Oved Ben-Ami was an Israeli politician and businessman. He was one of the founders of the cities of Netanya and Ashdod and was a longtime mayor of Netanya. He was also among the key founders of the Israeli diamond industry and the Maariv newspaper.

Netanya is a city in the Northern Central District of Israel, and is the capital of the surrounding Sharon plain. It is 30 km (18.6 mi) north of Tel Aviv, and 56 km (34.8 mi) south of Haifa, between the Poleg stream and the Wingate Institute in the south and the Avihayil stream in the north. Netanya was named in honor of Nathan Straus, a prominent Jewish American merchant and philanthropist in the early 20th century who was the co-owner of Macy's department store.