Today, Russian TV channels are literally full of various popular talk shows dedicated to political debates and confrontations in this area. In one of these programs, an inquisitive viewer can very often see a person named Yakov Kedmi, whose biography will be discussed in as much detail as possible in this article. This man deserves our closest attention, because he did a lot for the formation of the modern Israeli state.
Early life
Yakov Iosifovich Kazakov was born on March 5, 1947 in Moscow into a very intelligent family of Soviet engineers. In addition to him, the family had two more children. After our hero graduated from high school, he began working at a factory as a rebar concrete worker. In parallel with this, the young man entered the correspondence department of the Moscow State University of Railways and Communications.
Rebelliousness
Yakov Kedmi, whose biography is full of various interesting events, on February 19, 1967, committed an act that in those years only an extremely desperate and courageous person could decide. A young man came to the gates of the Israeli embassy in Moscow and said that he wanted to move topermanent residence in this country. Of course, no one let him in, then he forced his way into the territory of the consulate, where he was eventually met by a diplomat named Herzl Amikam. The diplomat decided that everything that was happening was a possible provocation on the part of the KGB and therefore did not give a positive answer to the young man's request. However, a week later, the persistent Yakov again got to the embassy and still received such coveted forms for immigration.
In June 1967, when the USSR severed diplomatic relations with Israel due to the Six-Day War, Kadmi publicly renounced the citizenship of the Union and began to demand that he be given the opportunity to permanently leave for Israel. At the same time, he entered the US Embassy in Moscow, where he had a long conversation with the consul about leaving for the country of the Promised Land.
May 20, 1968 Yakov Kedmi (whose biography is worthy of respect) became the author of a letter that was sent to the Supreme Soviet of the USSR. In it, the guy harshly condemned manifestations of anti-Semitism and put forward a demand to deprive him of Soviet citizenship. In addition, he arbitrarily declared himself a citizen of the Israeli state. This statement was the first in the Union of such a plan. Ultimately, in February 1969, he nevertheless moved to Israel and, according to some reports, even burned his passport of a Soviet citizen on Red Square. Although Kedmi himself regularly denies this fact.
Life in a new homeland
Yakov Kedmi, for whom Israel has become a new place of residence, upon arrival in the country immediately took up the issuerepatriation of Soviet Jews. In 1970, he even starved near the UN building due to the fact that the Soviet authorities forbade his family to move to him. At the same time, the Americans believed that the young Jew was a secret agent of the KGB. The family reunion took place on March 4, 1970, after which Jacob immediately became a fighter in the Israel Defense Forces. The service took place in tank units. Then there was training at a military school and an intelligence school. In 1973 he was transferred to the reserve. A year before, his son was born.
After Service
Becoming a civilian, Yakov went to work in the security service of the Arkiya air terminal. He also became a student at the Israel Institute of Technology in parallel, and a little later successfully completed his studies at Tel Aviv University and the National Security College.
Transition to the special services
In 1977, Yakov Kedmi, whose biography by that time was already filled with serious achievements, received an invitation to work at the Nativ bureau. This structure was a state Israeli institution, which functioned under the Office of the Prime Minister of the country. The bureau's main responsibility was to maintain contact with Jews abroad and assist them in emigrating to Israel. At the beginning of its existence, Nativ actively worked with Jews living both in the USSR and other countries of Eastern Europe. Moreover, at first, emigration took place illegally. By the way, Yakov received the surname Kedmi already in 1978, when he worked in a special transitimmigration center located in Vienna.
Increase
In 1990, Kedmi moved up the career ladder and became deputy director of Nativ. In the period 1992–1998 Jacob was already the head of the structure. It was during the period of Kedmi's leadership in the bureau that the maximum influx of Jews from the countries of the post-Soviet space fell. During this time, almost a million people moved to Israel. Such a significant influx of specialists and prominent scientists played an important role in the development of Israel as a state. The colossal merit in the resettlement of Jews to their historical homeland belongs to Kedmi.
Departure from Nativ
In the fall of 1997, Yakov received an invitation to work on a committee that de alt with the problem of increasing Iranian aggression and improving relations between Moscow and Tehran. It is worth noting that the new work of Kedmi was personally offered by the then Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. In the process of work, Yakov made a proposal to involve influential Jews of the Russian Federation in the deterioration of relations between Russia and Iran. However, Netanyahu rejected this proposal, which served to cool relations between him and Kedmi.
In 1999, Yakov finally leaves the special services. His resignation was preceded by a number of serious scandals that were directly related to Nativ. Structures such as the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Shabak intelligence and Mossad were categorically against the functioning of Nativ. According to Kedmi himself, after retiring, he became an ordinary pensioner, although receiving a pension equal to the general's.
In the same 1999, Jacob initiated a public discussion of his differences with Netanyahu. The former head of Nativ picketed the prime minister with his criticism for allegedly betraying the interests of the Jews and destroying relations with the Russian Federation.
Marital status
Yakov Kedmi, for whom his family plays a leading role all his life, has been married for a very long time. His wife, Edith, is a food chemist by education, and for some time was an employee of the Israeli Ministry of Defense. After almost 40 years of continuous work, she retired. The couple raised two sons and a daughter.
The eldest son of the couple graduated from the Interdisciplinary College in Herzliya, has two diplomas of higher education. Daughter graduated from the Academy of Arts.
Our days
Yakov Kedmi says one thing about Russia - until 2015, this country was banned for him. But now the situation has changed, an influential Jew is a fairly frequent guest in the Russian Federation. He often visits various political shows on television as an expert. Most often it can be seen in the program of Vladimir Solovyov, aired on the channel "Russia-1".
In addition, the Dialogues program, well known to many, is very popular. Yakov Kedmi discusses the topics of the Middle East, international politics and the world economy with another specialist in this area - Russian Evgeny Satanovsky. Quite often, Jacob is invited to an authoritativeradio station Vesti-FM.
Kedmi is also the author of a book of memoirs called "Hopeless Wars". The translation of this book for the Russian-speaking population was made in 2011.
