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ISEF LEADERS ELECTED TO ISRAEL'S KNESSET
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We are proud to announce that two leading ISEF figures have been elected to Israel's 19th Knesset on the Yesh Atid (There Is a Future) ticket headed by Yair Lapid.
Dr. Adi Koll, 36, rose from a deprived background to earn her J.S.D. (Ph.D. in law) at Columbia University as an ISEF International Fellow. She then founded "University of the People," which enables underprivileged Israelis to prepare for entry into degree programs. She is also a prominent activist for causes including health, education, and protecting children from abuse. She won the Knesset Speaker's Quality of Life Prize in 2011, and received ISEF's highest honor - membership in the Edmond J. Safra Society of Alumni - in 2012.
Adi will carry ISEF's mission into the legislative arena- as she says in her election video: "I believe that the education system holds the key to closing Israel's societal gaps."
Shimon Solomon, 43, fled Ethiopia on foot and arrived in Israel in 1980 with his parents and five siblings. Since earning his social work degree at Ben-Gurion University, he has headed numerous organizations to assist Ethiopian Jews and refugees in Israel. Until recently, he was education director at the Agahozo-Shalom Youth Village for genocide orphans in Rwanda. From 2005 to 2007 he worked at the Israeli Embassy in Addis Ababa. He is a member of ISEF's governing association in Israel and continues to serve his country as a major in the IDF reserve paratroopers unit. "I'm not here to say, 'There is a problem'- I'm here to help solve it."
ISEF President Nina Weiner:
We are delighted to see these two outstanding leaders achieve national prominence, so they can expand their positive impact on society even further.
These are just two of ISEF's thousands of outstanding young people who are changing the face of Israel for good, rising out of difficult circumstances to make their mark in every sphere of endeavor.
ISEF is developing Israel's single greatest resource - the minds of its young people - and training them to become agents of change. Adi and Shimon embody ISEF's credo, and its success.
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The ISEF Foundation
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135 West 29th Street ~ Suite 303 ~ New York, NY 10001
Call: 212-683-7772 ~ Email: isefadmin@isef.org ~ Visit: www.isef.org
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