David "Dudi" Amsalem (; born 11 August 1960), is an Israeli politician. He currently serves 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 ...

. He previously held the posts of Minister of Communications, the Minister for Cyber and National Digital Matters and as the Government-Knesset Liaison.

Early life

David (Dudi) Amsalem was born and raised 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 ...

. His parents, Avraham and Sultana Amsalem, were immigrants from

Morocco Morocco, officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It has coastlines on the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to Algeria–Morocc ...

. Amsalem was educated at

Yeshivat Or Etzion Yeshivat Or Etzion is a Hesder Yeshiva, religious high school, and religious army preparation high school. It is located in Merkaz Shapira, Israel. It was founded in 1977. Its Rosh Yeshiva was Rabbi Haim Drukman. The "Yeshiva Gavoha" roll is ap ...

. During his IDF

national service National service is a system of compulsory or voluntary government service, usually military service. Conscription is mandatory national service. The term ''national service'' comes from the United Kingdom's National Service (Armed Forces) Act ...

he was a tank commander in the

Armored Corps An armoured corps (also mechanized corps or tank corps) is a specialized military organization whose role is to conduct armoured warfare. The units belonging to an armoured corps include military staff, and are equipped with tanks and other armou ...

. He later obtained a bachelor's degree in Economics and Business Administration from

Bar-Ilan University Bar-Ilan University (BIU, , ''Universitat Bar-Ilan'') is a public research university in the Tel Aviv District city of Ramat Gan, Israel. Established in 1955, Bar Ilan is Israel's second-largest academic university institution. It has 20,000 ...

. In 2003, the Israeli police arrested members of a group dubbed "The Jerusalem Gang," which included Amsalem, Itzik Kaufman, and Yoram Karshi. They were investigated on suspicion of involvement in forging hundreds of membership forms for the Likud party's Jerusalem branch during a large-scale party registration process. The police recommended that Amsalem and his associates be indicted. The prosecution closed the case due to insufficient evidence.

Career

A member of the Likud, he became chairman of the party's Jerusalem branch. He was placed 42nd on the joint Likud Beiteinu list for the

2013 Knesset elections Early legislative elections were held in Israel on 22 January 2013 to elect the 120 members of the nineteenth Knesset. Public debate over the Tal Law had nearly led to early elections in 2012, but they were aborted at the last moment after Kadi ...

, but with the alliance winning only 31 seats, he did not become a Knesset member. Prior to the 2015 Knesset elections he was placed 21st on the party's list, a slot reserved for a candidate from the Jerusalem area. He was elected to the Knesset as Likud won 30 seats. In December 2017 he was appointed

whip A whip is a blunt weapon or implement used in a striking motion to create sound or pain. Whips can be used for flagellation against humans or animals to exert control through pain compliance or fear of pain, or be used as an audible cue thro ...

of the governing coalition.Netanyahu’s New Coalition Whip Is No Fan of Progressive U.S. Jews
''Haaretz'', 21 December 2017 After being re-elected in the April 2019 elections, he was appointed as Minister of Communications on 1 July. He was re-elected in September 2019 and March 2020. In May 2020 he was appointed Minister for Cyber and National Digital Matters. Although he retained his seat in 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 ...

, Likud went into opposition and he left the cabinet. Amsalem has a long history of attacking non-Orthodox streams of Judaism. According to

Yizhar Hess Yizhar Hess (Hebrew: יזהר הס; born July 5, 1967) is Vice Chairman of the World Zionist Organization. He was elected to that role in 2020 as a representative of MERCAZ, the Zionist slate of the global Masorti/Conservative Movement. He is ...

, executive director of the Conservative-Masorti movement in Israel, "There is no one in Likud who is more hostile to the non-Orthodox movements than Amsalem." During a 2022 debate on legislation authorizing the hooking up of illegally built homes to the Israeli power grid, an issue that disproportionately impacts

Israeli-Arab The Arab citizens of Israel form the country's largest ethnic minority. Their community mainly consists of former Mandatory Palestine citizens (and their descendants) who continued to inhabit the territory that was acknowledged as Israeli by ...

and

Haredi Haredi Judaism (, ) is a branch of Orthodox Judaism that is characterized by its strict interpretation of religious sources and its accepted (Jewish law) and traditions, in opposition to more accommodating values and practices. Its members are ...

citizens of Israel, Amsalem objected to

Ra'am The United Arab List (, ''HaReshima HaAravit HaMe'uhedet''; , ''al-Qā'ima al-'Arabiyya al-Muwaḥḥada''), commonly known by its Hebrew acronym Ra'am (, ), is an Islamism, Islamist and Conservatism, conservative political party in Israel and ...

MK Walid Taha speaking

Arabic Arabic (, , or , ) is a Central Semitic languages, Central Semitic language of the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family spoken primarily in the Arab world. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) assigns lang ...

during the legislative session, saying "look at what we’ve gotten to: Two Arabs speaking to each other... You will speak Hebrew here in the Israeli parliament." After the Likud's victory in the elections to the 25th Knesset and the coalition negotiations to establish the 37th government of Israel, Amsalem demanded to serve as Minister of Justice or Speaker of the Knesset. Prime Minister Netanyahu refused to appoint him to one of these two positions, and offered him to be the Minister of Transportation. As a result, Amsalem refused to serve as a minister in the government, and announced that he would serve as a full member of the Knesset. On 12 February 2023 the government decided on the addition of Amsalem to its ranks as an additional minister in the Ministry of Justice, the minister for regional cooperation and the liaison minister between the government and the Knesset. His seat was taken by Avihai Boaron. In August 2023, when asked about attempts to appoint his personal friend and attorney to the board of directors of a

state-owned company A state-owned enterprise (SOE) is a business entity created or owned by a national or local government, either through an executive order or legislation. SOEs aim to generate profit for the government, prevent private sector monopolies, provide goo ...

, Amsalem replied: "that is my job, due to my authority to appoint directors. I put forward people that I know and hold in esteem". During the

Trial of Benjamin Netanyahu The trial of Benjamin Netanyahu, also known as the Netanyahu-Elovitch-Mozes Trial or the Publisher's Trial, began following investigations into allegations of bribery, fraud, and breach of trust by him and close political allies within his i ...

, Amsalem said that if Netanyahu were convicted and imprisoned, there would be a

civil war A civil war is a war between organized groups within the same Sovereign state, state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies.J ...

in Israel.

Personal life

Amsalem is a widower with two daughters. His wife, Rosy Amsalem worked in the Jerusalem municipality until her death from lung cancer in 2009. He moved to

Ma'ale Adumim Ma'ale Adumim (; ) is an urban Israeli settlement organized as a city council in the West Bank, seven kilometers () east of Jerusalem. Ma'ale Adumim achieved city status in 1991. In 2015, its population was . It is located along Highway 1, whi ...

following his wife's illness, and returned to Jerusalem after she died. At present he is a resident of Ma'ale Adumim.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Amsalem, Dudi 1960 births Israeli Mizrahi Jews Israeli people of Moroccan-Jewish descent Living people Politicians from Jerusalem Bar-Ilan University alumni Israeli settlers Likud politicians Jewish Israeli politicians Members of the 20th Knesset (2015–2019) Members of the 21st Knesset (2019) Members of the 22nd Knesset (2019–2020) Members of the 23rd Knesset (2020–2021) Members of the 24th Knesset (2021–2022) Members of the 25th Knesset (2022–) Ministers of communications of Israel Yeshivat Or Etzion alumni