Aharon Mor
Quick Facts
Biography
Aharon Mor (Hebrew: אהרון מור, born 22 August 1947) is a Polish-born Israeli civil servant who, as senior director, heads the Restitution of Rights and Jewish Property Department at the Israeli Ministry of Pensioner Affairs, which is affiliated with the Prime Minister’s Office. He has worked at the Ministry of Finance and at the Prime Minister's Office, and has represented the Jewish state abroad as an emissary in a number of international organizations.
Mor is the writer and editor of the First Global Report for Restitution of Rights and Jewish Property (1952–2004), and in 2010 was nominated by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to be a member of the National Advisory Board for Restitution Rights and Jewish Property. He is also a member of the Advisory Board of the European Shoah Legacy Institute.
Background
Mor (previously Malowany) was born in 1947 in Wrocław, Poland, to parents who were both survivors of the Holocaust (Shoah). He spent his childhood in Poland and made Aliyah to Israel in 1957. He lived with his parents on a moshav, studying and working on the family farm. In 1966 he was drafted to the Israel Defense Forces and served as a soldier in the Six-Day War in 1967, as an officer in the War of Attrition in 1969, and as an officer (res.) in the Yom Kippur War in 1973. He currently serves as a major (res.) in the IDF Spokesperson's Unit.
Mor studied at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, earning a B.A. in economics in 1974. He earned an M.A. in public administration and public policy in 2001 while writing two M.A. theses. The first thesis was titled "Tax Reduction for Donors of Non-Profit Organizations in Israel in Reference to Fundraising of Israeli Non-Profit Organizations". His second was titled "A Comparative Analysis of Shoah Restitution in Three European Countries since the 1990s". Mor is currently working on a Ph.D. on the topic of Restitution of Jewish Property from the Holocaust Era, for which he was won a Fulbright fellowship.
Government work
Mor began his work at the Ministry of Finance in 1973 as an economist dealing with collective bargaining. After serving as an economist in 1977-78 at the budget department, in 1978 he became supervisor of Income Tax dealing with Investments and Foreign
Investors at the Head Office of Revenue, while also serving as a board member of the Investment Promotion Center. In 1988 became associate director of the Investment Authority. Mor served as a director at the International Affairs Department from 2001 to 2008, when he left the Ministry of Finance for his current position. In 2004-05 he served as senior advisor for the restitution of rights and Jewish property at the Prime Minister's Office and was nominated by the Israeli cabinet as co-chairman of the steering committee for restitution of Jewish rights and property.
Representing Israel
Mor represented Israel as an emissary with three different organizations during three stints overseas: as Regional Director for the United Israel Appeal in the United Kingdom with the Joint Israel Appeal (1983–86, now the UJIA); in Canada with the Jewish Federation (1991–95); and in Australia with the Jewish National Fund (2001–02). He has also worked with organizations such as the World Jewish Restitution Organization (a branch of the World Jewish Congress), the Swiss Humanitarian Fund and the ICHEIC.
Mor participated in international conferences on restitution of Jewish property from the Holocaust era in Washington (1998), Vilnius (2000), and Prague (2009). He also participated in the process of accession of Israel to the OECD in 2008 and in the Prague conference process of 2010.