Eli Rozenberg, a 30-year-old yeshivah student living in Jerusalem, has been revealed as the man behind the negotiations to acquire El Al that has ongoing for the past couple weeks, Calcalist reported on Sunday.

Two weeks ago, news reports stated that an anonymous source appointed accountant Ram Amaniach to explore the possibility of acquiring El Al and requested not to reveal his identity at the first stage.

Eli is representing his father in New York, Kenny (Naftali) Rosenberg, founder and CEO of Centers Health Care—one of the largest post-acute healthcare continuums in the country (chain of nursing homes). Kenny is also a trained Hatzolah paramedic and is often found responding to medical emergencies in the middle of the night. Additionally, he is one of the owners of Senior Care EMS, one of the largest private ambulance companies in NYC.

Eli is representing his father due to the fact that he has Israeli citizenship, which is a condition for obtaining a permit for control of El Al.

The proposed business deal is reportedly only in the beginning stages, with negotiations currently taking place between Rozenberg and the Borowitz family, the majority shareholder of El Al through its company Knafaim Holdings since 2003.

Last week, El Al’s board of directors accepted the Finance Ministry’s government bailout plan that essentially gives the government control of about 61% of the company.

However, the Israeli government has no intention of maintaining ownership of the airline and is hoping to sell the shares.

(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)