{{Short description|Moroccan businessman}} {{Use dmy dates|date=June 2024}} {{Infobox person | name = David Amar | image = David Amar with Limor Livnat & Yuval Steinitz.JPG | caption = David Amar (left) with Limor Livnat (center) & Yuval Steinitz (right) | birth_name = | birth_date = 1920 | birth_place = Settat, Morocco | death_date = {{death year and age|2000|1920}} | death_place = | education = | alma_mater = | occupation = Businessman | title = | term = | predecessor = | successor = | known_for = David Amar Worldwide North Africa Jewish Heritage Center | boards = | spouse = | children = 3 | parents = | relatives = Raphael Edery (son-in-law)<br> Paul J. Fribourg (son-in-law) | website = }}

'''David Amar''' (1920–2000) was a Moroccan businessman, leader of the Moroccan Jewish community, politician, and philanthropist.

==Early life== David Amar was born in Settat, Morocco.<ref name="Encyclopedia of Jews">{{cite web|last1=Hatimi|first1=Mohammed|title=Amar, David|url=http://referenceworks.brillonline.com/entries/encyclopedia-of-jews-in-the-islamic-world/amar-david-SIM_0001820|website=Encyclopedia of Jews in the Islamic World|access-date=13 June 2017}}</ref>

==Business career== Amar was the head of Omnium Nord-Africain, Morocco's largest conglomerate, until he resigned in January 1986, and was replaced by King Hassan's son-in-law Fouad Felalli. The circumstances of this were unclear and may have been due to retirement, or to a loss of influence, and Amar sold all of his shares in the company.<ref name="nytimes1986">{{cite news|author=JUDITH MILLER, Special to the New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1986/07/31/world/moroccan-jews-talk-of-the-king-s-fate-and-theirs.html |title=Moroccan Jews Talk Of The King'S Fate, And Theirs |location=Morocco; Middle East; Israel, State Of |work=NYTimes.com |date=31 July 1986 |access-date=13 June 2017}}</ref>

==Political career== Amar was president of the Jewish community in Kenitra, which was where he started his business career.<ref name="Encyclopedia of Jews"/> He established connections with Moroccan nationalists, which helped him obtain the position of secretary general of the Conseil des Communautés Israélites du Maroc (CCIM) after Moroccan independence in 1956.<ref name="Encyclopedia of Jews"/>

Amar was involved in Operation Yachin, in which 97,000 Moroccan Jews emigrated to Israel in 1961 to 1964.<ref name="Pennell2000">{{cite book|author=C. R. Pennell|title=Morocco Since 1830: A History|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=g9Mu0faODjsC&pg=PA344|access-date=13 June 2017|year=2000|publisher=C. Hurst & Co. Publishers|isbn=978-1-85065-273-1|page=344}}</ref>

For 26 years, from 1965 to 1986 (at least), Amar was president of the Council of Moroccan Jewish Communities.<ref name="jta1965"/><ref name="nytimes1986"/><ref name="haaretz1">{{cite web|last=Bennyesterday |first=Aluf |url=https://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/business/frenchman-to-buy-stake-in-israel-salt-1.127861 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101120004445/http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/business/frenchman-to-buy-stake-in-israel-salt-1.127861 |url-status=dead |archive-date=20 November 2010 |title=Frenchman to buy stake in Israel Salt - Haaretz - Israel News |publisher=Haaretz.com |date=8 July 2004 |access-date=13 June 2017}}</ref> He was also president of the World Assembly of Moroccan Jewry.<ref name="nytimes1986"/><ref name="jta1965"/>

In 1965, Amar was a member of the Chamber of Moroccan Counselors.<ref name="jta1965">{{cite web|url=https://www.jta.org/1965/04/22/archive/two-members-of-moroccan-cabinet-attend-jewish-wedding-in-casablanca |title=Two Members of Moroccan Cabinet Attend Jewish Wedding in Casablanca &#124; Jewish Telegraphic Agency |publisher=Jta.org |date=22 April 1965 |access-date=13 June 2017}}</ref>

At the time of the 1971 coup attempt, Amar briefly fled abroad due to his closeness to King Hassan II.<ref name="Pennell2000"/> In 1984, Amar was made an Officer in the Order of the Throne by King Hassan.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.jta.org/1984/07/18/archive/hassan-honors-moroccan-jewish-leader |title=Hassan Honors Moroccan Jewish Leader &#124; Jewish Telegraphic Agency |publisher=Jta.org |date=18 July 1984 |access-date=13 June 2017}}</ref>

==Philanthropy== He funded the restoration of the North Africa Jewish Heritage Center in Jerusalem, which was named the David Amar Worldwide North Africa Jewish Heritage Center in his honour.<ref>{{cite web|last=Bennyesterday |first=Aluf |url=https://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/features/a-touch-of-morocco-in-the-heart-of-jerusalem-1.366698 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110610174234/http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/features/a-touch-of-morocco-in-the-heart-of-jerusalem-1.366698 |url-status=dead |archive-date=10 June 2011 |title=A touch of Morocco in the heart of Jerusalem - Haaretz - Israel News |publisher=Haaretz.com |date=9 June 2011 |access-date=13 June 2017}}</ref>

==Personal life== In 1965, his daughter Annie-Claude Amar (died 6 August 1993)<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.dansnoscoeurs.fr/annie-claude-amar-edery/1119645/avis |title=Avis de décès - Annie-Claude AMAR EDERY - Avis obsèques - Paris (75) - Dans nos coeurs |publisher=Dansnoscoeurs.fr |access-date=13 June 2017}}</ref><ref name="haaretz1"/> married Raphael Cohen (later known as Raphael Edery, a member of the Knesset from 1981 to 1999 and a government minister), an oil company engineer, in the presence of two members of the Moroccan Cabinet, several former Ministers and the National Police Chief.<ref name="jta1965"/>

His son Daniel Amar is a French-Jewish businessman, who owns stakes in Israel Salt Industries and Bank Hapoalim.<ref name="haaretz1"/>

Amar lived in a villa in "Casablanca's wealthiest district".<ref name="nytimes1986"/>

==References== {{Reflist}}

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Amar, David}} Category:20th-century Moroccan businesspeople Category:Moroccan philanthropists Category:1920 births Category:2000 deaths Category:20th-century Moroccan Jews Category:People from Casablanca Category:People from Settat

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