Avraham Avi-hai was born in Canada and immigrated to Israel in 1952. He has been a journalist (The Jerusalem Post; Canadian Broadcasting Corporation), a top-level civil servant in the offices of early Israeli Prime Ministers David Ben Gurion and Levi Eshkol, and an advisor to the legendary mayor of Jerusalem, Teddy Kollek. Avi-hai served for ten years as World Chairman of United Israel Appeal – Keren Hayesod. He is the author of two noted non-fiction works.