terrorists on social media". The Jerusalem Post.
  27. ^ "The Jerusalem Post's 50 Most Influential Jews". The Jerusalem Post. October 2, 2016.
  28. ^ "The Top 100 People Positively Influencing Jewish Life, 2015". Algemeiner. March 20, 2016.
  29. ^ "Jewish 100, 2015: Adam Milstein – Community". Algemeiner. March 30, 2016.
  30. ^ Troy, Gil (2018). The Zionist Ideas Visions for the Jewish Homeland—Then, Now, Tomorrow. University of Nebraska Press. pp. 469–471.

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