Born in Rabat, Morocco, André Aharon Gomel is an Israeli-French businessman and a dedicated advocate for the preservation of Moroccan Jewish heritage. Over the course of his career, he has played a significant role in international trade, real estate development, and cross-cultural initiatives.

He studied at the University of Nice, France, earning a Diplôme d’Études Supérieures (D.E.S.) in Economic Sciences and a diploma from the Institute of Business Administration (IAE). In the 1980s, he pursued doctoral-level studies in Educational Sciences at the University of Geneva, Switzerland. He is fluent in French, English, Spanish, and Moroccan Arabic.

In the early 1970s, Gomel founded a company in Morocco specializing in educational equipment for schools. In 1974, he established an international trading company in Geneva, expanding into manufacturing and global distribution for emerging markets. His company secured international tenders from the World Bank and the African Development Bank, requiring extensive travel across Europe, the Americas, and Asia. In the 1980s, he was among the early Western observers of China’s economic opening, following its development for two decades. Alongside his business ventures, he invested in real estate, acquiring and renovating properties. In recent years, he has focused on a residential real estate project in Hungary, managed by his son.

Following Morocco’s 2011 constitutional recognition of its Jewish heritage, Gomel became involved in efforts to educate Moroccan youth about the Jewish component of their national identity, often overlooked after the mass emigration of Morocco’s Jewish community. Concerned by negative portrayals of Jews in regional media, he collaborated with Jewish and Muslim colleagues – including Prof. Albert Sasson, former Deputy Director-General of UNESCO – to promote coexistence. Through the “Memory for the Future” Association and Friends of Moroccan Judaïsm (AJM), he helped introduce Jewish history into Morocco’s official education curriculum. Since the 2020 normalization agreements between Morocco and Israel, he has worked to build academic partnerships between Moroccan universities and the University of Haifa.

In 2017, André Gomel made Aliyah and now divides his time between Israel and Morocco, where he continues to lead a major real estate development business. He is divorced, and has two children—Michaël, a business manager in real estate development, and Johanna, a tax lawyer. He is also the proud grandfather of Ethan, 8.