Asaf Zamir (; born 31 August 1980) is an Israeli politician and diplomat. He served as Deputy Mayor of

Tel Aviv Tel Aviv-Yafo ( or , ; ), sometimes rendered as Tel Aviv-Jaffa, and usually referred to as just Tel Aviv, is the most populous city in the Gush Dan metropolitan area of Israel. Located on the Israeli Mediterranean coastline and with a popula ...

from 2008 until 2013 and Acting Mayor in charge of education from 2013 to 2018. He was elected to 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 ...

in 2019, serving in two spells until 2021. He also held the post of

Minister of Tourism The Minister of Tourism is the head of the governmental department that specializes in tourism, recreation and/or culture. The position exists in many countries under several names: *Ministry of Tourism and Environment (Albania) *Ministry of Touri ...

from May to October 2020. He was Consul General in New York from October 2021 until his resignation in March 2023, in protest at Prime Minister

Binyamin Netanyahu Benjamin Netanyahu (born 21 October 1949) is an Israeli politician who has served as the prime minister of Israel since 2022, having previously held the office from 1996 to 1999 and from 2009 to 2021. Netanyahu is the longest-serving prime min ...

's decision to fire Defense Minister

Yoav Gallant Yoav Gallant (; born 8 November 1958) is an Israeli politician and former military officer who served as Ministry of Defense (Israel), minister of defense between 2022 and 2024. Gallant was an officer in the Southern Command (Israel), Southern ...

Biography

Zamir was born in Ganei Yehuda to Galia and Muki Zamir. His family lived in

Sarasota, Florida Sarasota () is a city in and the county seat of Sarasota County, Florida, United States. It is located in Southwest Florida, the southern end of the Tampa Bay area, and north of Fort Myers, Florida, Fort Myers and Punta Gorda, Florida, Punta Gord ...

in the United States for four years during his childhood. After they returned to Israel, he attended the A.D. Gordon school and Tichon Ironi Daled, and was a member of

HaNoar HaOved VeHaLomed Histadrut HaNoar HaOved VeHaLomed (), most commonly translated as Working and Studying Youth and colloquially known as Noar HaOved and abbreviated No'al (), is an Israeli youth movement, a sister movement of Habonim Dror, and affiliated with the ...

and the Hebrew Scouts. During his national 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 central control unit of the

Israeli Air Force The Israeli Air Force (IAF; , commonly known as , ''Kheil HaAvir'', "Air Corps") operates as the aerial and space warfare branch of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF). It was founded on May 28, 1948, shortly after the Israeli Declaration of Indep ...

. After graduating from

Tel Aviv University Tel Aviv University (TAU) is a Public university, public research university in Tel Aviv, Israel. With over 30,000 students, it is the largest university in the country. Located in northwest Tel Aviv, the university is the center of teaching and ...

with a law degree he interned with Naschitz Brandes Amir law firm and qualified as a lawyer. Zamir is married to the actress Maya Wertheimer, a granddaughter of

Stef Wertheimer Stef Wertheimer (; 16 July 1926 – 26 March 2025) was an Israeli billionaire industrialist, investor, philanthropist and politician. He was a member of the Knesset, and was known for founding industrial parks in Israel and neighboring countries ...

. His uncle Yitzhak Zamir was a judge in the Supreme Court.

Political and diplomatic career

In the 2008 municipal elections he was elected to Tel Aviv city council as part of the Rov HaIr (''Majority of the City'') party that he co-founded. Mayor

Ron Huldai Ron Huldai (; born 26 August 1944) is an Israeli politician and businessman who has been Mayor of Tel Aviv since 1998. Before taking office as mayor, Huldai served as a fighter pilot and commander in the Israeli Air Force. After leaving the ...

subsequently appointed Zamir as his deputy, making him the youngest-ever person to hold such a post in Israel. He was re-elected in the 2013 elections, after which he became acting mayor with responsibility for education. In the 2018 Tel Aviv mayoral election, Zamir challenged Huldai for the mayoralty, losing by a margin of 47–34%. Prior to the April 2019 elections he joined the

Israel Resilience Party Blue and White Israel Resilience Party (, ) is a centrist, liberal Zionist political party in Israel founded in December 2018 by Benny Gantz, former Chief of the General Staff of the Israel Defense Forces. The party first ran in the April ...

. After the party joined the Blue and White alliance, he was given the nineteenth slot on the joint list, and was subsequently elected to the Knesset as the alliance won 35 seats. He was re-elected in the September 2019 legislative election and March 2020 legislative election. In May 2020, he was appointed the

in the

thirty-fifth government of Israel The thirty-fifth government of Israel (), or the Netanyahu–Gantz government, was the government of Israel which was sworn in on 17 May 2020 and dissolved on 13 June 2021. It was originally expected to be established following the April 2019 ...

led by

Prime Minister A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...

Benjamin Netanyahu Benjamin Netanyahu (born 21 October 1949) is an Israeli politician who has served as the prime minister of Israel since 2022, having previously held the office from 1996 to 1999 and from 2009 to 2021. Netanyahu is the longest-serving prime min ...

. He subsequently resigned from the Knesset under the Norwegian Law and was replaced by Einav Kabla. On 2 October 2020 he resigned from the government while criticizing

. He was not included in Blue and White's electoral list for the 2021 elections after his vote against a budget extension, which effectively caused the dissolution of the government. In October 2021 he was appointed Consul General in New York. He resigned the position in March 2023 to protest proposed changes to Israel's judiciary and the planned firing of Defense Minister

. On 28 August 2023, Zamir announced his intention to run alongside Ron Huldai in the 2023 Tel Aviv mayoral election.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Zamir, Asaf 1980 births Living people Tel Aviv University alumni Israeli lawyers Israeli people of Polish-Jewish descent Members of the 21st Knesset (2019) Members of the 22nd Knesset (2019–2020) Israel Resilience Party politicians Blue and White (political alliance) politicians Members of the 23rd Knesset (2020–2021) Ministers of tourism of Israel Jewish Israeli politicians Deputy mayors of Tel Aviv-Yafo Consuls for Israel