Word: azoulay
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...Islamic parties led the government to postpone nationwide local elections slated for June. Moroccan democracy might be further undermined if foreign tourists and investors steer clear of the country and deprive it of resources needed to battle poverty. That "would have dire consequences for everyone," warns André Azoulay, an adviser to Mohammed VI. "It would demonstrate that Western examples of democracy, plurality and economic modernity couldn't be applied to the world's most progressive Arab state - and indeed aren't compatible with Arab society. The only people who would benefit from that are the Islamist radicals." Moroccans...
Religious tolerance in our country isn't a political fashion," Moroccans like to say, "it's simply the way we live." André Azoulay illustrates the point. A counselor to King Mohammed VI, he is the only Jew who holds an influential position anywhere in the Arab world. Through history, Moroccan kings and sultans officially "protected" Jews and hired "court Jews" at the palace. But Azoulay, the palace makes clear, is on the payroll as an able patriot, not as a recipient of religious patronage...
...made a career as a Paris banker. He spent his off hours promoting Middle East peace, becoming friends with Shimon Peres and other Israeli leaders as well as Palestinians like Issam Sartawi, who was assassinated in 1982 for pursuing secret talks with Israel. In 1991, King Hassan II asked Azoulay to return home to advise him on economic matters. He stayed on after the King's death...
...Azoulay, 60, raised in the Jewish quarter of Essaouira, shuns the "Jewish adviser" tag but says of his unique role, "This is a light that is alive in this part of the world." Will that light eventually shine throughout the Middle East? He has an uncommon perspective. "I am Jewish not only by blood, but by believing in the values of liberty, dignity and identity," he says "If the Palestinian is still fighting for liberty, it means I cannot be free myself. It means I cannot be completely Jewish...
Some of the institutions that wrote letters, from Sacred Heart University in Fairfield, Conn., to Sha'are Zedek Hospital in Jerusalem, had no idea what they would be used for. Avner Azoulay, a former Mossad operative who runs the Rich Foundation in Tel Aviv, had asked them to write appreciations for a book about the foundation. "I didn't ask the writers' permission to include their letters in the petition to the President. Why should I? I use these letters in many other cases to show the work we are doing," Azoulay told TIME. Other Rich supporters had financial links...