Over the past few days, the identities of the figures selected to light the ceremonial torches at the official ceremony in Jerusalem marking the start of Israeli Independence Day have been announced, with almost all of them connected in some way to the Oct. 7 Hamas terror attacks — mainly survivors, released hostages, families of victims and fallen soldiers, security personnel and volunteers. On Tuesday, Transportation Minister Miri Regev, who is organizing the ceremony, announced another torch-lighter: philanthropist Haim Taib.

Taib is the founder and president of the Mitrelli Group and Menomadin Group, as well as the Menomadin Foundation and the Israel-Africa Institute. Through his main business, the consulting and logistics firm the Mitrelli Group, Taib has operated for more than 30 years in Africa, working with local governments on public projects. Through his foundation, he has also supported philanthropic initiatives in those countries, including through the Save A Child’s Heart organization, in which he has served as the president of its Africa branch. Through this work, Taib serves as a “bridge” and a “living ambassador” between Israel and Africa, according to the selection committee’s announcement. 

In recent years, Taib has increased his philanthropic activities in Israel, funding the development of a strategic plan for the Welfare Ministry, supporting resilience efforts in northern and southern Israel post-Oct. 7 and partnering with March of the Living to send delegations of Oct. 7 survivors to Auschwitz for Israel’s Holocaust Remembrance Day. (The second of these delegations arrived in Poland this week.)

eJewishPhilanthropy spoke with Taib on Tuesday, following the announcement, about his selection, his philanthropic priorities in Africa and Israel, as well as his family’s experiences during World War II and the connection he sees between the Holocaust and the Oct. 7 attacks.

The interview has been lightly edited for clarity.

Judah Ari Gross: First of all, congratulations. Can you tell me how you found out that you had been chosen to light a torch on Yom Ha’atzmaut? 

Haim Taib: Maybe half an hour before it was announced, [Transportation] Minister Miri Regev called me. She described all of my work in recent years in Israel and in [Israel’s] relationship with Africa. It was very moving for me. It brings things full circle for me. 

JAG: What do you mean by “full circle”?

HT: I’ve been working for 34 years in Africa. For the past six or seven years, we’ve brought all of our experience of working in Africa back to Israel. We’re doing a lot of high-quality philanthropy in Israel. We are very active with local governments, with Druze areas in the north, we work closely with government ministries, like the Welfare Ministry. 

I’m also the grandson of a Holocaust survivor from Tunisia, whom I’m named for. My grandfather was from Africa, I went back to Africa. All of this is a big circle. It’s very moving.

JAG: I’ve written in the past about your philanthropic work in Africa, particularly through Save A Child’s Heart, as well as your support for the Welfare Ministry with developing a strategic plan for it. Why did you select those areas to focus your philanthropy on?

HT: Save A Child’s Heart has been operating for many, many years. I joined something like 15 years ago. I’ve helped bring hundreds of children from Africa [to Israel for heart surgery], from Angola, Senegal, the Ivory Coast, Ethiopia, now from Malawi, and many more. I’ve always contributed when there was a need. Why children? There’s no value more important than saving a life, particularly when it’s a child. 

In addition, after we brought children from Africa to [Wolfson Medical Center outside of Tel Aviv for treatment], we also started developing local capabilities. We did this in Rwanda, Uganda, Tanzania, the Ivory Coast and Angola. We’ve been doing that by bringing doctors to Israel [to study] and by exporting equipment from Israel. So we’ve created the ability among local staff to perform operations. 

When we started doing philanthropy in Israel, we decided to invest in writing national roadmaps. We started this with the Welfare Ministry. We wrote this in cooperation with the Hebrew University, with professor John Gal, one of the leading experts on welfare in Israel. 

Never before had long-term, multiyear plans like this been written in Israel. We began this under the previous welfare minister, Meir Cohen, and when the government changed, we also presented it to Minister [Ya’akov] Margi. Both of them embraced it and are implementing it. 

JAG: In addition to supporting the development of the plan, does your foundation also provide assistance in implementing it? Funding different aspects of it? Not that developing the plan isn’t a contribution enough. 

HT: Writing the plan took about two years, so that was one contribution. Beyond that, we support a certain percentage of the implementation of the plan, and the ministry itself funds the rest of the amount. And when there’s a need — you know, sometimes there’s need for additional backing, financially — we provide that backing, but we try to leave the implementation to the ministry because that’s their role and it shows the seriousness of the ministry, that it is the one taking this on and implementing it. 

JAG: I am also speaking to you while you are in Poland, having supported the main March of the Living delegation.

HT: Yes, I’m in Krakow now. I’ll be meeting the delegation in a few hours.

JAG: You mentioned that you were the grandson of a Holocaust survivor from North Africa. The story of North African Jews during the Holocaust was not really widely discussed until relatively recently. Were you always aware of your family’s history? Was it something that was talked about in your family?

HT: My grandfather was in a forced labor camp for five months in Tunisia. He escaped from there along with his brother. About a month after they escaped, the war [in Europe] came to an end as the Allies defeated the Germans. During that month, they hid him at home in the attic. My father would always tell us about that. But we, as kids, never believed him — everyone knows that the Holocaust was in Europe, in Eastern Europe. No one thought that it reached North Africa, but it did. So it was only when we got older, my father got a letter from Yad Vashem saying that he’s entitled to some benefits because of what happened. Then we believed the story. We learned all about it. 

I am also married to Iris, who is also a third-generation Holocaust survivor from Auschwitz-Birkenau. The whole family went through it. Her grandmother and her grandmother’s sister survived. She lived to be 84 years old, so I met her and heard the stories. Three years ago, we did a “roots” tour in Europe with all of Iris’ family — second generation, third generation and even fourth generation. 

JAG: The delegation coming this year includes many people who are survivors of the Oct. 7 Hamas terror attacks, including released hostages and family members of people who were killed. Why did you make that connection between the Oct. 7 attacks and the Holocaust?  

HT: Immediately after Oct. 7, we started doing philanthropic work to help the communities in the Gaza border area and those who were evacuated. A few months later, I decided that I needed to connect the Holocaust with what happened on Oct. 7. In both cases, the goal was clear: To murder Jews, to destroy the Jewish people, in any way possible. In both cases, they burned Jews — they burned babies, people, homes. So, to me, there is a connection.

I think that this connection is the “bleeding wound” of our time. With this “mini-Holocaust” that we experienced on Oct. 7, you can see that as a country, we are still being persecuted; they are still trying to destroy us. So I decided last year to take a delegation and even then we had members who were Holocaust survivors who experienced Oct. 7, freed hostages from the first release deal and parents of soldiers — heroes — who were killed on Oct. 7 or who were taken hostage on Oct. 7. That was our first delegation, and it was successful. The connection between the Menomadin Foundation and the families of hostages has done a lot of good. We are still in contact with that delegation.

So we decided to do it again this year, and we will also do it next year. 

I think it is so important for every Israeli to visit Auschwitz and see what happened here, and especially for residents of the Gaza border area, who experienced what they experienced on Oct. 7.