Ben-Zvi (name at birth- Samuil Zvizon) was born to a Jewish family in Vilnius, Lithuania on 27th of May 1948. Read history at Vilnius University in 1967-71.As a young man he and his Father (Binyamin Zvizon ) were actively involved in the activities of the local Jewish folk ensemble which symbolized the fight of Soviet Jews for repatriation to Israel. He has eventually left for Israel in 1971. In 1972-73 he read Sovietology at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. One of the founders of the Israeli folk ensemble "Anachnu Kan" ("We are here").For many years he was its executive director. Under his leadership the ensemble "Anachnu Kan" has achieved considerable sucess in many countries. In 1990 the executive board of the Jewish Agency for Israel(JAFI) Sochnut has suggested to Shmuel Ben-Zvi,the prospective managing director of Israel's Radio external services to create the first ever representation mission in Moscow. In November 1990 Shmuel Ben-Zvi became the first official representative of Sochnut in Russia. The documents were processed at the Dutch embassy in Moscow. Then as a journalist of Israel's State Radio he came up with the idea of cooperation with Russian Radio and TV. Soon afterwards in February 1991 a delegation of Israel's Radio executives led by Director General Arie Mekel has arrived in the USSR. They have met with the executive board of Ostankino, the headquarters of Russian radio and TV. These constructive negotiations had led to the signing of a cooperation agreement. In the summer of 1991 Michael Karpin, the first ever reporter of Israel's state TV Channell 1 has arrived in Moscow. So started the cooperation between Israeli and Russian media[5]. In 1993 Grigory Ratner who held the post of deputy chief editor of Rostelevidenje Channell 1 ITA(Russian TV)came on a business trip to Israel. And together with Shmuel Ben-Zvi, by then the Managing Director of Israel's Radio external services they have persuaded the Cable TV network in Israel to pay Russian TV for rebroadcasting Channell 1-Ostankinoprogrammes. As a result, cable TV network YES. came into being.
