The Russian-born Israeli billionaire businessman Arcadi Gaydamak has decided to cease his business activity in Israel in order to concentrate on a political career, which includes a candidacy in the upcoming mayoral race in Jerusalem. Gaydamak said that he intends to sell all his businesses in Israel so that he may turn his attention to politics. In February 2007 Gaydamak had announced the establishment of a movement, named ‘Social Justice’, which became a political party in July of the same year. Gaydamak's associates told the ‘Ha’aretz’ newspaper that the tycoon had reached the conclusion that his business activities would undermine his political work. Gaydamak intends to start campaigning at the end of September.
Meanwhile, Gaydamak reportedly held a secret meeting with the grand mufti of Jerusalem and the Palestinian Authority, Muhammad Ahmad Hussein, with the hope of harnessing the votes of residents of East Jerusalem. Hussein, who is both a religious and a political leader, does not normally meet with Israeli public figures, yet the surprising meeting with Gaydamak went on for some 90 minutes, ‘Ha’aretz’ reported.
Arcadi Gaydamak was born in 1952 in Moscow. At the age of 20, he was one of the first Jews to emigrate to Israel from Leonid Brezhnev's Soviet Union and receive Israeli citizenship. He later settled in France and returned to Israel in 2000, after an international arrest warrant was issued for him in connection with an arms-dealing scandal in Angola. He also holds French and Angolan citizenship. France has unsuccessfully attempted to obtain his extradition from Israel.