Ilan Shohat ( he, אילן שוחט; born 21 September 1974) is an Israeli politician, and the mayor of Safed in the Israeli Galilee since 2008. In 2010, he was the youngest mayor in Israel. In 2015, he was elected to 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 ...

, but chose not to take his seat days before he was to be sworn in. He lost his bid for re-election in 2018.

Biography

Ilan Shohat was born in Safed to a Tunisian-Jewish family. He was named after his aunt Ilana Neeman, who was murdered in the Maalot massacre – the May 1974 terrorist massacre of 22 children and three adults in a Ma'a lot school by armed members of the

Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine The Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP; ar, الجبهة الديموقراطية لتحرير فلسطين, ''al-Jabha al-Dīmūqrāṭiyya li-Taḥrīr Filasṭīn'') is a secular Palestinian Marxist–Leninist organi ...

. He is secular.

Mayor of Safed

Shohat was first elected Mayor of Safed, a city in the Israeli Galilee, in 2008. He was a representative of an independent list identified with

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 was supported by

Yisrael Beiteinu Yisrael Beiteinu ( he, יִשְׂרָאֵל בֵּיתֵנוּ, russian: Наш Дом Израиль, lit. ''Israel Our Home'') is a secularist, nationalist right-wing political party in Israel. The party's base was originally secular Russia ...

and the Labor Party. In 2009, he visited

Bowling Green, Kentucky Bowling Green is a home rule-class city and the county seat of Warren County, Kentucky, United States. Founded by pioneers in 1798, Bowling Green was the provisional capital of Confederate Kentucky during the American Civil War. As of the ...

, asking for help providing transportable bomb shelters to Israel. In 2010 Shohat was Israel's youngest mayor. In 2012, he was investigated on suspicion of taking a bribe during the 2008 elections, but the Northern District Prosecutor's Office decided to close the case. He was re-elected Mayor easily in 2013. That year, Shohat stirred controversy when he decided that a medical school should be built in the city that would attract many non-Jewish students. In December 2014 he indicated that though he considers "the absorption of the wounded Syrians a moral and Jewish obligation of the first degree", he wanted the Israeli Health Ministry to, instead of directing wounded Syrians to hospitals in the North of Israel that are facing financial issues, send them to better-equipped hospitals in central Israel. He ran for local office in Safed as a member of 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 ...

and also ran for the head of

. He joined

in 2012.

Election to the Israeli Knesset

Shohat won a seat in the Israeli Knesset in 2015 when he was in the fourth slot on the Yisrael Beiteinu list for the 2015 Knesset elections. His party received six seats in the election. One week after he was elected to the Knesset and days before he was scheduled to be sworn in, Shohat chose not to take his seat. His decision permitted MK Robert Ilatov (the next in line on the Yisrael Beiteinu list) to remain in the Knesset.

2018 election

On 30 October 2018, Shohat lost his bid for re-election as Mayor of Safed.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Shohat, Ilan 1974 births Living people Jewish Israeli politicians Kadima politicians Likud politicians Mayors of places in Israel People from Safed Yisrael Beiteinu politicians Israeli people of Iranian-Jewish descent Israeli people of Tunisian-Jewish descent