Yoel Hasson ( he, יואל חסון, born 4 April 1972) is an Israeli
politician
A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking ...
and member of 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
Kadima
Kadima ( he, קדימה, lit=''Forward'') was a centrist and liberal political party in Israel. It was established on 24 November 2005 by moderates from Likud largely following the implementation of Ariel Sharon's unilateral disengagement pl ...
and
Hatnuah
Hatnua ( he, הַתְּנוּעָה, lit=''The Movement'') was a liberal political party in Israel formed by former Israeli Foreign Minister and Vice Prime Minister Tzipi Livni to present an alternative to voters frustrated by the stalemate in ...
.
Tzipi Livni's new movement brings her full circle back to Israeli politics
Haaretz, 27 November 2012 Yoel has been a member of the seventeenth, eighteenth, and twentieth Knessets, and is currently a member of the opposition movement, in a center left party.
After being discharged from the IDF as a staff sergeant, he attended the Interdisciplinary Center in Haifa graduating with a BA in Government and Public Policy. In 1998, Hasson began his political career as the head of the national leadership of the Betar Movement. MK Hasson has worked in many committees throughout his career.
Early life
Hasson was born in Tel Aviv
Tel Aviv-Yafo ( he, תֵּל־אָבִיב-יָפוֹ, translit=Tēl-ʾĀvīv-Yāfō ; ar, تَلّ أَبِيب – يَافَا, translit=Tall ʾAbīb-Yāfā, links=no), often referred to as just Tel Aviv, is the most populous city in the ...
and raised in Rishon LeZion. His parents were Tunisian Jewish
The history of the Jews in Tunisia extended nearly two thousand years and goes back to the Ancient Carthage, Punic era. The Jewish community in Tunisia is no doubt older and grew up following successive waves of immigration and proselytism ...
immigrants. He attended junior high school at the David Raziel youth village
A youth village ( he, כפר נוער, ''Kfar No'ar'') is a boarding school model first developed in Mandatory Palestine in the 1930s to care for groups of children and teenagers fleeing the Nazis. Henrietta Szold and Recha Freier were the pionee ...
, a boarding school in Herzliya
Herzliya ( ; he, הֶרְצְלִיָּה ; ar, هرتسليا, Hirtsiliyā) is an affluent city in the central coast of Israel, at the northern part of the Tel Aviv District, known for its robust start-up and entrepreneurial culture. In it h ...
, and joined the Betar movement at age 16. He completed his high school studies with a biological course at the Jabotinsky youth village in Be'er Ya'akov
Be'er Ya'akov ( he, בְּאֵר יַעֲקֹב, ''lit.'' Jacob's Well) is a city in central Israel, near Ness Ziona and Rishon Lezion. The town has an area of 8,580 dunams (~8.6 km²), and had a population of 30,338 in 2022.
History
Be'e ...
. Before joining the IDF, he spent a Service Year volunteering with at risk adolescent children. He served in the IDF as a Staff Sergeant for the Shlomo Ben Yosef Kernel, Battalion 905 of the Nahal Brigade.
Hasson later studied at IDC Herzliya and received a BA in Government and Public Policy. In April 2012, he married Tess Gadot, a news editor on 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 ...
(Israeli Parliament) News Channel. They have a son named Ido.
Political career
Hasson became involved in Israeli politics at a young age. In 1997, at the age of 24, Hasson began working as a parliamentary consultant for MK Uzi Landau
Uzi Landau ( he, עוזי לנדאו, born 2 August 1943) is an Israeli politician and systems analyst. He served as a member of the Knesset for Likud between 1984 and 2006, and for Yisrael Beiteinu between 2009 and 2015. He also held several mi ...
, when Landau served as chairman of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee. From 1998 to 2001, Hasson acted as national head of Betar. In 2001, Hasson also became chairman of the Council of Israeli Youth Movements, a position he held until 2003. He also served as a member of the Authority for the Advancement of Women and the Israel Women's Network. After the 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 ...
won the 2001 elections and Ariel Sharon became Prime Minister, Hasson was appointed head of the Public Affairs Division in the Prime Ministers Office. Hasson served as the advisor to the PM on Public Inquiries during Sharon's term.
In 2005, PM Sharon made a political shift, left the Likud and established the centrist Kadima party. Hasson and other figures from the liberal wing of the Likud and from the Labor party, such as Tzipi Livni
Tziporah Malka "Tzipi" Livni ( he, ציפי (ציפורה) מלכה לבני, ; born 8 July 1958) is an Israeli politician, diplomat, and lawyer. A former member of the Knesset and leader in the center-left political camp, Livni is a former for ...
and Shimon Peres, also joined Kadima under Sharon’s leadership. In the 2006 elections, Hasson was elected 29th on Kadima’s primary list, which won 29 seats for the Knesset.
In June 2006, Hasson was nominated as the President of the 35th World Zionist Congress
The Zionist Congress was established in 1897 by Theodor Herzl as the supreme organ of the Zionist Organization (ZO) and its legislative authority. In 1960 the names were changed to World Zionist Congress ( he, הקונגרס הציוני העו ...
.
Knesset Term 17
During Hasson’s first term he served as chairman of the coalition, Kadima’s Parliamentary Group Chairman, and the party’s whip. He also served as chairman of the parliamentary Lobby for the Advancement of Young People in Israel and established the parliamentary Lobby for the Protection of Animals’ rights.
Knesset Term 18
Prior to the elections for the 18th Knesset, Hasson was elected 8th place in the Kadima primary list, then led by Tzipi Livni
Tziporah Malka "Tzipi" Livni ( he, ציפי (ציפורה) מלכה לבני, ; born 8 July 1958) is an Israeli politician, diplomat, and lawyer. A former member of the Knesset and leader in the center-left political camp, Livni is a former for ...
, holding 28 seats and being the largest opposition party to the Likud. He served as chairman of the State Control Committee until 2011. During his lead, the committee dealt with the Carmel fire Disaster, a deadly forest fire in 2010, and initiated a broad investigation on this issue by the State Comptroller.
During that year he also founded the parliamentary lobby for the two-state solution.
Shortly before the 2013 elections, Hasson and Tzipi Livni left Kadima and established the Hatnuah Party.
Towards the Israeli legislative election, Yoel Hasson was placed seventh on the list of candidates for the newly established Hatnuah Party. However, the party won six seats, so he did not enter into the next Knesset term.
Knesset Term 20
Prior to the legislative elections on March 2015, Hasson was involved in the process of establishing the "Zionist Union
The Zionist Union ( he, הַמַחֲנֶה הַצִיּוֹנִי, translit. ''HaMaḥaneh HaẒiyoni'', lit. ''the Zionist Camp'') was a centre-left political alliance in Israel. It was established in December 2014 by the Israeli Labor Party ...
", which is a political union between the Labor Party led by Isaac Herzog
Isaac "Bougie" Herzog ( he, יצחק "בוז׳י" הרצוג, Yitskhak "Buzhi" Hertsog; born 22 September 1960) is an Israeli politician who has been serving as the 11th president of Israel since 2021. He is the first president to be born in ...
and Hatnuah Party led by Tzipi Livni. In January 2015 he joined the list of "Zionist Union" and was placed 16th.
After the elections, which won the "Zionist Union" 24 seats, he was appointed deputy speaker of the Knesset. He serves as a member of the House Committee and the Science and Technology Committee.
Along with MK Yoav Kish
Yoav Kisch ( he, יוֹאָב קִישׁ; born 6 December 1968) is an Israeli pilot and politician.
Biography
Kisch was born and raised in Tel Aviv. His paternal grandfather was Frederick Kisch, the highest-ranking Jew ever to serve in the Briti ...
, Hasson established the parliamentary lobby for Israeli start-ups, which aims to improve the regulation on the Israeli start-up market and to give increased government support for young Israeli entrepreneurs. In addition, he holds the Presidency of the Canada-Israel inter-parliamentary friendship group along with MK Anat Berko
Anat Berko ( he, ענת ברקו, born 14 January 1960) is an Israeli criminologist and politician. An expert in the fields of counter-terrorism, she served as a member of the Knesset for Likud between 2015 and 2019.
Biography
Berko was born in ...
.
References
External links
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Hasson, Yoel
1972 births
People from Tel Aviv
Israeli Jews
Reichman University alumni
Living people
Betar members
Kadima politicians
Hatnua politicians
Zionist Union politicians
Members of the 17th Knesset (2006–2009)
Members of the 18th Knesset (2009–2013)
Members of the 20th Knesset (2015–2019)
Israeli people of Tunisian-Jewish descent