Amit Halevi (; born 5 June 1971)
is an Israeli politician who has served as a member of the
Knesset
The Knesset ( , ) is the Unicameralism, unicameral legislature of Israel.
The Knesset passes all laws, elects the President of Israel, president and Prime Minister of Israel, prime minister, approves the Cabinet of Israel, cabinet, and supe ...
for
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 ...
since 2023, an office he previously held from 2020 to 2021.
Biography
Halevi was born in Haifa in 1971
and was educated at Yavneh High School in Haifa and the
Mercaz HaRav
Mercaz HaRav (officially, , "The Center of Rabbi ook- the Central Universal Yeshiva") is a national-religious ( Hardal) yeshiva in Jerusalem, founded in 1924 by Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi Abraham Isaac Kook. Located in the city's Kiryat Moshe neighbo ...
yeshiva in Jerusalem. During his service 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 ...
, he served in the
7th Armored Brigade (Israel)
The 7th "Saar me-Golan" Armored Brigade (, ''Hativa Sheva'') is a military formation of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF). Formed during the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, and still in operation, it is the oldest armored brigade in the IDF. Since then, ...
. He graduated from the School of Public Policy at the
Hebrew University of Jerusalem
The Hebrew University of Jerusalem (HUJI; ) is an Israeli public university, public research university based in Jerusalem. Co-founded by Albert Einstein and Chaim Weizmann in July 1918, the public university officially opened on 1 April 1925. ...
and later jointly established the with .
He was placed thirty-sixth on the Likud list for the
April 2019 elections, but the party won only 35 seats. He was placed thirty-ninth for the
September 2019 elections, in which Likud won 32 seats. Although he missed out again in the
March 2020 elections in which he was placed thirty-ninth and Likud won 36 seats, he entered the Knesset on 30 July 2020 as a replacement for
Amir Ohana
Amir Ohana (; born 15 March 1976) is an Israeli lawyer, former Shin Bet official and politician who has served as the Speaker of the Knesset since 2022, and as a member of the Knesset for Likud. He previously held the posts of Ministry of Just ...
, who had resigned his seat under the
Norwegian Law after being appointed to the cabinet. Placed thirty-fifth on the Likud list for the
2021 elections
1 (one, unit, unity) is a number, numeral, and glyph. It is the first and smallest positive integer of the infinite sequence of natural numbers. This fundamental property has led to its unique uses in other fields, ranging from science to sp ...
, he lost his seat as the party won 30 seats. Halevi returned to the Knesset on 17 January 2023 as a replacement for
Amichai Chikli
Amichai Chikli (; born 12 September 1981)
Mako, 5 April 2021 is an Israeli ...
, following his resignation under the Norwegian Law.
Halevi is an
Orthodox Jew
Orthodox Judaism is a collective term for the traditionalist branches of contemporary Judaism. Theologically, it is chiefly defined by regarding the Torah, both Written and Oral, as literally revealed by God on Mount Sinai and faithfully tran ...
. He is married to Irit Halevi and lives in
Jerusalem
Jerusalem is a city in the Southern Levant, on a plateau in the Judaean Mountains between the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean and the Dead Sea. It is one of the List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest cities in the world, and ...
.
Views
In June 2023 he proposed a bill to divide the
Temple Mount
The Temple Mount (), also known as the Noble Sanctuary (Arabic: الحرم الشريف, 'Haram al-Sharif'), and sometimes as Jerusalem's holy esplanade, is a hill in the Old City of Jerusalem, Old City of Jerusalem that has been venerated as a ...
, also known as the al-Aqsa mosque compound, between Jews and Muslims, generating criticism from Palestinian Prime Minister
Mohammed Shtayyeh.
In 7 July 2024, he appeared in an interview on Kan 11 stating "In the orthopedic department of Al-Shifa Hospital, they found 150 terrorists and then killed them. At the same time, 300 terrorists were born in the maternity ward. 300!"
In January 2025 he was one of eight members of the
Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee
The Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee () is a permanent Knesset committee which oversees key Foreign and Defense issues of the State of Israel, including the drafting of legislation, supervision over related government ministries and the ...
to call on Defense Minister
Israel Katz
Israel Katz (; born 21 September 1955) is an Israeli politician and member of the Knesset for Likud currently serving as Ministry of Defense (Israel), Minister of Defense and a member of the Security Cabinet of Israel. Katz has been recognized ...
to order the IDF to destroy all water, food and energy sources in the Gaza Strip in order to achieve the war aims.
In March 2025, Halevi suggested that Israel should occupy and cleanse Gaza, stating "We want to occupy the territory in order to cleanse it of the enemy; otherwise, he will kill your children and kidnap your grandchildren again."
In May 2025, during a Knesset discussion on the
Gaza humanitarian crisis
Gaza may refer to:
Places Palestine
* Gaza Strip, a Palestinian territory on the eastern coast of the Mediterranean Sea
** Gaza City, a city in the Gaza Strip
** Gaza Governorate, a governorate in the Gaza Strip
Mandatory Palestine
* Gaza Sub ...
, when an Israeli doctor assumed that the Knesset supported suffering children in Gaza receiving "painkillers or minimal medical treatment", Halevi disagreed, saying: "I'm not sure you're speaking for us when you say we want to treat every child and every woman. I hope you don't stand behind that statement either. When fighting a group like this, the distinctions that exist in a normal world don't exist."
When a statistician told the Knesset that he calculated from Israeli Defense Forces data that "we are already at a point where tens of thousands
n Gazahave no food at all or have less than 300 calories a day", Halevi responded: "There is no hungry person in Gaza, not even a single child. It's a shame you are amplifying that lie – no one is lacking anything"; however as the discussion continued, the Israeli Defense Forces raised the possibility that there may be "pockets of hunger" in Gaza.
[
]
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Halevi, Amit
1971 births
Living people
People from Haifa
Israeli software engineers
Hebrew University of Jerusalem Faculty of Social Sciences alumni
Likud politicians
Israeli people of Turkish-Jewish descent
Israeli people of Lithuanian-Jewish descent
Members of the 23rd Knesset (2020–2021)