American business mogul cooks up rare alliance to stir up Israeli political stew

Israel's system of government will change in the very near future, according to Iranian-Israeli billionaire Izak Nazarian from Beverly Hills, who is described by political sources as the "architect" behind a new bipartisan pact to effect political reform.

One source - a former diplomatic correspondent - told Anglo File that 83-year-old Nazarian and a few other industrialists were "heavily involved" in forging the alliance on restructuring the system between Kadima chairperson Tzipi Livni and her political rival, Yisrael Beiteinu chairman Avigdor Lieberman.

The unlikely collaboration between the two parties has culminated in a proposal that would make the Israeli government look more like the United States. Instead of Israel's multi-party system - where governments enjoy an average life span of 22 months - the Center's strategists are promoting a presidential system that has regional elections, which they say will be more stable.

"I believe that the system of government in Israel will change long before 2015," said Nazarian, a soft-spoken man who rarely speaks to media about his political involvement. "By my 90th birthday we will have a new system in place."

Nazarian, who is believed to be the world's richest Jew of Iranian descent, says his involvement with lobbying in favor of changing Israel's system of government stems from his life experience in Persia, the U.S. and Israel.

"As someone who was born in Tehran in 1926, I saw my native country, thought to be quite stable, collapse overnight into chaos," he recently told Anglo File, in between meetings with politicians and industrialists at the Dan Tel Aviv Hotel. "I know that it can happen elsewhere as well, and I know how crucial stability is."

Experiencing political accountability in the U.S. ("and its absence in Israel") served to further ripen Nazarian's outlook, says the soft-spoken industrialist, who employs a chummy manner of speech and a mix of simple Hebrew and English to convey his thoughts.

After immigrating to Israel from Persia as a young man, Nazarian enlisted into the Israel Defense Forces, where he sustained a serious leg injury from an Egyptian land mine explosion near Gaza. He then returned to Persia, eventually fleeing for the U.S. during the Islamic Revolution of 1979.

"When I came to America, I came with the experience of living in Persia and Israel," he recalls, after concluding a meeting with Likud Minister Michael Eitan. "I saw how every citizen's right to influence is better upheld in America. My representatives came to me and asked for my support. Politicians told me what they'd done for me lately."

This, according to Nazarian, contrasted with his impression of Israeli democracy. "I saw this accountability in itself created stability," he elaborated. "And I started to ask myself why Israel needed 32 parties and why Israelis knew little about their civil rights."

This prompted Nazarian - who is an Israeli citizen - and a few other industrialists to found in 2003 the Citizen's Empowerment Center in Israel, a nonprofit, nonpartisan lobby and education group. Over the past months, Nazarian formed another group, the Forum for the Stabilization of Government, which facilitated the Lieberman-Livni pact.

"Mr. Nazarian is very careful about the people he involves in this project," said one source close to Nazarian. "He only involves Israelis lest it be perceived seen as meddling in internal business by rich Jews who do not live here."

But using contacts in the U.K. and in the U.S., Nazarian encouraged the founding of British and American sister nonprofits for changing Israel's system of government, which accept donations in those countries.

"The people whom Mr. Nazarian got onboard are famous, center-stage Israeli figures and household names," said Yuval Lipkin, director of the Forum for the Stabilization of Government.

While acknowledging that "friends of Israel" in the West and immigrants from Western countries tend to be especially attentive to issue of changing the system of government in Israel, Lipkin noted that Nazarian's partners in the project include the former head of the Shin Bet security service, Ya'akov Peri, Yossi Rosen from the Israel Refineries, Amos Shapira, Gidi Strauss and Elisha Yanai and others.

"Yes, non-Israeli Jews are involved in this project and they support it morally and financially," Lipkin said. "But at the forefront are Israelis who belong to the elite of this country's society from all its sectors."