Ishay Hadas (; born: October 19, 1955) is an Israeli television producer, voice-over actor, social and political activist, and a founding member of the "Hoze Hadash" (New Deal) movement, better known as "Crime Minister". Hadas is an outspoken and one of the prominent figures in the protests against Benjamin Netanyahu.

Biography

Hadas was born on October 19, 1955. Hadas is the founder of Ishai Hadas Productions LTD. In 2013, Hadas appeared in the Israeli

mockumentary A mockumentary (a portmanteau of ''mock'' and ''documentary'') is a type of film or television show depicting fictional events, but presented as a Documentary film, documentary. Mockumentaries are often used to analyze or comment on current event ...

"Reshimot Katzman" (The Katzman Tapes) as himself. In 2015, Hadas rendered voice-overs in a series of television commercials for "Meshek Zuriel", a leading dairy manufacturer in Israel.

Social activism

In 2004, while on a trip to

Ethiopia Ethiopia, officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country located in the Horn of Africa region of East Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the north, Djibouti to the northeast, Somalia to the east, Ken ...

, Hadas encountered a young woman named Sophie who was offered to him for purchase by her employer, Hadas saw this is an opportunity to change Sophie's life around and pull her out of a future life of misery and hardship. Hadas offered Sophie to come with him on the pretense that he would fund her education and she would stick with it till the end. Sophie agreed and went back to

Addis Ababa Addis Ababa (; ,) is the capital city of Ethiopia, as well as the regional state of Oromia. With an estimated population of 2,739,551 inhabitants as of the 2007 census, it is the largest city in the country and the List of cities in Africa b ...

with Hadas where she began her studies as a pharmacist. Hadas continued to fund her studies until her graduation in 2013 when Hadas returned to Ethiopia to be reacquainted with Sophie, now a wife and a mother, for her graduation ceremony, as part of Uvda, an Israeli television news magazine program. In March 2022, following the

Russian invasion of Ukraine On 24 February 2022, , starting the largest and deadliest war in Europe since World War II, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, conflict between the two countries which began in 2014. The fighting has caused hundreds of thou ...

, Hadas along with others in his organization flew to neighboring

Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...

to aid with the relief efforts of Ukrainian refugees fleeing the country.

Political activism

In 2018, Hadas along with Gonen Ben Itzhak and others formed the Hoze Hadash (New Deal) foundation, better known as "Crime Minister". The organization has been standing at the forefront of the protests against Benjamin Netanyahu. Hadas frequently takes it upon himself to post live broadcasts from the ongoing protests to followers of the "Crime Minister" page on

Facebook Facebook is a social media and social networking service owned by the American technology conglomerate Meta Platforms, Meta. Created in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with four other Harvard College students and roommates, Eduardo Saverin, Andre ...

. In 2018, Hadas was arrested by police for bearing a protest sign with the words "Crime Minister" on it along the route of the

Giro D'Italia The Giro d'Italia (; ), also known simply as the Giro, is an annual stage race, multiple-stage bicycle racing, bicycle race primarily held in Italy, while also starting in, or passing through, other countries. The first race was organized in 19 ...

bicycle tournament. When asked once what he hopes to accomplish with these protests, Hadas replied "For Shaked to return home". Shaked is Hadas' granddaughter who lives abroad. In May 2020, following the

2020 Israeli legislative election Legislative elections were held in Israel on 2 March 2020 to elect members of the twenty-third Knesset. The result was initially a stalemate, which was resolved when Likud and Blue & White reached a coalition agreement. Under the terms of the ...

, Hadas, along with "Hoze Hadash", filed a complaint against tasking

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 ...

with the formation of the unity government on the grounds that it "warps" the will of the voter. In an August 2020 interview for 103FM, Hadas was taken off the air for claiming Ben Caspit's radio show was "subpar". Hadas had told him that he voted for

Benny Gantz Benjamin Gantz ( ; born 9 June 1959) is an Israeli politician and retired army general. He served as a Minister without portfolio#Israel, minister without portfolio from 2023 to 2024, as the Ministry of Defense (Israel), minister of defense bet ...

who "stabbed him in the back" by forming a unity government with Netanyahu and was later asked by Caspit why he's not protesting against Gantz to which Hadas replied with "subpar". On March 18, 2023, Hadas was detained by police at a demonstration, part of the 2023 Israeli anti-judicial reform protests, held at

Kfar Uria Kfar Uria () is a moshav in central Israel. Located near Beit Shemesh in the Shephelah. It falls under the jurisdiction of Mateh Yehuda Regional Council. In it had a population of . History The place was originally called "Kiryat Moshe", after M ...

where the Minister of National Security,

Itamar Ben-Gvir Itamar Ben-Gvir ( ; born 6 May 1976) is an Israeli far-right politician and lawyer who is serving as the Minister of National Security since 2025. He is the leader of Otzma Yehudit ('Jewish Power'), a Kahanist and anti-Arab party that won ...

(who was convicted of supporting a terrorist), was weekending. Hadas was later released after refusing to sign an agreement which forbade him from participating in further protests.

External links

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hadas, Ishay 1955 births Living people Israeli television producers Israeli activists Tel Aviv University alumni