Naomi Chazan ( he, נעמי חזן, born 18 November 1946) is an Israeli academic, activist, and politician. As a legislator, Chazan championed the causes of
human rights
Human rights are moral principles or normsJames Nickel, with assistance from Thomas Pogge, M.B.E. Smith, and Leif Wenar, 13 December 2013, Stanford Encyclopedia of PhilosophyHuman Rights Retrieved 14 August 2014 for certain standards of hu ...
,
women's rights
Women's rights are the rights and entitlements claimed for women and girls worldwide. They formed the basis for the women's rights movement in the 19th century and the feminist movements during the 20th and 21st centuries. In some countries, ...
, and
consumer protection. Chazan is a past president of 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 ...
.
Today, she heads the School of Government and Society at the Academic College of Tel Aviv-Yafo. She also sits on the board of the
Hotline for Refugees and Migrants
The Hotline for Refugees and Migrants (Hotline) is a human rights organization that utilizes direct service provision, litigation, and advocacy to uphold the rights of refugees, migrant workers, and survivors of human trafficking in Israel. In Heb ...
.
Biography
Naomi Chazan (née Harman) was born in
Jerusalem
Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...
during the
British Mandate era. Her parents were
Avraham and
Zina Harman. Her father was later Israeli ambassador to the
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...
, while her mother worked in the
Ministry of Foreign Affairs and served as a member of
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 ...
between 1969 and 1974.
Chazan studied at
Columbia University
Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...
, earning a
B.A.
Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four yea ...
and
M.A.
A Master of Arts ( la, Magister Artium or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA, M.A., AM, or A.M.) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Tho ...
, before attending the
Hebrew University of Jerusalem, where she gained a
PhD. She later headed the
Truman Institute for the Advancement of Peace at the university. She became a professor of political science, specializing in the politics of Africa, in 1994.
Political career
In 1985 she was a member of the Israeli delegation to the
UN Conference on Women in Nairobi, and in 1995 to the
Fourth World Conference on Women
The Fourth World Conference on Women: Action for Equality, Development and Peace was the name given for a conference convened by the United Nations during 4–15 September 1995 in Beijing, China.
At this conference, governments from around the ...
in Beijing. She served as president of the Israeli branch of the Society for International Development, was a founder and member of the board of the
Israel Women's Network
Israel Women's Network (IWN) is a feminist non-partisan civil society organization founded in Jerusalem in 1984. IWN's mission is to advance the status of women in Israel by promoting equality through a range of projects and methods.
Backgroun ...
, and has served as Vice President of the International Association of Political Science.
In
1992 she was elected to the Knesset on the
Meretz list. She retained her seat in the
1996 elections and was made a Deputy
Speaker
Speaker may refer to:
Society and politics
* Speaker (politics), the presiding officer in a legislative assembly
* Public speaker, one who gives a speech or lecture
* A person producing speech: the producer of a given utterance, especially:
** I ...
. She was a candidate in the
1998 Jerusalem mayoral election, finishing fourth with 4% of the vote. She was re-elected to the Knesset again in
1999
File:1999 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The funeral procession of King Hussein of Jordan in Amman; the 1999 İzmit earthquake kills over 17,000 people in Turkey; the Columbine High School massacre, one of the first major school shoot ...
and remained a Deputy Speaker until losing her seat in the
2003 elections.
She backed efforts to improve women's rights in Israel outside of the Knesset as well, including supporting the Alice Miller case which paved the way for women to serve in combat roles in the Israeli military.
Controversy
A 2010 campaign by
Im Tirtzu against 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 ...
included cartoon images of Chazan with a horn coming out of her forehead - the word "horn" in Hebrew also meaning "fund." Chazan served as the lay leader of New Israel Fund at the time. Haaretz described the campaign as "savage."
In 2010, Chazan was fired by ''
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 ...
''. The ''Post'' said the decision was made on account of a lawsuit against the newspaper filed by Chazan and the NIF. The lawsuit was filed in response to an ad campaign by
Im Tirtzu.
Published works
Chazan is the author, co-author and editor of eight books and 56 articles in
academic journal
An academic journal or scholarly journal is a periodical publication in which scholarship relating to a particular academic discipline is published. Academic journals serve as permanent and transparent forums for the presentation, scrutiny, and ...
s on
comparative
general linguistics, the comparative is a syntactic construction that serves to express a comparison between two (or more) entities or groups of entities in quality or degree - see also comparison (grammar) for an overview of comparison, as well ...
(especially African) and
Israeli politics.
*''An Anatomy of Ghanaian Politics: Managing Political Recession, 1969-1982'' (Westview Press, 1983, )
*''Ghana: Coping with Uncertainty'' (Westview Press, 1986, ), with
Deborah Pellow
*''Coping with Africa’s Food Crisis'' (
Lynne Rienner Publishers
Lynne Rienner Publishers is an independent scholarly and textbook publishing firm based in Boulder, CO. It was founded in 1984 and remains one of the few independent publishers in the US.
It publishes primarily in the fields of international stu ...
, 1988, ), with Timothy M. Shaw
*''The Precarious Balance: State and Society in Africa'' (Westview Press, 1988, ), with Donald Rothchild
*''Politics and Society in Contemporary Africa'' (Lynne Rienner Publishers, 1988, ), with Robert Mortimer, John Ravenhill, and Donald Rothchild; reprinted 1992 () and 1999 ()
*''Irredentism and International Politics'' (Lynne Rienner Publishers, 1991, ), edited volume
*''Civil Society and the State in Africa'' (Lynne Rienner Publishers, 1994, ), edited with John W. Harbeson and Donald Rothchild
*''The Early State in African Perspective: Culture, Power and Division of Labor'' (Brill Academic Publishers, 1997, ), edited with S.N. Eisenstadt and Michel Abitbol
References
External links
Curriculum vitaeMaking Sense of the Israeli elections - Fathom Journal
{{DEFAULTSORT:Chazan, Naomi
1946 births
Living people
Columbia University alumni
Deputy Speakers of the Knesset
Hebrew University of Jerusalem alumni
Hebrew University of Jerusalem faculty
Israeli Jews
Israeli people of British-Jewish descent
Israeli political scientists
Women members of the Knesset
Israeli women's rights activists
Jewish Israeli politicians
Members of the 13th Knesset (1992–1996)
Members of the 14th Knesset (1996–1999)
Members of the 15th Knesset (1999–2003)
Meretz politicians
Politicians from Jerusalem
21st-century Israeli women politicians
20th-century Israeli women politicians
Scientists from Jerusalem
Women political scientists