Nitzan Horowitz

Nitzan Horowitz ( he, נִצָּן הוֹרוֹבִיץ; Transliterated: ; born 24 February 1965) is an politician and former journalist serving as Minister of Health since 2021. He is currently leader of Meretz. He previously was the chief U.S. correspondent and commentator for the Israeli News Company, known as Channel 2 News. Before rejoining television, he served two full terms in the Knesset (2009-2015) on the Meretz list. In 2013, he ran for mayor of Tel Aviv. Before being elected to the Knesset, he was the Foreign Affairs commentator and head of the International desk at Hadashot 10, the news division of Channel 10. In June 2019, he won the Meretz leadership election, and currently serves as leader of the party and as the Minister of Health. In July 2022, he announced that he is stepping down as Meretz's leader.

Early life

Horowitz was born in Rishon LeZion in 1965. He graduated from Tel Aviv University Law School, and began working as a journalist.
He supported the International Criminal Court probe into Israel's alleged war crimes.

Journalism career

In his early career, he served as a Military Affairs reporter during the latter phase of the 1982 Lebanon war, as well as the International News editor at Army Radio between 1983 and 1987. In 1987, he began working at the ''Hadashot'' newspaper as the Foreign Affairs editor. In 1989, he started his career at ''Haaretz'', as the Foreign Affairs Editor. He served as ''Haaretz'' correspondent in Paris between 1993 and 1998, covering also the European Union, and as ''Haaretz'' correspondent in Washington, D. C., from 1998 until 2001. Back in Israel, Horowitz was the chief foreign affairs columnist for ''Haaretz''.

When Hadashot 10 began broadcasting on January 2002, Horowitz established its international desk. His work there included creating major documentary films following the tsunami disaster in eastern Asia and the failed manhunt after Osama Bin Laden in Afghanistan, and regular appearances on Hadashot 10's current affairs show, ''London et Kirschenbaum'', for which he provided reports and analysis of global news.

In 2008, Horowitz created and directed a documentary series for Channel 10, titled "WORLD: The Next Generation – Nitzan Horowitz in search of tomorrow". The series follows major phenomena and trends that could shape the future of the world in the coming decades, including the ageing crisis, urban sustainability, immigration, construction and industrial development in China, and the hi-tech revolution in India.

Horowitz served as a board member of the Association for Civil Rights in Israel. He was also active in environmental issues, and in 2007, he received the "Pratt Prize" for Environmental Journalism.

Political career

In December 2008, he resigned from Channel 10 and became a Meretz candidate for the 2009 elections. In the party primaries, he gained the third slot on the joint list of the New Movement and Meretz. He said: "My goal is to continue to do what I have been talking about over the past years, from protecting the seashore to promoting more sophisticated, non-polluting public transportation." Meretz won three seats in the elections, making Horowitz the second openly gay Knesset member in Israeli history, and the only openly gay member of the eighteenth Knesset. The first, Uzi Even, also was a member of Meretz. On 16 February 2009, he announced a plan to bring to the Knesset a bill that would allow marriages or civil unions between two partners, regardless of their religion, ethnic background, or gender. Before being sworn into the Knesset, he was told to annul his Polish citizenship, which he had obtained due to his father's origins and had used as a journalist to enter countries Israelis have difficulty entering.

In 2009, he announced that he would boycott all the events in Pope Benedict XVI's visit to Israel, saying that in his opinion, the pope bears a message of "rigidness, religious extremism, and imperviousness. Of all the Pope's injustices, the worst is his objection to disseminating contraceptives in Third World countries. It's hard to assess how many miserable men and women in Africa, Asia, and South America have contracted AIDS because of this Philistine attitude, but we are talking about many". He also published a two-part opinion piece on Ynetnews explaining his position.

Horowitz was re-elected to the Knesset in the January 2013 elections. In October 2013, he ran for mayor of Tel Aviv against long-time incumbent Ron Huldai. He lost, receiving 38% of the vote to Huldai's 53%. In 2014, he was given the Outstanding Parliamentarian Award by the Israel Democracy Institute.

He did not stand in the 2015 elections.

In June 2019, Horowitz successfully challenged incumbent Tamar Zandberg for the leadership of Meretz, which made Meretz the first Israeli party to elect an openly gay person as its leader. Horowitz led the party during the September 2019 Israeli legislative election. In 2021, he became Minister of Health in Naftali Bennett's cabinet. He resigned his Knesset seat under the Norwegian Law and was replaced by Michal Rozin.
He was responsible for banning conversion therapy using a circular in February 2022.
He also supports Bernie Sanders, who calls for the conditioning of aid to Israel, and is reluctant to display his Jewishness and is completely irreligious, as noted in his speeches to the liberal Jewish movement J Street; and has been criticized for his criticism of Israel.
He also contributed to a coalition crisis in the Bennett-Lapid government by complying with an Israeli High Court decision that determined the government cannot prohibit visitors from bringing hametz into hospitals during Passover. After this action and amid secret talks with Benjamin Netanyahu, Yamina MK Idit Silman left the coalition, leaving it shy of a majority and unable to pass legislation.

Following the Knesset's dissolution and new elections scheduled for November 2022, Horowitz announced that he will step down as leader of Meretz.

Personal life

Horowitz is openly gay and is the first party leader in Israel to be so. He resides in Tel Aviv with his life partner.

References

External links

*
"WORLD: The Next Generation – Nitzan Horowitz In Search of Tomorrow"
– The official website
World: The Next Generation ("Across Borders")
in DocAviv Film Festival
"We want more of Nitzan Horowitz"
– By OneJerusalem.com

{{DEFAULTSORT:Horowitz, Nitzan
1965 births
Living people
20th-century journalists
Gay politicians
Israeli environmentalists
Israeli Jews
Israeli journalists
Israeli people of Polish-Jewish descent
Jewish Israeli politicians
LGBT Jews
LGBT journalists from Israel
LGBT members of the Knesset
LGBT rights activists from Israel
Members of the 18th Knesset (2009–2013)
Members of the 19th Knesset (2013–2015)
Members of the 22nd Knesset (2019–2020)
Members of the 23rd Knesset (2020–2021)
Members of the 24th Knesset (2021–2022)
Ministers of Health of Israel
Meretz leaders
People from Rishon LeZion
Tel Aviv University alumni