A healthy Israel
Free of Smoking and Tobacco and Nicotine products

The Smoke Free Israel Initiative is a non-profit social organization founded in late 2016 by Mr. Avinoam Armoni, Dr. Michal Hemmo-Lotem, and Ms. Shira Kislev. The goal of the organization is preventing adolescents and youth from starting to smoke and saving their lives. The Initiative is a central force in Israeli smoking prevention efforts, and as such it initiates collaborations smoking prevention projects, cooperates with leading players in the field, enlists new partners and organizations in the battle to prevent smoking among adolescents and youth from. We see ourselves as a professional, informed and innovative authority on smoking prevention.

Vision

A healthy and smoke-free Israel

National target

Single digit percentage of smokers by 2030

Strategies

Initiating a discussion about the State's responsibility for public health with regards to smoking and smoking products

Advancing regulation to prevent adolescent and youth exposure and experience with the range of smoking and tobacco products

Transforming behavior and norms regarding smoking and tobacco and nicotine products among at risk adolescent and youth; and changing public perceptions of smoking and tobacco products

Select SFI Initiative Activities

Initiating a public discussion about the importance of preventing smoking among adolescents and youths

With an emphasis on preventing exposure to smoking products and experiencing using them: monitoring smoking and its characteristics among Israeli adolescents and youth through annual surveys; promoting activities to change definitions and measures of the smoking phenomenon in Israel, led by the Ministry of Health and in collaboration with all bodies involved in monitoring smoking in Israel; and enrolling Israel in the European Tobacco Control Scale.

Preventing the exposure of adolescents to smoking products advertising

Active participation in the drafting of legislation to ban advertising and limit marketing of tobacco and smoking products (2019), and participation in Knesset committee discussions in the leadup to the first, second and third Knesset votes on the legislation. The law was passed in December 2018 and published on January 8, 2019. Continued participation as different stages of the law came into effect in March 2019, July 2019, January 2020, and July 2020.

Taxation of tobacco products

Submitted petition to High Court of Justice (no. 4862/18) against the Minister of Finance and the Ministry of Health through advocate Efy Michaely, protesting the Minister of Health's refusal to raise taxes on rolling tobacco to the level of cigarette taxes. The High Court Justices unanimously instructed the Minister of Finance to immediately sign the tax order. The order was signed in February 2019 and taxes on rolling tobacco were consequently raised to equal taxes on cigarettes.

Monitoring the contents of smoking products

Was involved in JUUL's entry into the Israeli market as a test case for contents control: an order restricting the concentration of nicotine in JUUL based on the European directive. Inclusion of the restriction of nicotine in all e-cigarettes to 20 milligrams per milliliter in the Law Prohibiting Advertising and Restricting the Marketing of Tobacco and Smoking Products. In addition, as of July 2020 the Law Prohibiting Advertising and Restricting the Marketing of Tobacco and Smoking Products includes the requirement to report the contents and emissions of all tobacco and smoking products marketed in Israel. Promotion of an action plan for regulating the content of all tobacco and smoking products in Israel.

Restrictions on tobacco and smoking products points of sales

Prevented an initiative by the Minister of the Interior and a Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister's Office to abolish the demand that point of sales comply with certain regulations on selling tobacco and smoking products, as a primary condition for business licensing.

Taxation of e-cigarettes

Submitted a petition (HCJ 7875/20) through Adv. Efy Michaely against the Minister of Finance and the Ministry of Health challenging the Minister of Finance's refusal to impose taxes on e-cigarettes. As a consequence of the petition, the Minister of Finance signed an e-cigarette taxation order. The order was signed and approved by the Knesset Finance Committee in January 2022 and includes taxation on e-cigarette refill liquid, e-cigarette cartridges and disposable e-cigarettes.

The Smoke Free Israel Initiative is a member of various international organizations that combat smoking, including the Smoke Free Partnership  – a pan-European organization focusing on public policy in the field of tobacco control, and the Framework Convention Alliance, which works on the development, ratification and implementation of the WHO-led Framework Convention on Tobacco Control international treaty.

The SFI Initiative won a World No Tobacco Day 2019 Award from the World Health Organization, along with other professionals and organizations from around the world, for its contribution to the fight to eradicate smoking.

The Executive Committee

דובי ברטוב עיגול

Dubi Bartuv

Member of the Executive
Committee

Dubi Bartuv is based in the worlds of management, finance and economics and has considerable experience working in government, public and business sectors. He has held a range of management positions that combined economics, finance and money management based on values and civic responsibility, combining leading themes in sustainability, environmentalism with a specialization in managing infrastructure projects at the national level. Partnering with the Smoke Free Israel Initiative and joining its executive committee was a natural move that stemmed from his own set of values.

Dubi began his career in the Accountant General's Division at the Ministry of Finance, where he specialized in communications and transportation and dealt mainly with BOT projects such as the Carmel Tunnels, the Trans-Israel Highway and accompanied international tenders to expand competition in Israel's cellular communications market.

After leaving the Ministry of Finance, Dubi held a range of management positions in companies and organizations that matched his interests and values: Director of Budget, Planning and Oversight at Pelephone Communications, VP of Finance and Economics at Moriah Jerusalem Development Corporation, VP of Finance and Operations at the Israel Association of Community Centers, a government organization specializing in civil society, and CEO of PSP Investments, the developer of the Gilboa Pumped Storage project, a project aiming to provide renewable green energy  to the Israeli electricity market.

For the past four years Dubi Bartuv is CFO of the Israel Antiquities Authority, a statutory authority responsible for Israel's antiquities heritage, charged with its preservation, accessibility, and education for future generations, along a path compatible with the needs of the State's future development.

Dubi Bartuv holds a bachelor's degree in economics and political science from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and an MBA from Tel Aviv University. He is married and a father of three, and lives in Ramat Rachel.

משה שרייבר

Moshe Maishi Schreiber

Member of the Executive
Committee

Maishi Schreiber currently owns a consulting, training and project development company. He has many years of experience in the social non-profit sector, starting with his work with youth groups, through managing a youth center and then a community center. Maishi worked for many years in the management of social projects, including establishing the Jerusalem Association of Community Centers, which later became the Community Administration Company. He was responsible for founding and directing the HR and training division of the Israel Association for Community Centers, and was one of the founders of the Haim Tzipori Center. Moshe served as Acting CEO of the Israel Association for Community Centers.

After an extensive career in the management in the social and community organization, Schereiber switched to financial consulting, and advised to consulting in the economic field and advised the Israel Land Development Company, Bank Leumi, Discount Bank and other economic entities, as well as municipalities, local councils, government corporations and private businesses.

Maishi was one of the founders of the Har Adar settlement and served during its early years as the head of the association that established the settlement.

דר טל אלמליח עיגול

Dr. Tal Elmaliach

Chairman of the Executive Committee

Dr. Tal Elmaliach is a social activist, historian, and educator. He has founded and led many social initiatives, such as the Pardes Center of Education for Values, the Halutz Movement, and the Hochma Program at the University of Haifa. Tal is a faculty member in the Department of Jewish History at the University of Haifa and is active as a volunteer in many areas of civil society. Tal is the Chairman of the Executive Committee of the Smoke Free Israel Initiative since June 2020.

Our Staff

אפי מיכאלי עיגול

Efy Michaely

Advocate

A specialist in public law (administrative and constitutional), Efy has led a series of prominent public campaigns. He holds a master's degree in law with a specialization in public and international law.

רן ירון עיגול

Ran Yaron

Spokesman

Ran has more than 10 years of experience in the field of communications: He was a journalist for Globes, worked at the Second Authority for Television and Radio in the of regulation of commercial broadcasts in Israel, and was a communications consultant and head of the public department at Unik Public Image. Currently, he is the owner of Connect Communication, a public relations, strategy, and crisis management company. Ran is an adjunct lecturer at the School of Communications at the IDC Herzliya. He has an extensive network of contacts and extensive experience working with editors and reporters on television, radio, print and online. Ran holds a bachelor's degree in political science and Arabic and Middle Eastern studies, and a master's degree in Arabic, both from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

אורית לרנר עיגול

Orit Lerner

Government Relations and lobbying

Orit has extensive experience in various areas of Israeli government and parliamentary activities. She has served as spokeswoman and coordinator of the Knesset Shinui faction, and as a political advisor and communications advisor to the ministers of science, energy, and education and culture and sports. She coordinated between the Office of the Minister of Education and the Knesset and its committees, and was the founder and co-CEO of IMPACT Ltd. She has experience across the range of parliamentary processes, including promoting legislation, raising issues on the public agenda, initiating and shepherding parliamentary motions, and more. Orit has acquired a thorough and in-depth familiarity with the various systems operating in the Israeli market and has built an extensive network of contacts with a wide range of key people in the Knesset and government, the media, and the Israeli economy. Orit has a BA in humanities from Tel Aviv University and an MA from the Institute of Communications at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

נוי לוסון

Noy Lawson

Digital Strategy Expert

Tailored and implemented the digital and new media arrays in various nationwide campaigns.

Lead expert in the conducting of crisis management, B2B tasks and political campaigns.

דגנית פלאט

Dganit Platt

Community & content manager

Dganit has been working in audience based, data driven marketing for over 15 years, in Israel and in the US. She has extensive experience in creating high-quality goal-oriented content, managing and cultivating communities, and building growth-promoting processes for change-oriented organizations and businesses.

מירון עשת

Miron Eshet

Digital Strategy Expert

Led and managed the digital phase in a series of nationwide campaigns.

B.A. in cinematography. Professional copywriter and master storyteller.

גיא פינקלשטיין עיגול

Guy Finkelstein

Content writer

Guy is a freelance content writer. She is the founder and director of the lichtov School, a creative writing school located in Dizengoff Center. Formerly she was an editor at Forbes. She holds a master's degree in the history and philosophy of science and ideas from Tel Aviv University. She lives in Tel Aviv.

אירדה קריימר עיגול

Irada Kreimer

Government Relations and lobbying

Irada was formerly a spokesperson for an acting chairman of the Knesset coalition who also led a Knesset faction. Her responsibilities included managing relations with the hi-tech lobby, one of the most active lobbies at the Knesset, and she played a central part in election campaigns at the national and municipal levels. Irada specializes in Knesset relations and has in-depth knowledge of legislative processes, government and public operations, and Israel's bureaucratic system. In addition, she has extensive experience representing organizations before senior officials, government entities and non-parliamentary organizations. Irada's vast experience allows her to identify and map the relevant players in the internal and external legislative arenas, and to guide her clients throughout all stages of an action, from planning to the implementation. Irada holds an MBA from the Peres Academic Center, and an MA in English instruction curriculum design from Tel Aviv University. She also has a B.Ed in teaching English to upper grades from Levinsky College of Education.

Founders

דר מיכל חמו לוטם עיגול

Dr. Michal Hemmo-Lotem

Founder

Dr. Michal Hemmo-Lotem is a pediatrician, specializing in medical innovation and in leadership and management in the digital environment. She is a serial entrepreneur and a leader in the public and non-profit sector in Israel. She found the Beterm – Safe Kids Israel organization and served as its first CEO. She is also a founder of the JDC Institute for Leadership and Governance and was involved in the establishment and management of multiple organizations, including the Midot association, NPTech, Round Up, Clinic Plus, Women Wage Peace, and many others. Dr. Hemmo-Lotem teaches leadership and impact in various forums, mentors impact entrepreneurs in the fields of medicine and health and former Vice President for Innovation at the Sheba Medical Center. She is married to Dr. Zahi Lotem, also a pediatrician, and has six children.

שירה כסלו עיגול

Shira Kislev

CEO

Ms. Shira Kislev has extensive experience managing multi-sectorial projects in the non-profit sector. She was previously Vice president for research and development at Beterem – Safe Kids Israel, as well as representing the Ministry of Health in the European Child Safety Alliance – ECSA. Over the years, she has led national-level planning processes, including the construction of a national database in collaboration with the Ministry of Health and Central Bureau of Statistics. Ms. Kislev managed planning process of the National Action plan for child safety that encompasses 16 government ministries and associated organizations, and developed a strategic preventative plan for local authorities. She has extensive experience managing projects in the public and non-profit sectors, and has served as mentor on behalf of the World Health Organization in implementing child injury prevention programs in China, Austria, Australia and New Zealand (Mentor VIP). Shira also specializes in stage lighting design and was lighting designer for the Playback Theater. She studied in the MA program in stage lighting design from Tel Aviv University. Ms. Kislev is married and lives in Ramat Gan.

אבינעם ערמוני עיגול

Avinoam Armoni

Founder and former board chairman

Mr. Avinoam Armoni is a management, strategy and resource development consultant for the academic, non-profit and philanthropic sectors in Israel. He has held leading positions in public administration and civil society, developed successful organizations focused on civil rights, education, and culture and the arts, and fostered corporate responsibility and collaborations between government, business and the non-profit sector. At present he is chairman of the executive committee of the Academic College of Tel Aviv-Yaffo. Among the many positions he has held in the past are: special advisor to Jerusalem Mayor Teddy Kollek, CEO of Beit Hatfutsot, Vice President for External Relations at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Director in Israel of the New Israel Fund, and founder and Chairman of the Yedid Association for Community Empowerment. He has chaired the boards of several organizations, including the Israel Association of Community Centers, the Jerusalem Khan Theatre, the Midot association, the Benei Brith therapeutic center for children, the Technological College of Beersheba, and MATI Jerusalem. Armoni also directed the Gilo Family Foundation, advised the Edmond J. Safra Foundation and today represents Gandel Philanthropy in Israel. Mr. Armoni holds an LL.B. degree from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and certification as an attorney, as well as an MPA in public administration from Harvard University. He is married with three children and lives in Ramat Raziel.