Background
Amir was born in Baghdad, Iraq.
Amir was born in Baghdad, Iraq.
Amir studied at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
He served as director general of the Youth Aliyah Department of the Jewish Agency. He immigrated to Israel with his family in 1950, and went to school in Kibbutz Mishmar HaEmek. He is now living in Gilo, Jerusalem.
From 1964 to 1968 he served as adviser on Arab affairs to the Prime Minister of Israel, and as envoy for the Minister of Immigration Absorption of Israel to the United States.
In 1984, he was appointed Director General of the Youth Aliyah department of the Jewish Agency. Amir has frequently called for social justice and denounced what he has described as the deterioration of the Israeli welfare state.
In 2007, when his book Jasmine was published in Arabic in Egypt, he expressed hope that more Israeli books be spread in the Arab world, saying "How can there be peace without us knowing each other?". He repeated that statement in a literary soiree held by the Israeli Embassy in Cairo.
He also signed a petition calling for Prime Minister of Israel Ehud Olmert to negotiate a cease-fire with Hamas.
In 2006, when President of Israel Moshe Katsav was indicted with rape, several Israeli websites suggested Amir as a successor. Amir told Maariv that he would seriously consider such an offer.