Rami Greenberg (

Hebrew Hebrew (; ''ʿÎbrit'') is a Northwest Semitic languages, Northwest Semitic language within the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family. A regional dialect of the Canaanite languages, it was natively spoken by the Israelites and ...

: רמי גרינברג; born 18 May 1978) is an Israeli politician, currently serving as the mayor of

Petah Tikva Petah Tikva (, ), also spelt Petah Tiqwa and known informally as Em HaMoshavot (), is a city in the Central District (Israel), Central District of Israel, east of Tel Aviv. It was founded in 1878, mainly by Haredi Judaism, Haredi Jews of the Old Y ...

Biography

Greenberg was born in Neve Yarak, and grew up in

. At the age of 14, he was elected to serve as the chairman of the city's

Likud Likud (, ), officially known as Likud – National Liberal Movement (), is a major Right-wing politics, right-wing, political party in Israel. It was founded in 1973 by Menachem Begin and Ariel Sharon in an alliance with several right-wing par ...

youth organisation, and at the age of 16, was elected to serve as the chair of the national Likud youth. During his time in the

Israel Defense Forces The Israel Defense Forces (IDF; , ), alternatively referred to by the Hebrew-language acronym (), is the national military of the State of Israel. It consists of three service branches: the Israeli Ground Forces, the Israeli Air Force, and ...

, Greenberg served as an officer in the Duvdevan Unit. He subsequently joined the

Israel Police The Israel Police (; ) is the civilian police force of Israel. As with most other police forces in the world, its duties include crime fighting, traffic control, maintaining public safety, and counter-terrorism. It is under the jurisdiction o ...

, serving as a detective. He subsequently studied

Criminal law Criminal law is the body of law that relates to crime. It proscribes conduct perceived as threatening, harmful, or otherwise endangering to the property, health, safety, and Well-being, welfare of people inclusive of one's self. Most criminal l ...

in the

Academic Center for Law and Science The Academic Center for Law and Science (), previously Sha'arei Mishpat Academic Center and earlier Sha'arei Mishpat College is a private college in Hod HaSharon, Israel. It was established in 1995. Justice Prof. Menachem Elon Was its founder and ...

, becoming a

lawyer A lawyer is a person who is qualified to offer advice about the law, draft legal documents, or represent individuals in legal matters. The exact nature of a lawyer's work varies depending on the legal jurisdiction and the legal system, as w ...

. From 2003 to 2006, Greenberg worked in Hod HaSharon's Department of Security, and served as a member of the Committee on Religious Affairs of the

Drom HaSharon Regional Council The Drom HaSharon Regional Council () is a regional council located partly in the Sharon region and partly in the Central Coastal Plain region of the Central District of Israel. The council's headquarters are located on Highway 40 near Neve Ya ...

. In 2012, he served as the Manager of the Department of Coordination and Oversight of Petah Tikva, until his removal by the Israeli

Ministry of the Interior An interior ministry or ministry of the interior (also called ministry of home affairs or ministry of internal affairs) is a government department that is responsible for domestic policy, public security and law enforcement. In some states, the ...

. He subsequently served as an advisor to Mayor Yitzhak Ohion. In the 2013 Israeli municipal elections, Greenberg ran for Mayor of Petah Tikva under the Likud Party, but lost in the first round, coming in on third place. As his party won two seats in the city council, he became one of the party's two

councillor A councillor, alternatively councilman, councilwoman, councilperson, or council member, is someone who sits on, votes in, or is a member of, a council. This is typically an elected representative of an electoral district in a municipal or re ...

s. In the 2018 Israeli municipal elections, Greenberg ran again for Mayor of Petah Tikva, under his own party, called Renewal (''hithadshut'') against the incumbent, Itzik Braverman. Greenberg won with 45% of the vote to Braverman's 36%, and was sworn into office on 20 November, 2018. In 2021, amidst the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

, Greenberg announced that the city would examine a possible establishment of

Pfizer Pfizer Inc. ( ) is an American Multinational corporation, multinational Pharmaceutical industry, pharmaceutical and biotechnology corporation headquartered at The Spiral (New York City), The Spiral in Manhattan, New York City. Founded in 184 ...

's Israeli development center within the Petah Tikva Municipality On 11 July 2022, Greenberg was investigated for

fraud In law, fraud is intent (law), intentional deception to deprive a victim of a legal right or to gain from a victim unlawfully or unfairly. Fraud can violate Civil law (common law), civil law (e.g., a fraud victim may sue the fraud perpetrato ...

, breach of trust,

extortion Extortion is the practice of obtaining benefit (e.g., money or goods) through coercion. In most jurisdictions it is likely to constitute a criminal offence. Robbery is the simplest and most common form of extortion, although making unfounded ...

abuse of power Abuse of power or abuse of authority, in the form of "malfeasance in office" or "official abuse of power", is the commission of an Crime, unlawful act, done in an official capacity, which affects the performance of official duties. Malfeasan ...

bribery Bribery is the corrupt solicitation, payment, or Offer and acceptance, acceptance of a private favor (a bribe) in exchange for official action. The purpose of a bribe is to influence the actions of the recipient, a person in charge of an official ...

and conspiracy to commit a crime. On 10 August, he was arrested alongside the city's director and investigated a second time.

References

{{Reflist People from Petah Tikva Israeli lawyers 1978 births Living people Mayors of places in Israel