Leon Charney

Leon Charney was in the administration of President Jimmy Carter and part of the Camp David accord with Egypt. He has a weekly TV talk show Leon Charney Report which deals with foreign affairs, especially the Middle East, politics and Jewish issues. His show is seen weekly on WNYE-TV broadcast by the New York City Board of Education.Leon is happily married now to Tzili Doron and has two twin boys named Mickey and Nati.

History

At 36 years old, Charney became counsel and advisor to Senator Vance Hartke of Indiana. Through Hartke, Charney became more involved in international politics and diplomacy. He became close to Prime Minister of Israel, Golda Meir, with whom Charney worked with on Israel's initiative to free Soviet Jews and bring them help them migrate to Israel.

That effort saw the emigration of 1,000 Jews from the Soviet Union to Israel. Later, United States President Jimmy Carter asked Charney to help advise him during the Camp David Accords. Charney refers to his efforts as using "back door channels", and he advised to President Carter from 1976-1980 on the Camp David Accords. In a forward for one of Charney's books, Carter referred to Charney as "the unsung hero of the Camp David Peace Treaty.

In 1986 Charney went to Tunisia to meet with Yasser Arafat in the hope of a possible peaceful resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Charney is also a lawyer, and the owner of a real estate development company that owns and operates a series of buildings in Manhattan, New York.

Charney is the author of four books, his most recent on the mystery of the Jewish prayer for the dead, Kaddish, which was published in December 2006 [ [http://www.nypost.com/seven/01242007/tv/starr_report_tv_michael_starr.htm Michael Starr, NY Post, January 24, 2007] ] [ [http://www.clevelandjewishnews.com/articles/2007/01/25/features/arts/harts0125.txt Cleveland Jewish News] ] . The book is named, "The Mystery of the The Kaddish: Its Profound Influence on Judaism".

Charney also has a fabulous voice and acts as a cantor on Sabbaths and Holy Jewish Holidays.

Philanthropy

In 2003, Charney donated $10 million to New York University Medical Center for a new cardiac wing of the hospital [ [http://www.med.nyu.edu/communications/news/pr_16.html NYU Cardiac Center] ] .

References