Fleur Hassan-Nahoum ( he, פלר חסן-נחום; born September 27, 1973) is an Israeli politician and policy maker. She currently serves as Deputy

Mayor of Jerusalem The Mayor of the City of Jerusalem is head of the executive branch of the political system in Jerusalem. The mayor's office administers all city services, public property, most public agencies, and enforces all city and state laws within Jerusal ...

in charge of foreign relations, international economic development and tourism. She is also the co-founder and founding member of the UAE - Israel Business Council.

Biography

Fleur Hassan-Nahoum was born in

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

, UK, and grew up in

Gibraltar ) , anthem = " God Save the King" , song = " Gibraltar Anthem" , image_map = Gibraltar location in Europe.svg , map_alt = Location of Gibraltar in Europe , map_caption = United Kingdom shown in pale green , mapsize = , image_map2 = Gib ...

. She is the daughter of Sir Joshua Abraham Hassan, who served as Chief Minister and Mayor of Gibraltar, and his second wife Lady Marcelle Bensimon, both of Moroccan and Portuguese Jewish origin. Her younger sister,

Marlene Hassan Nahon Marlene Hassan Nahon (born 1976) is a Gibraltarian historian, journalist and politician, currently serving as a member of the Gibraltar Parliament since 2015. Biography Hassan Nahon is daughter of the late Chief Minister Sir Joshua Abraham ...

, is a Gibraltarian Member of Parliament and leader of the

Together Gibraltar Together Gibraltar (TG) is a progressive political party in Gibraltar founded on 28 November 2018. Together Gibraltar was founded in 2017 as a political organisation by independent MP Marlene Hassan Nahon, formerly of the Gibraltar Social Demo ...

Party. Hassan-Nahoum grew up bilingual, speaking Spanish and English. In 1991, at the age of 18, Hassan-Nahoum moved back to London to study law at

King's College London King's College London (informally King's or KCL) is a public research university located in London, England. King's was established by royal charter in 1829 under the patronage of King George IV and the Duke of Wellington. In 1836, King's ...

, where she served as president of the King's College Jewish Society. After qualifying as a barrister in 1997, she practiced law in London and became campaign director of

World Jewish Relief The Central British Fund for World Jewish Relief, which operates under the name World Jewish Relief, is a British Jewish charitable organisation and is the main Jewish overseas aid organisation in the United Kingdom. World Jewish Relief was forme ...

. In 2001, Hassan-Nahoum

emigrated Emigration is the act of leaving a resident country or place of residence with the intent to settle elsewhere (to permanently leave a country). Conversely, immigration describes the movement of people into one country from another (to permanentl ...

to Israel. She is married with four children.

Legal and communications career

Upon graduation from law school, Hassan-Nahoum was a barrister at

Middle Temple The Honourable Society of the Middle Temple, commonly known simply as Middle Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court exclusively entitled to call their members to the English Bar as barristers, the others being the Inner Temple, Gray's Inn an ...

and later served as campaign director at World Jewish Relief, a British Jewish charitable organization working with Jewish and non-Jewish communities. After

immigrating Immigration is the international movement of people to a destination country of which they are not natives or where they do not possess citizenship in order to settle as permanent residents or naturalized citizens. Commuters, tourists, and ...

to Israel in 2001 during the

Second Intifada The Second Intifada ( ar, الانتفاضة الثانية, ; he, האינתיפאדה השנייה, ), also known as the Al-Aqsa Intifada ( ar, انتفاضة الأقصى, label=none, '), was a major Palestinian uprising against Israel. ...

, she served as senior associate with the

American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee, also known as Joint or JDC, is a Jewish relief organization based in New York City. Since 1914 the organisation has supported Jewish people living in Israel and throughout the world. The organization i ...

, an international aid organization, and from 2007 as CEO of Tikva Children's Home, an orphan-and-poverty-relief organization which supports homeless, abandoned and abused Jewish children in the former

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...

. Hassan-Nahoum is the CEO and founder of an international strategic communications firm, Message Experts.

Political career

In 2013, Hassan-Nahoum joined the

Yerushalmim Yerushalmim ( he, ירושלמים; ) is an Israeli local civilian organization and political party in Jerusalem. History Yerushalmim was formed in 2008 by Rachel Azaria, who was elected that year to the city council of Jerusalem. Yerushalmim is a ...

Party, which seeks to turn Jerusalem into a more pluralistic and open city. In 2016, she joined the Jerusalem City Council, heading transportation and conservation of heritage sites. She served as chairman of Yerushalmim until January 2018. In the November 2018 Jerusalem municipal elections, Hassan-Nahoum ran as number 2 to Minister

Zeev Elkin Ze'ev Elkin ( he, זְאֵב אֵלְקִין; russian: Зеэв Элькин; born 3 April 1971) is an Israeli politician who currently serves as Minister of Jerusalem Affairs and Minister of Housing and Construction. He was previously a memb ...

of the Jerusalem Will Succeed Party, which was established by Jerusalem's previous mayor

Nir Barkat Nir Barkat ( he, נִיר בַּרְקָת; born 19 October 1959) is an Israeli businessman and politician. He served as mayor of Jerusalem between the years 2008–2018. Biography Nir Barkat was raised in Jerusalem. His father, Zalman, was a ...

. Mayor

Moshe Lion Moshe Lion, or Moshe Leon ( he, משה ליאון, born 6 October 1961), is an Israeli politician who is currently the Mayor of Jerusalem. He previously served as a member of the Jerusalem City Council, director-general of the Prime Minister's O ...

named her Deputy Mayor of

Jerusalem Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...

on November 13, 2018, in charge of tourism and foreign relations, including philanthropy, international economic development, business relations and Diaspora affairs. As deputy mayor, Hassan-Nahoum sees increasing participation in the workforce and improving education in the Arab sector as major challenges for the municipality. Among Hassan-Nahoum’s responsibilities is accommodating new embassies in the city. She is working with the U.S. State Department on its embassy in Jerusalem and helping to plan an embassy district in the Jerusalem neighborhood of

Arnona :''Arnona may also refer to Israeli property tax'' Arnona ( he, ארנונה) is an upscale neighborhood in southern Jerusalem, Israel, situated between the neighborhood of Talpiot and Kibbutz Ramat Rachel. Etymology The most common explan ...

. In 2020, Hassan-Nahoum was one of the founding members of the UAE-Israel Business Council, alongside Justine Zwerling, which was established following the

Abraham Accords The Abraham Accords are a series of joint normalization statements initially between Israel, the United Arab Emirates, and Bahrain, effective since September 15, 2020. Mediated by the United States, the initial announcement of August 13, 2020, ...

Peace Treaty between Israel, the

UAE The United Arab Emirates (UAE; ar, اَلْإِمَارَات الْعَرَبِيَة الْمُتَحِدَة ), or simply the Emirates ( ar, الِْإمَارَات ), is a country in Western Asia (The Middle East). It is located at th ...

and

Bahrain Bahrain ( ; ; ar, البحرين, al-Bahrayn, locally ), officially the Kingdom of Bahrain, ' is an island country in Western Asia. It is situated on the Persian Gulf, and comprises a small archipelago made up of 50 natural islands and an ...

. In October 2020, Hassan led a delegation of Israeli officials, business people and entrepreneurs that visited the two Gulf states to pursue cooperation in various areas, as technology, business, and tourism. Hassan-Nahoum organized an inaugural meeting of the Gulf-Israel Women's Forum, a group of Emirati and Israeli women that serves as a division of the UAE-Israel Business Council. .

Views and opinions

Hassan-Nahoum describes herself as a religious Jew and a

Zionist Zionism ( he, צִיּוֹנוּת ''Tsiyyonut'' after ''Zion'') is a nationalist movement that espouses the establishment of, and support for a homeland for the Jewish people centered in the area roughly corresponding to what is known in Je ...

. She is a firm believer that women should be part of local government: "I firmly believe that until women are in 50% of all decision-making positions our world will remain unbalanced. Local government affects our everyday lives and it is crucial to have women in these positions because when women are around the table the decisions are simply better." During the 2018 municipal elections, the Likud's local Jerusalem branch called on Prime Minister Netanyahu to retract his support of Zeev Elkin for Mayor when Elkin included Hassan-Nahoum on his electoral list. The Likud claimed that her links to the New Israel Fund and other left wing groups made it impossible for them to support Elkin. She is as an advocate for marginalized populations in Israel including

Haredi Haredi Judaism ( he, ', ; also spelled ''Charedi'' in English; plural ''Haredim'' or ''Charedim'') consists of groups within Orthodox Judaism that are characterized by their strict adherence to ''halakha'' (Jewish law) and traditions, in oppos ...

women, immigrants, and

Ethiopians Ethiopians are the native inhabitants of Ethiopia, as well as the global diaspora of Ethiopia. Ethiopians constitute several component ethnic groups, many of which are closely related to ethnic groups in neighboring Eritrea and other parts of ...

, and for evening-out spending among all of Jerusalem's populations. She has also spoken publicly on developing Jerusalem as a technology hub; transport and mobility issues; budgetary efficiency; good governance; and on the rights of cancer patients. She has been tipped as a future mayor of Jerusalem or Israeli foreign minister. Hassan-Nahoum came under fire for attending an event organised by the far-left

Emek Shaveh Emek may refer to: * Emek (movie theater), Istanbul, Turkey * Emek Partisi, Labour Party (Turkey) * Atila Emek (born 1947), Turkish lawyer and politician * Fikret Emek (born 1963), Turkish soldier *Emek Business Center, original name of the Kahr ...

group, and sponsored by the

New Israel Fund The New Israel Fund (NIF) is a United States-based non-profit NGO established in 1979. It describes its objective as social justice and equality for all Israelis. The New Israel Fund says it has provided $300 million to over 900 Israeli civil so ...

and the European Union. Families of victims of terrorism protested her attendance claiming that she was giving legitimacy to a group that encourages terrorism. In an interview in 2019, Hassan-Nahoum said that with her diverse family background, she is able to understand and reach out to different communities: "I can respect Arab culture, speak like an Andalusian and think like a Latin person, a British person and a Sephardi Jew." In 2021, speaking on the controversy over attempted Israeli evictions of Palestinian families in

Sheikh Jarrah Sheikh Jarrah ( ar, الشيخ جراح, he, שייח' ג'ראח) is a predominantly Palestinian neighborhood in East Jerusalem, north of the Old City, on the road to Mount Scopus. It received its name from the 13th-century tomb of Sheikh Ja ...

, Hassan-Nahoum defended Israeli government policies which allow Jews, but not Palestinians, to reclaim property allegedly abandoned following Israel's War of Independence: "This is a Jewish country. There’s only one. And of course there are laws that some people may consider as favoring Jews — it’s a Jewish state. It is here to protect the Jewish people."

References

External links

Op-eds by Fleur Hassan Nahoum
''

The Jerusalem Post ''The Jerusalem Post'' is a broadsheet newspaper based in Jerusalem, founded in 1932 during the British Mandate of Palestine by Gershon Agron as ''The Palestine Post''. In 1950, it changed its name to ''The Jerusalem Post''. In 2004, the paper w ...