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Ram Belinkov: a branch in a long heritage tree | The Hebrew University Business School

Ram Belinkov: a branch in a long heritage tree

By A. Dante R.

Ram Belikov

Often when I am sent to interview alumni, our team leader asks me to summarize in one sentence, what my impression was. This is not always easy. However, after interviewing Ram Belinkov, our MBA alum in Finance and Marketing, and the current Director General of the Ministry of Finance, I can say that Belinkov is a man who loves his country. It might sound like a cliché, but in his case, it isn’t. He comes from a long line of national heroes such as his grandmother, Chaya Chizik, was the sister of Sarah Chizik who fell in the battle of Tel Hai, of Ephraim Chizik who fell in the events of 1929, and of Baruch Chizik, Hannah Chizik and Yitzhak Harfi. Amiram Belinkov (After him he is named), was one of the four members of the Hagana (known as the "Four"), who were killed during an attack on the British army camp in Sarona. According to him, his parents, who taught him the values of loving one’s country and being proud of where you come from, are his biggest influence on his career along with the values that they taught him which helped shape him to be the man he is today.

When he started his new position, Ram immediately moved to introduce new reforms and try to construct a coherent and stable budget, after a long period where the country did not have an official national budget. He felt that in order for the Israel to grow, immediate actions had to be made and the current new government wanted to have an immediate impact and induce some meaningful economic changes. Many of the problems that he has tackled aren’t new to him. These are problems that have been around since he was in previous positions of power such as the housing crisis, and now, he has the chance to deal with them and suggest profound, meaningful solutions.

Belinkov’s challenges do not only concern long term planning. The global economic environment is highly unpredictable and turbulent, and part of his job is to act quickly. His big current hurdle is a finding a way to minimize the damage caused by the Russian invasion of Ukraine on Israel’s economy. The implications are huge: starting from the need to assimilate a large number of immigrants, going through possible changes in the prices of oil and gas, and future increased security expenses due to changes in the political situation around our borders. This is a delicate work of planning on one hand, and preparing for all possible uncertainties, on the other hand.

Ram Belinkov isn’t new to the government. He was the CEO of the ministry of Interior Affairs, and served as the head of the Budget division in the Ministry of Finance.  During the 2008 stock market crash, which affected most of the world, Ram was one of the people who worked hard to lessen the damages on Israel’s economy. The team included Yarom Ariav, Shuki Oren, Yadin Antebi and himself. They decided not to panic in order to encourage the economy to stabilize itself and didn’t take large loans in order to and pour it into the market. They believed in the self-recovery potential of the market and allowed automatic stabilizers help repair the economy and build itself back up.

Looking back on his career, Ram says has no regrets. He would be the first to admit that he failed more than once. However, he says, every time he failed, he learned from his mistakes and only gotten better. If he could, he would tell his younger self to continue what he is doing, and stay on the path that has allowed him to have such a successful career and life so far. I wonder if the stamina and determination are part of the values he learned from his family. The heroes of Tel Hai were fighting for a country to be built through the political turmoil of the early 20th century. A hundred years later, he navigates the country through the turmoil of the raging economic global waters.