Desta "Gadi" Yevarkan ( he, דֵסְטַה "גָּדִי" יִבַרקָן, born 1 January 1981) is an Israeli politician. He was elected to the

Knesset The Knesset ( he, הַכְּנֶסֶת ; "gathering" or "assembly") is the unicameral legislature of Israel. As the supreme state body, the Knesset is sovereign and thus has complete control of the entirety of the Israeli government (with ...

for

Likud Likud ( he, הַלִּיכּוּד, HaLikud, The Consolidation), officially known as Likud – National Liberal Movement, is a major centre-right to right-wing political party in Israel. It was founded in 1973 by Menachem Begin and Ariel Sha ...

in 2020, having previously served as a Knesset member for the Blue and White alliance between 2019 and 2020.

Biography

Yevarkan was born in

Ethiopia Ethiopia, , om, Itiyoophiyaa, so, Itoobiya, ti, ኢትዮጵያ, Ítiyop'iya, aa, Itiyoppiya officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country in the Horn of Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the ...

. His family

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 in 1991 as part of Operation Solomon, and initially settled in

Tiberias Tiberias ( ; he, טְבֶרְיָה, ; ar, طبريا, Ṭabariyyā) is an Israeli city on the western shore of the Sea of Galilee. A major Jewish center during Late Antiquity, it has been considered since the 16th century one of Judaism's F ...

before moving to a caravan site in kibbutz Hulda. He attended the

Mikveh Israel Mikveh Israel ( he, מִקְוֵה יִשְׂרָאֵל, 'Hope of Israel') is a youth village and boarding school in the Tel Aviv District of central Israel, established in 1870. It was the first Jewish agricultural school in what is now Isra ...

boarding school. During his national service in the Israel Defense Forces, he served in the reconnaissance unit of the Givati Brigade, reaching the rank of lieutenant. He subsequently studied for a bachelor's degree in law at the College of Management. Yevarkan ran for a place on the

list for the 2009 and 2013 Knesset elections, but was unsuccessful on both occasions. In the 2013 municipal elections he headed the Ethiopian immigrant-dominated Ahdut (''Unity'') list in Rehovot. In 2016 he founded the

Be'eri Be'eri ( he, בְּאֵרִי) is a kibbutz in southern Israel. Located in the north-western Negev desert near the border with the Gaza Strip, it falls under the jurisdiction of Eshkol Regional Council. In it had a population of . History Kib ...

Mechina A Mechina Kdam-Tzvait ( he, מכינה קדם צבאית; "pre-military preparatory", plural Mechinot) is an autonomous unit of specialized educational institutions valuing non-formal education and pre-military training in Israel. Funded and su ...

. In the build-up to the April 2019 elections, Yevarkan joined the new

Telem Telem can be any of the following: *In the Hebrew Bible: **a porter of the temple in the time of Ezra (10:24). **a town in the southern border of Judah (Josh. 15:24); probably the same as Telaim. * Telem (1981 political party), a former political p ...

party. After the party became part of the Blue and White alliance, he was given the thirty-third slot on the joint list, and was subsequently elected to the Knesset as the alliance won 35 seats, and was re-elected in the September 2019 elections. However, prior to the March 2020 elections he was removed from the Blue and White list after threatening to defect to

. He was subsequently given the twentieth slot on the Likud list for the elections, and resigned from the Knesset. He was replaced as an MK by

Yorai Lahav-Hertzano Yorai Lahav-Hertzano ( he, יוֹרַאי לַהַב־הֵרְצָנוּ, born 5 August 1988) is an Israeli politician. He currently serves as a member of the Knesset for Yesh Atid. Biography Born in Tel Aviv, Lahav-Hertzano was chair of the Tel ...

. He returned to the Knesset after the elections, as Likud won thirty-six seats. For the 2021 elections, Yevarkan was placed seventeenth on

's list and retained his seat in the Knesset, as Likud won thirty seats.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Yevarkan, Gadi 1981 births Living people Black Jewish members of the Knesset Blue and White (political alliance) politicians Deputy ministers of Israel Ethiopian emigrants to Israel Ethiopian Jews Israeli Jews Israeli people of Ethiopian-Jewish descent Jewish Israeli politicians Likud politicians Members of the 21st Knesset (2019) Members of the 22nd Knesset (2019–2020) Members of the 23rd Knesset (2020–2021) Members of the 24th Knesset (2021–2022) Telem (2019 political party) politicians