Ben Ami, Oved

Oved Dankner was born in 1905 in Petah Tikva in the family of Meir-Matityahu and Shoshany Dankner. His father, a farmer and artisan, was one of the first inhabitants of Petah Tikva, and his mother was an activist of the BILU settlement movement. The boy received a traditional Jewish education in the Talmud Torah , then studied at the Netzah Israel School and at the PIKA organization school ( Hebrew פיק"א ) in Petah Tikva. In childhood and youth he participated in various Zionist youth organizations ^[1] .

From the age of 15, Oved became interested in journalism, already in 1920 becoming a correspondent for the daily Doar Ha-Yom newspaper and the Palestine Weekly weekly ^[1] . Two years later, he already entered the board of the Doar Ha-Yom newspaper, at the same time changing his surname to Ben-Ami (the second half of which was formed from the first letters of the Hebrew spelling of the names of Oved himself, his father Meir-Matityahu and grandfather Joseph, who was killed in Hungary) ^[2] . Starting his journalistic career as a reporter (including sending daily reports to Jerusalem during the unrest in 1921 in Jaffa and Petah Tikva ^[2] ), he later switched to writing analytical materials on the development of Jewish Yishuv in Palestine. In 1922, Ben-Ami was the editor of two other periodicals - “Ha-Tikva” and “Head ha-kfarim”. He also played a prominent role in the activities of the Bnei Binyamin Settlement Society, in 1922 taking the post of regional secretary of the organization in Petah Tikva, and from 1924 to 1928 as general secretary of the society in Palestine. Heading the organization’s settlement department, Ben-Ami led the efforts to create her first own settlement, Kfar-Aaron, near Ness Ziona (now the Ness Ziona district) and settlement activities in Herzliya . At the 16th Zionist Congress, he was a member of the Palestinian delegation. He was also a delegate to the second convocation, Asefat Nivharim - the elected authority of the Yishuv government - and a member of Vaad Leumi , its executive body ^[3] .

In 1928, while in the United States to raise money for a new settlement in Palestine, Ben-Ami and Itamar Ben-Avi decided that this settlement would be named after the famous American philanthropist Nathan Strauss - Netanya . In the same year, Bnei Binyamin purchased 1,400 dunums of land in the Sharon Valley near the governor of the village of Um Khaled, and a new settlement was founded on these lands. Later, when the first settlers took root in these places, Ben-Ami led the reorientation of the economy of the settlement from agriculture to urban. He headed the settlement council from 1929 to 1940 and continued to lead the council after 1940, when Netanya received the status of a municipality ^[2] .

In 1929, Ben-Ami was elected chairman of the Central Committee of Bnei Binyamin, participated in the XVII Zionist Congress and the creation of the Jewish Agency (Sohnuta) and became a member of the executive committee of the World Zionist Organization ^[3] . In the same year, he and his associates created the company HaNotea, whose task was to raise money for the creation of Jewish settlements in Palestine, to acquire and reclaim land, which would then be leased to Jewish returnees ^[2] . In 1932, as part of the Jewish settlement of Palestine, Ben-Ami became one of the founders of Even Yehuda , named after the father of modern Hebrew Eliezer Ben Yehuda . In 1937, Ben-Ami was a delegate to the XX Zionist Congress as a member of the delegation of Palestinian farmers ^[3] .

Along with the development of agricultural settlements in Palestine, Ben-Ami was one of the first to appreciate the potential of the diamond processing industry and made efforts to develop it in Palestine in general and in Netanya in particular ^[2] . In 1940, he became one of the founders of the Diamond Industry Entrepreneurs Association in Palestine and its first chairman. He also became one of the founders of the film industry in Mandate Palestine. ^[3]

In the years leading up to the Israeli War of Independence , Ben-Ami took an active part in organizing the landing of illegal immigrants on its coast on the coast of Netanya, established contacts between various Jewish underground organizations, and obtained weapons and ammunition for them. In 1947, during Operation Agatha by British forces, he was arrested and sent to Latrun Prison ^[2] . The mayors of Tel Aviv , Ramat Ghana and other public figures of Yishuv were arrested with him. Ben-Ami spent 67 days in custody and was released on October 10, 1947. ^[3]

After the creation of the State of Israel, Netanya received city status in 1948, and Ben-Ami officially became its first mayor, remaining in this post until 1957. In the first years after the founding of Israel, Netanya, under the leadership of Ben-Ami, received a large number of returnees who arrived in the city in several waves. At the same time, Ben-Ami became one of the founders of the national newspaper “ Maariv ”, heading its board ^[2] . In the 1950s, when the Israeli government decided to create the new city of Ashdod south of Tel Aviv, the then Minister of Finance Levi Eshkol commissioned Ben-Ami and the American businessman Philip Klatsnik to create a private company, which will have all the responsibilities for developing urban infrastructure and housing. The company received a territory of 50 thousand dunams from the state in the next 15-20 years, pledging to create an infrastructure sufficient for a population of 250 thousand people, including a road network, electricity, water and sewage, hospitals and cultural and entertainment centers. Ashdod’s total control over the situation in the city provoked opposition from Histadrut , the Israeli union of trade unions, which first led to the removal of half of the land originally transferred to it from its control, and then to the creation of an independent city council. Subsequently, the company “Ashdod” was accused of not fulfilling its obligations in full ^[4] .

In the 1960s, Oved Ben-Ami was twice elected mayor of Netanya and last held this post until 1973. To his 80th birthday, he received the honorary title of founder from the city. Ben-Ami died in October 1988 and was buried in the Shikun-Vatikim cemetery in Netanya. He was survived by three daughters from his wife Jaffa ^[2] . Streets in the cities of Netanya and Ashdod are named in honor of Oved Ben-Ami.

• David Tidhar. Oved Ben-Ami (Dankner) // Encyclopedia of pioneers and builders of Yishuv = אנציקלופדיה לחלוצי הישוב ובוניו. - 1947. - T. 2. - S. 1024-1025.

• Oved Ben-Ami (Hebrew) (inaccessible link) . City Hall of Netanya. Date of treatment July 20, 2017. Archived March 4, 2016.