Adam Milstein

Adam Milstein
אדם מילשטיין
Born1952 (age 72–73)[1]
Haifa, Israel
EducationTechnion (BSc)
USC (MBA)
OccupationReal estate investor
TitleChairman of the Israeli-American Council
Managing Partner of Hager Pacific Properties
SpouseGila Milstein
Children3
Military career
AllegianceIsrael
BranchIsrael Defense Forces
Years of service1971–1974
Battles / warsYom Kippur War

Adam Milstein (Hebrew: אדם מילשטיין; born 1952) is an Israeli and American investor and philanthropist. He is a managing partner at Hager Pacific Properties.

Milstein has founded and funded organizations supporting Jewish causes,[2] and has also founded and served as a board member of organizations advocating support for Israel, including countering anti-Israel initiatives such as Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions.[3][4] In 2000, Milstein and his wife, Gila, founded the Adam and Gila Milstein Family Foundation. He is a co-founder of the Israeli-American Council (IAC), where he currently serves as chairman emeritus and board member. He was chairman of the board of IAC from 2015 to 2019.[5]

Early life and education

Milstein was born in Haifa, Israel, the eldest child of Eva (née Temkin), a homemaker, and Hillel Milstein, a real estate developer.[6]

In 1971, Milstein was conscripted into the Israel Defense Forces. After serving during the 1973 Yom Kippur War, he enrolled in the Technion, where he graduated in 1978 with a Bachelor of Science degree in business and economics. While in college, he worked with his father to expand the family's real estate construction and development business.[6]

In 1974, Milstein married Gila Elgrably in Haifa.[6] In 1981, the family moved to the United States. In 1983, Milstein received an MBA from the University of Southern California.[7] He started working in commercial real estate as a sales agent.[8]

Investment career

Milstein is a managing partner of Hager Pacific Properties, overseeing the firm's financing, disposition and accounting.[9] The firm specializes in acquiring, rehabilitating and repositioning industrial, retail, office and multi-family properties.[10]

Philanthropy and political donations

In 2000, Milstein and his wife Gila founded the Adam and Gila Milstein Family Foundation. The organization sponsors education of students and young professionals to identify with their Jewish roots and gain knowledge to advocate for the State of Israel and the Jewish people.[2]

In 2007, Milstein co-founded the Israeli American Council.[11][12][13][14] In 2015, he was named chairman of the group.[15][16][17]

Milstein sits on the boards of StandWithUs, Hasbara Fellowships, and PragerU.[4] He previously served on the boards of Israel on Campus Coalition, Jewish Funders Network, and the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) National Council.[11]

In June 2015, Milstein joined Sheldon Adelson and Haim Saban to organize the inaugural Campus Maccabees summit, which opposes Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) groups and activities on college campuses in the United States.[3] Milstein strongly opposes the BDS movement,[18][19] and has had several opinion pieces published on the subject.[20][21]

Milstein and his wife, Gila, co-founded of Sifriyat Pijama B'America, which provided free monthly books in Hebrew to Israeli-Jewish American families in the United States.[2] In 2016, they started "The Impact Forum", an initiative which "fights antisemitism, strengthens the state of Israel, and protects American democracy".[22][23]

In 2016, The Jerusalem Post selected Milstein for its list of the 50 most influential Jews in the world.[1][24] In 2015 and 2016, Algemeiner Journal named Milstein to its list, "The Top 100 People Positively Influencing Jewish Life".[25][26]

Gil Troy identified Milstein as a contemporary leader of cultural Zionism in his book The Zionist Ideas: Visions for the Jewish Homeland—Then, Now, Tomorrow (2018). The section on Milstein presents his "vision of Israeliness to invigorate Zionism and Jewish identity—in Israel and abroad".[27]

Controversies

In 2009, Milstein pleaded guilty to tax evasion involving his donations to the Spinka Hasidic sect. Mondoweiss reported that "Prosecutors acknowledged the extent of Milstein's charitable giving, but warned of 'an obvious concern that much of his philanthropy appears to have been merely a device to defraud the government'".[28] As a result of his conviction, Milstein served three months in prison, 600 hours of community service, and paid a $30,000 fine.[11][29]

In 2014, a $1,000 donation made by Milstein to two student senate candidates at UCLA via the campus Hillel the prior year became the center of a controversy over outside influence in campus governance.[30][31] Upon receipt of the funds, one recipient, UCLA student Avi Oved, pledged to ensure that UCLA would "maintain its allegiance to Israel."[32][33] As a result of the donation, leaders of the University of California Student Association requested a delay in voting.[34]

In undercover footage featured in documentary series The Lobby, The Israel Project's fundraising director Eric Gallagher stated to an undercover reporter that Milstein founded and funds the Canary Mission.[35][36] In a response to the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, a spokesperson for Milstein denied claims that he or the Milstein Family Foundation fund the doxing website, and stated that Gallagher denied to Milstein that he had implicated him directly.[37]

In 2019, Milstein withdrew from speaking at that year's AIPAC conference after he posted tweets seeking to connect Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib to the Muslim Brotherhood.[38]

Personal life

Milstein and his wife, Gila, live in Encino, California. They have three daughters and three grandchildren.[39]

References

  1. ^ a b "Jerusalem Post 50 Most Influential Jews: Number 39 - Adam Milstein Orthodox Jew". The Jerusalem Post. September 29, 2016.
  2. ^ a b c "Who We Are". Milstein Family Foundation. Archived from the original on 2015-02-15.
  3. ^ a b "We Will Boycott the Boycotters and Make them Illegal". Arutz7. 9 June 2015.
  4. ^ a b "ADAM MILSTEIN". Israeli American. 6 May 2024. Retrieved June 15, 2024.
  5. ^ David Fournier (May 14, 2020). "Meet Adam Milstein: Real Estate Investor and Active Philanthropist elected as one of Top 50 Zionist Influencers of 2020". TMC. Retrieved June 15, 2024.
  6. ^ a b c "Bio". AdamMilstein.com.
  7. ^ "IAC Board of Directors". Israeli-American Council. Archived from the original on 2015-01-07.
  8. ^ "How to Succeed as an Entrepreneur: Lessons from a Millionaire". Huffington Post.
  9. ^ "Adam Milstein Bio". Hager Pacific. Archived from the original on 2015-07-11. Retrieved 2015-07-10.
  10. ^ "Hager Pacific". Hager Pacific. Archived from the original on 2013-09-25.
  11. ^ a b c Jacob Kamaras (February 5, 2015). "'Active' philanthropist Adam Milstein a growing connector in the Jewish world". JNS. Retrieved June 15, 2024.
  12. ^ "The Israeli-Americans: Who they are, what they want, where they're headed, why they matter". Jewish Journal. May 14, 2015.
  13. ^ "Adam Milstein: Leading by example". Jewish Journal. November 18, 2015.
  14. ^ "Why we set up the Israeli-American Council". Times of Israel.
  15. ^ "Israeli-American group names new leaders ahead of national conference". JNS. September 17, 2015. Archived from the original on April 17, 2016.
  16. ^ "Ascending Israeli-American group seeks to be the 'glue,' not the 'wedge,' for US Jewry". JNS. November 20, 2017.
  17. ^ "Israelis will power the future of American Jewry, IAC chair says". JTA. October 31, 2017.
  18. ^ "The Israeli-American connector". The Jerusalem Post. April 25, 2016.
  19. ^ "IAC head Milstein urges: Boycott the boycotters". The Jerusalem Post. May 22, 2016.
  20. ^ "It's Not Just About Israel. BDS Threatens Us All". Huffington Post. 22 December 2015.
  21. ^ "Israel to invest to track potential terrorists on social media". The Jerusalem Post. 27 January 2016.
  22. ^ "Food, money and Jews". Jewish Journal. August 3, 2017.
  23. ^ Alan Rosenbaum (April 8, 2024). "'Our mission is to fight antisemitism, strengthen the state of Israel, protect American democracy'". Jerusalem Post. Retrieved June 15, 2024.
  24. ^ "The Jerusalem Post's 50 Most Influential Jews". The Jerusalem Post. October 2, 2016.
  25. ^ "The Top 100 People Positively Influencing Jewish Life, 2015". Algemeiner. March 20, 2016.
  26. ^ "Jewish 100, 2015: Adam Milstein – Community". Algemeiner. March 30, 2016.
  27. ^ Troy, Gil (2018). The Zionist Ideas: Visions for the Jewish Homeland—Then, Now, Tomorrow. University of Nebraska Press. pp. 469–471.
  28. ^ Weiss, Philip (2014-12-19). "The Milsteinian candidate". Mondoweiss. Retrieved 2025-07-11.
  29. ^ Right-wing donor Adam Milstein has spent millions of dollars to stifle the BDS movement and attack critics of Israeli policy, Alex Kane, March 25, 2019, The Intercept
  30. ^ Hunt, Chloe (2014-06-29). "UCSA calls emergency meeting over concerns about student regent-designate nominee Avi Oved". www.dailycal.org. Retrieved 2025-07-11.
  31. ^ "Why Did UCLA Hillel Funnel Cash From Pro-Israel Donor to Student Candidate?". The Forward. 2014-07-23. Retrieved 2025-07-11.
  32. ^ Hunt, Chloe (2014-07-04). "Funds to UCLA student political party came from outside sources, leaked emails show". www.dailycal.org. Retrieved 2025-07-14.
  33. ^ "Email from Avi Oved | DocumentCloud". embed.documentcloud.org. Retrieved 2025-07-11.
  34. ^ "UC confirms Avi Oved as student regent designate". East Bay Times. 2014-07-16. Retrieved 2025-07-11.
  35. ^ The Lobby - USA, episode 1, 3 November 2018, retrieved 2020-01-16
  36. ^ Gresh, Alain (2018-08-31). "How Israel Spies on US Citizens". ISSN 0027-8378. Retrieved 2020-05-22.
  37. ^ Sales, Ben (2018-08-27). "Pro-Israel donor Adam Milstein denies report that he funds Canary Mission". Jewish Telegraphic Agency. Retrieved 2025-07-11.
  38. ^ Ron Kampeas (2019-03-19). "Prominent pro-Israel donor pulls out of AIPAC conference after saying two Muslim lawmakers 'clash' with American values". JTA.
  39. ^ "Adam Milstein". Hager Pacific. Archived from the original on 2013-07-27.
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