Pnina Tamano-Shata ( he, פְּנִינָה תַּמֶנוֹ־שֶׁטֶה; born 1 November 1981) is an Israeli lawyer, journalist, and politician. The first

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 ...

n-born woman to enter 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 ...

in 2013, in 2020 she also became the first Ethiopian-born minister after being appointed Minister of Immigrant Absorption.

Early life

Tamano-Shata was born in Wuzaba, a village located near the city of

Gondar Gondar, also spelled Gonder (Amharic: ጎንደር, ''Gonder'' or ''Gondär''; formerly , ''Gʷandar'' or ''Gʷender''), is a city and woreda in Ethiopia. Located in the North Gondar Zone of the Amhara Region, Gondar is north of Lake Tana on t ...

in the

Amhara Region The Amhara Region ( am, አማራ ክልል, Åmara Kilil), officially the Amhara National Regional State (), is a regional state in northern Ethiopia and the homeland of the Amhara people. Its capital is Bahir Dar which is the seat of the Re ...

of northern

. Her family immigrated to

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

when she was three during the evacuation of the Ethiopian Jews from Sudan nicknamed

Operation Moses Operation Moses ( he, מִבְצָע מֹשֶׁה, ''Mivtza Moshe'') was the covert evacuation of Ethiopian Jews (known as the "Beta Israel" community or "Falashas") from Sudan during a civil war that caused a famine in 1984. Originally called '' ...

.All the kingmaker’s men, and women
Times of Israel, 23 January 2013 She, her five brothers, and her father were among almost 7,000 Ethiopian Jews airlifted out of the country by Mossad to Israel between November 1984 and January 1985. Her mother followed several years later. She studied law at

Ono Academic College Ono Academic College (''in Hebrew'': הקריה האקדמית אונו) is a private college located in Kiryat Ono, Israel. With over 14,000 students, the college is among Israel's fastest growing institutions of higher education. OAC"s stated ...

Kiryat Ono Kiryat Ono ( he, קִרְיַת אוֹנוֹ) is a city in the Tel Aviv District of Israel. It is located east of Tel Aviv. In it had a population of . Modern Kiryat Ono is not to be confused with the biblical Ono, which was located in the ar ...

in the

Tel Aviv District The Tel Aviv District ( he, מָחוֹז תֵּל אָבִיב; ar, منطقة تل أبيب) is the smallest and most densely populated of the six administrative districts of Israel with a population of 1.35 million residents. It is 98.9% Jewi ...

, and became Deputy Chairman of the national Ethiopian Student Association. From 2007 to 2012 she worked as a reporter for Channel 1.

Political career

Prior to the 2013 Knesset elections, Tamano-Shata joined the new Yesh Atid party. Placed 14th on the party's list, she became a Knesset member as the party won 19 seats. She was placed 13th on the party's list for the 2015 elections, but lost her seat as the party was reduced to 11 seats. On 9 February 2018, she returned to the Knesset as a replacement for Ya'akov Peri, who had resigned following allegations that he had leaked information during a corruption investigation twenty years beforehand. Prior to the April 2019 elections, Yesh Atid became part of the Blue and White, with Tamano-Shata placed 24th on the alliance's list. She was re-elected as Blue and White won 35 seats. She was re-elected again in the September 2019 elections. Following the March 2020 elections, she was appointed Minister of Aliyah and Integration, also known as Minister of Immigrant Absorption, becoming the first Ethiopian-born minister in the Israeli government. She was officially sworn in on 17 May 2020. In June 2021, Tamanu-Shata was awarded the Magen Begin Prize for Israeli Leadership. After being re-appointed to her ministerial role following the 2021 elections, she resigned from the

under the Norwegian Law and was replaced by

Alon Tal Alon Tal ( he, אלון טל, born 12 July 1960) is a leading Israeli environmental politician, academic and activist. He was a member of the 24th Knesset between 2021 and 2022, representing the Blue and White political party; founder of the I ...

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Tamano-Shata, Pnina 1981 births Living people 21st-century Israeli lawyers 21st-century Israeli women politicians 21st-century women lawyers Black Jewish members of the Knesset Blue and White (political alliance) politicians Ethiopian emigrants to Israel Ethiopian Jews Government ministers of Israel Israel Resilience Party politicians Israeli Jews Israeli people of Ethiopian-Jewish descent Israeli television journalists Israeli women lawyers Jewish Israeli politicians Members of the 19th Knesset (2013–2015) Members of the 20th Knesset (2015–2019) 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) Members of the 25th Knesset (2022–) Ono Academic College alumni People from Amhara Region Women government ministers of Israel Women members of the Knesset Women television journalists Yesh Atid politicians

Early life

Political career

See also

References

External links