User:Keshetanan/Amos Arbel

Amos Arbel was born on April 24, 1945 in Haifa Israel. He is an Israeli broadcast journalist, news anchorman, television host, and mime artist. Best known as a news anchorman and host of the program "Between the Chairs" which aired during the 80s and 90s on Israel’s Channel One.

Biography
Amos Arbel was educated in Haifa, Israel at Reali and Hugim schools. He was a leader and one of the founders the Carmel Scout movement.

Arbel served in the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) in the 1960s in the Nahal unit. One day in Haifa, he attended a performance by the famous French mime artist Marcel Marceau. Very impressed by Marceau’s performance Arbel  approached the artist. Marceau offered Arbel the opportunity to come to Paris and study pantomime and theater with him and Jacques Lecoq, which he later did. After completing his military service Arbel began studying communication and television in Paris at a time when television in Israel was in its infancy. In 1968, Yoram Ronen, director of the newly-established television news network in Israel was looking for Israeli professionals around the world and approached him with an offer to serve as their Paris correspondent. Arbel was the first to report the scoop of the "theft" of five navy ships bought (and paid for) from the French port of Cherbourg (the so-called Cherbourg boats), during the French embargo on arms to Israel established by De Gaulle following the six-day war. Arbel's article was broadcast worldwide. He also covered the Palestinian terrorist attack on EL AL passenger attack at Munich Airport in 1970, in which actress Hannah Maron lost her leg, and 23 passengers were injured. Upon his return to Israel in 1970, Arbel joined the television news network in Jerusalem

Initially, he was a general correspondent and covered various stories, including the arrival of the first settlers at the Rafah crossing in Gaza. . Director Yossi Tzemach suggested that Arbel host the first entertainment program "In the Rhythm of the Seventies." In 1972, Arbel accompanied his wife Kuki for a year to New York, where he studied documentary filming with Prof. Arthur Baron at Brooklyn College, and at news channels CBS and NBC, as well as on the Teleprompter cable T.V. When he returned to Israel in 1973, he produced and broadcast, in partnership with Israeli television, the country's 25th Independence Day celebrations live to 3.5 million viewers throughout the United States. This was the first time an Israeli event was seen live in the United States.

During the Yom Kippur War he was a member of the team of military reporters sent to cover the war on the southern front. Arbel covered the successful crossing of the Suez canal by Israeli troops and the events in Ismailia and the city of Suez. He was able to interview an Egyptian soldier from the 3rd army who was trapped on the East side of the Canal. The interview was broadcast worldwide. After the war, Arbel was appointed parliamentary correspondent for television, covering discussions on interim agreements with Syria and Egypt. In 1976, The News Director, Dan Shilon, asked him to set up the desk for cultural and art affairs in the prime time news. During this time he presented a weekly news magazine about an artist or group of artists as well as theater and film performances.

At the same time, he co-founded with Amiram Nir David Gilboa and Yair Stern the late night news, and later with Emanuel Halperin and David Witztum, the program "From Today to Tomorrow" which aired at 11:30 PM until midnight. As early as 1971, Arbel began directing various programs, in parallel with his work in the news. He is best known for hosting the program "Between the Chairs" from 1985 to 1992 on  prime time television

In parallel with his work at the Israel Broadcasting Authority, Arbel taught pantomime and theater for ten years, at the Hebrew University, and for young groups in Jerusalem. Among his students - Hanoch Rosen, Anat Waxman and Asher Fish. He also taught presentation skills at the University of Haifa for 20 years, and conducted workshops at the IDC Herzliya for six years on interpersonal communication in body language, presentation, and interview theory. Arbel has produced and directed dozens of classified films for the Air Force as part of his reserve duty, and has also produced and directed dozens of shows for the Kibbutz Movement Alliance.

Amos Arbel retired from the Broadcasting Authority in 2012, after a career that spanned 43 years.

He lives in Herzliya Pituach with his wife Kuki, an interior architect and environmental designer. The couple has a daughter, Keren, a doctor of philosophy, and a son Avri, an actor in Israeli theater.