Community &
Conversation - A Special Evening in
Support of ISRAEL
Presented by Gold Coast Arts & Temple Beth-El of Great Neck
Featuring a conversation with:
Avraham Melamed
Israeli survivor; 1972 Munich Olympics Massacre
Together with:
Ambassador Ido Aharoni
Israel’s former Consul-General, New York & the
Tri-State area
Jon Loew
Producer, Netflix Series, Spy Ops
The evening will include a look “Behind The Scenes” of the Netflix series Spy Ops, about the 1972 Munich Olympics Massacre of 11 Israeli athletes. Featured speakers include Jon Loew, the producer of the series; Avraham Melamed, a witness and survivor of that massacre; and Ambassador Ido Aharoni of Israel, who will provide analysis and lead the conversation. Together we will
explore how the events in 1972 led to the October 2023 massacres in Israel.
Join us at Temple Beth-El of Great Neck
5 Old Mill Rd, Great Neck, NY 11023
Doors open at 7:00pm
Complimentary Admission.
Advanced RSVP is REQUIRED.
Security will be strictly enforced and no bags or backpacks will be permitted.No entry will be granted to anyone without a ticket
_______________________________________________________
Avraham (Bey) Melamed was born in Israel, May 29, 1944, to
Ephraim and Dina who immigrated to Israel with a group of Zionists motivated by
visions of communal living emphasizing work, a just life, creativity, and Jewish
identity in an agricultural settlement – Kibbutz.
Bey is mostly
known for his athletic achievements in the swimming pool despite suffering from
asthma. Bey represented Israel in the ’64 (Tokyo) and ’68 (Mexico) Olympics but
was blocked from the Israeli team to the ’72 Olympics in Munich. Still, Bey
stayed with the Olympic team as a reporter and fled from the apartment he
shared with other athletes after watching members of the team being led away to their
horrific end. This event was the worst disaster in Olympic history.
Having
graduated from the Israeli College of Physical Education and Science bey joined
West Liberty State College in West Virginia where he led the swim team to
numerous intercollegiate victories. After graduating from West Liberty, Bey completed his MSc in two
disciplines: Computer Science and Human Performance at the University of
Massachusetts Amherst while coaching the UMASS swim team.
In the following
year bey’s professional career was centered around computer programming of
various domains and automated testing techniques.
Currently Bey
is sharing his life and love for Art and Swimming with Willo Doe. Bey is a
passionate photographer whose images focus on reflections (@beymelamed).
Ido Aharoni Aronoff is an Israeli diplomat, advisor to global companies,
public speaker, university lecturer, writer and investor. He was born in Tel
Aviv to a family that settled in the Land of Israel in the 1870’s and
spent his entire diplomatic career in the United States on both coasts. He is a
25-year veteran of Israel’s Foreign service, a public diplomacy specialist,
founder of the Brand Israel Program, and a well-known place
positioning and branding practitioner. Aharoni has served as a Member of
the Board of Governors of Tel Aviv University since 2015 and
as a lecturer at the university’s Coller School of Management since
2018. He is the host of TAU Unbound, the official English
language podcast of Tel Aviv University. He has served as a Global
Distinguished Professor for International Relations at New
York University and has frequently appeared in international
media as a commentator. Aharoni has been Israel's longest-serving Consul-General
in New York (2010-2016).
Jon Loew serves
as Chairman of BIG Media Holdings, the company he co-founded in
2009. Big Media produces original series
for broadcasters around the globe, including Netflix, Amazon, Hulu, A+E
Networks, Discovery Channel, Fox, Tokyo Broadcasting System, DirecTV, National
Geographic Channels, and dozens of others across the globe. BIG Media has produced three series that have
reached Netflix’ coveted “Top 10 list”, with the most recent being SPY OPS that
reached the top 10 in 49 countries worldwide.
BIG Media has produced more than 70 multi-episode documentary series,
working closely with globally recognized institutions such as the American CIA,
FBI and Department of Defense, other countries intelligence services, and the
Vatican.
Jon is a volunteer firefighter here
on Long Island at Empire Hose Co 3 in Merrick. In 2022, Jon was appointed
Chairman of the Advisory Board of the Donovan & Bank Society, an
organization that helps special forces operators transition to the private
sector after leaving the military.
Presented in partnership with
the following organizations:
ADL New York/New Jersey
AJC Long Island
Fuel for Truth
Great Neck Chinese Association
Great Neck Synagogue
Great Neck United
Parent-Teacher Council
Holocaust Memorial &
Tolerance Center of Nassau County
Iranian American Jewish Federation of New York
Jewish National Fund - Long Island
Lake Success Jewish Center
Legion Self Defense
Long Island chapter of FIDF
Midway Jewish Center
North Shore Hebrew Academy
Sephardic Heritage Alliance, Inc. (SHAI)
Temple Israel of Great Neck
Temple Emanuel of Great Neck
UJA-Federation on Long Island
Young Israel of Great Neck