Adam Milstein

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 service1971–1974
Battles / warsYom Kippur War

Adam Milstein (Hebrew: אדם מילשטיין; born 1952) is an Israeli-American investor and philanthropist. He is a managing partner at 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 emeritus and board member. He was Chairman of the Board of IAC from 2015 to 2019.[2]

Early life & education

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Milstein was born in Haifa, Israel, the eldest child of Eva (née Temkin), a homemaker, and Hillel Milstein, a real estate developer.[3]

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.[3]

In 1974, Milstein married Gila Elgrably in Haifa.[3] In 1981, the family moved to the United States. In 1983, Milstein received an MBA from the University of Southern California.[4] He started working in commercial real estate as a sales agent.[5]

Career

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Milstein is a managing partner of Hager Pacific Properties, overseeing the firm's financing, disposition and accounting.[6] The firm specializes in acquiring, rehabilitating and repositioning industrial, retail, office and multi-family properties.[7] In 2007, Milstein co-founded the Israeli-American Council (IAC).[8]

Activism

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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.[9]

Milstein is a co-founder of the Israeli-American Council.[8][10][11][12] In 2015, he was named chairman of the group.[13][14][15]

Milstein also sits on the boards of StandWithUs, Hasbara Fellowships, and PragerU.[16] He previously served on the boards of Israel on Campus Coalition, Jewish Funders Network, and the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) National Council.[17]

In June 2015, Milstein joined with Sheldon Adelson and Haim Saban to organize the inaugural Campus Maccabees summit, which opposes anti-Semitic groups and activities on college campuses in the United States.[18] Milstein strongly opposes the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) Movement,[19][20] and has had several op-ed pieces published on this subject.[21][22]

Milstein and his wife Gila are co-founders of Sifriyat Pijama B'America, which provides free monthly books in Hebrew to Israeli-Jewish American families in the United States.[9] In 2016, they started "The Impact Forum," an initiative which “fights antisemitism, strengthens the state of Israel, and protects American democracy.”[23][24]

In 2016, The Jerusalem Post selected Milstein for its list of the world's 50 most influential Jews.[1][25] In 2015 and 2016, Algemeiner Journal named Milstein to its list, "The Top 100 People Positively Influencing Jewish Life."[26][27]

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."[28]

In 2019, AIPAC distanced from Milstein after he made tweets seeking to connect Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib to the Muslim Brotherhood. Milstein later withdrew from speaking at that year's AIPAC conference..[29][29]

Personal life

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Milstein and his wife Gila live in Encino, California. They have three daughters and three grandchildren.[30]

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.[8][31]

In undercover footage from "The Lobby USA," Eric Gallagher, former fundraising director at the Israel Project, admitted to an undercover reporter that Adam Milstein founded and funds the Canary Mission. Milstein is also recorded in the documentary speaking to the undercover reporter at the 2016 Israeli-American Council conference in Washington, D.C about the need to “investigate”, “expose” and put BDS activists "on the run" and to smear them "not just as anti-Semites, but as anti-everything we believe in."[32][33] However, Gallagher reportedly "told Milstein that Al Jazeera had selectively edited his quote to make it appear that he was saying Milstein backed the operation". Milstein claims the documentary’s reporting are untrue.[34]

References

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  1. ^ a b "Jerusalem Post 50 Most Influential Jews: Number 39 - Adam Milstein Orthodox Jew". The Jerusalem Post. September 29, 2016.
  2. ^ David Fournier (May 14, 2020). "Meet Adam Milstein: Real Estate Investor and Active Philanthropist elected as one of Top 50 Zionist Influencers of 2020". TMC. Retrieved June 15, 2024.
  3. ^ a b c "Bio". AdamMilstein.com.
  4. ^ "IAC Board of Directors". Israeli-American Council. Archived from the original on 2015-01-07.
  5. ^ "How to Succeed as an Entrepreneur: Lessons from a Millionaire". Huffington Post.
  6. ^ "Adam Milstein Bio". Hager Pacific. Archived from the original on 2015-07-11. Retrieved 2015-07-10.
  7. ^ "Hager Pacific". Hager Pacific. Archived from the original on 2013-09-25.
  8. ^ a b c Jacob Kamaras (February 5, 2015). "Active' philanthropist Adam Milstein a growing connector in the Jewish world". JNS. Retrieved June 15, 2024.
  9. ^ a b "Who We Are". Milstein Family Foundation. Archived from the original on 2015-02-15.
  10. ^ "The Israeli-Americans: Who they are, what they want, where they're headed, why they matter". Jewish Journal. May 14, 2015.
  11. ^ "Adam Milstein: Leading by example". Jewish Journal. November 18, 2015.
  12. ^ "Why we set up the Israeli-American Council". Times of Israel.
  13. ^ "Israeli-American group names new leaders ahead of national conference". JNS. September 17, 2015. Archived from the original on April 17, 2016.
  14. ^ "Ascending Israeli-American group seeks to be the 'glue,' not the 'wedge,' for US Jewry". JNS. November 20, 2017.
  15. ^ "Israelis will power the future of American Jewry, IAC chair says". JTA. October 31, 2017.
  16. ^ "ADAM MILSTEIN". Israeli American. Retrieved June 15, 2024.
  17. ^ "'Active' philanthropist Adam Milstein a growing connector in the Jewish world". JNS. February 16, 2015. Archived from the original on December 2, 2016.
  18. ^ "We Will Boycott the Boycotters and Make them Illegal". Arutz7. 9 June 2015.
  19. ^ "The Israeli-American connector". The Jerusalem Post. April 25, 2016.
  20. ^ "IAC head Milstein urges: Boycott the boycotters". The Jerusalem Post. May 22, 2016.
  21. ^ "It's Not Just About Israel. BDS Threatens Us All". Huffington Post. 22 December 2015.
  22. ^ "Israel to invest to track potential terrorists on social media". The Jerusalem Post. 27 January 2016.
  23. ^ "Food, money and Jews". Jewish Journal. August 3, 2017.
  24. ^ Alan Rosenbaum (April 8, 2024). "'Our mission is to fight antisemitism, strengthen the state of Israel, protect American democracy'". Jerusalem Post. Retrieved June 15, 2024.
  25. ^ "The Jerusalem Post's 50 Most Influential Jews". The Jerusalem Post. October 2, 2016.
  26. ^ "The Top 100 People Positively Influencing Jewish Life, 2015". Algemeiner. March 20, 2016.
  27. ^ "Jewish 100, 2015: Adam Milstein – Community". Algemeiner. March 30, 2016.
  28. ^ Troy, Gil (2018). The Zionist Ideas Visions for the Jewish Homeland—Then, Now, Tomorrow. University of Nebraska Press. pp. 469–471.
  29. ^ a b Ron Kampeas (2019-03-19). "Prominent pro-Israel donor pulls out of AIPAC conference after saying two Muslim lawmakers 'clash' with American values". JTA.
  30. ^ "Adam Milstein". Hager Pacific. Archived from the original on 2013-07-27.
  31. ^ 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
  32. ^ The Lobby - USA, episode 1, 3 November 2018, retrieved 2020-01-16
  33. ^ Gresh, Alain (2018-08-31). "How Israel Spies on US Citizens". ISSN 0027-8378. Retrieved 2020-05-22.
  34. ^ Bamford, James (2023-12-22). "Who Is Funding Canary Mission? Inside the Doxxing Operation Targeting Anti-Zionist Students and Professors". ISSN 0027-8378. Retrieved 2024-10-04.
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