David Amar

Born in Settat, he headed Omnium Nord-Africain, Morocco's largest business group, and led the Jewish community for decades: secretary general of the Council of Jewish Communities after independence, then its president, a Moroccan senator, and president of the World Assembly of Moroccan Jewry.

Who was David Amar?

David Amar was a Moroccan industrialist and the leading figure of Moroccan Jewry for a generation after independence. He served as secretary general and then president of the Council of Jewish Communities of Morocco, sat in the Moroccan parliament, and later presided over the World Assembly of Moroccan Jewry, linking Moroccan Jews in Morocco and across the diaspora.

Early life and business

David Amar was born in 1920 in Settat, in central Morocco. He began his career in Kenitra, where he also became president of the local Jewish community, and rose to become one of the most prominent businessmen in the country. For many years he headed Omnium Nord-Africain, Morocco’s largest business group, until he stepped down in January 1986.

Leader of the community

As Morocco moved toward independence, Amar built relationships with Moroccan nationalist leaders. After independence in 1956 he became secretary general of the Council of Jewish Communities of Morocco, known in French as the Conseil des Communautés Israélites du Maroc, the body that represented Moroccan Jewry before the state. Contemporary reports from 1961 and 1963 describe him in that role.

In October 1963 he was elected a senator in the upper house of Morocco’s new parliament, a sign of the place Jews still held in Moroccan public life. He later served for many years as president of the Council, until at least 1986.

His years of leadership coincided with the great emigration of Moroccan Jews. In the early 1960s, during the secret operation known as Yachin, some 97,000 Moroccan Jews left for Israel; Amar was among the community leaders involved. He worked to protect the Jews who remained and to keep open the relationship between the community and the Moroccan monarchy.

The World Assembly of Moroccan Jewry

With the blessing of King Hassan II, Amar helped establish the World Assembly of Moroccan Jewry, which held its founding gathering in Montreal in 1985, and served as its president. The organization brought together Moroccan Jews from Israel, France, Canada and elsewhere and kept alive their bond with Morocco.

Death and legacy

David Amar died in 2000. He belongs to the line of Moroccan Jewish leaders who, through modern times, served as intermediaries between their community and the throne. His career shows how Moroccan Jews remained part of the life of their country even as most of them left it, and how a community scattered across continents kept its unity and its ties to home.