The Israel-America Chamber of Commerce held its 2016 annual Chamber Event Monday, November 7, at the Cinema City, Gelilot.
The event, in the presence of President Reuven (Ruvi) Rivlin, was hosted by Chamber chairpersons Ofra Strauss and U.S. Ambassador to Israel, Hon. Daniel Shapiro and was attended by over 400 Chamber Members, leading business people and government officials from Israel and the U.S..

The event opened with a reception-dinner where top brass from the Israeli and American companies, government officials and other distinguished guests met. Among them were Drorit Wertheim Chairperson of Keshet, Ronnie Kobrovsky, President of The Central Bottling Company (Coca Cola), Joshua Shani, CEO of Lockheed Martin CEO, Rick Kaplan CEO of IBM, Bini Zomer, Israel Country Manager of Noble Energy, Aharon Aharon, CEO of Apple Israel, Hezi Kalo, CEO of Bank of Israel, Shraga Brosh, President of the Manufacturers Association Israel, Eitan Wertheimer, Chairman of Iscar, Moshe and Leon Edri, owners of King Media Group, Amnon Neubach, Chairman of the Israel Stock exchange and many other.
The speakers, Preasident Rivlin, Ambassador Shapiro and Ms. Strauss emphasized the alliance between the two nations and the special business relationship between Israel and the U.S., that makes the U.S. Israel's largest trade partner, with overall two-way trade volume of approximately $40 Billion. President Rivlin said that "whichever way the elections turn out in the United States, the real winner will be the American people whose voice will be heard, and that Israel and the U.S. will continue to stand shoulder to shoulder, sharing values and interests deeper than any party divide, values of democracy, freedom and equality". Ms. Strauss said that "the economic and trade relationship between the two nations is the basis for the strategic partnership. Israel's importance for the U.S. market is much greater than its relative size. We don’t only share values, together we are actually changing the world".
Ms. Strauss, Ambassador Shapiro and Chamber CEO Oded Rose presented the Chamber Awards to six companies each for an exceptional contribution in its field of business.
The 2016 Awardees are: to the American companies: United Airlines, Citi, WeWork and to the Israeli companies: Caesar Stone, Keshet Media Group and WIX, who contributed significantly to the Israeli-American business and trade relationships.
The 2016 Chamber Life-Time Achievement Award was granted to Mr. Morris Kahn, a veteran business leader, entrepreneur and generous philanthropist. Mr. Kahn gave a moving speech and called on everyone in the audience to do something for the greater benefit of society.
The Chamber prepared a short movie on each of the awardees. The purpose was to provide the audience a glimpse into the companies and Mr. Kahn's story and highlight the reasons for receiving the award. The fast pace movies were received with much interest and appreciation from the audience.

Click to view the movies and the pictures of the event.