Leon Litinetsky (; born 2 August 1967) is an Israeli politician. He 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 the Labor Party between 2008 and 2009, and for

Yisrael Beiteinu Yisrael Beiteinu (, ) is a conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy and ideology that seeks to promote and preserve traditional institutions, customs, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may ...

between 2014 and 2015.

Biography

Born in

Kazan Kazan; , IPA: Help:IPA/Tatar, ɑzanis the largest city and capital city, capital of Tatarstan, Russia. The city lies at the confluence of the Volga and the Kazanka (river), Kazanka Rivers, covering an area of , with a population of over 1. ...

in the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

, Litinetsky studied medicine at

Kazan State University Kazan Federal University (; ) is a public research university located in Kazan, Russia. The university was founded in 1804 as Imperial Kazan University, which makes it the second oldest continuously existing tertiary education institution in Rus ...

between 1984 and 1990, but did not graduate as he

emigrated Emigration is the act of leaving a resident country or place of residence with the intent to settle elsewhere (to permanently leave a country). Conversely, immigration describes the movement of people into one country from another (to permanentl ...

to Israel on 1 January 1991. Between 1995 and 1997 he studied at the ORT College in

Kfar Saba Kfar Saba ( ), officially Kfar Sava , is a List of Israeli cities, city in the Sharon plain, Sharon region, of the Central District (Israel), Central District of State of Israel, Israel. In 2019 it had a population of 110,456, making it the 16th-l ...

, before studying political science at

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 ...

. In 1995 he became a member of the Worker's Committee of the

Israel Electric Corporation Israel Electric Corporation (IEC; ) is the largest supplier of electrical power in Israel and the Palestinian territories. The IEC builds, maintains, and operates power generation stations, sub-stations, as well as transmission and distribution ...

. In 1999 he became an assembly member of the

Histadrut Histadrut, fully the New General Workers' Federation () and until 1994 the General Federation of Labour in the Land of Israel (, ''HaHistadrut HaKlalit shel HaOvdim B'Eretz Yisrael''), is Israel's national trade union center and represents the m ...

and chairman of the National Organisation for Russian-speaking Israelis. In 2000 he was a delegate to the

World Zionist Congress The Zionist Congress was established in 1897 by Theodor Herzl as the supreme organ of the World Zionist Organization, Zionist Organization (ZO) and its legislative authority. In 1960 the names were changed to World Zionist Congress ( ''HaKongres ...

. He was a member of Coordination Council of Compatriots in Israel and at one time was head of the organization. This organization is run by the Russian government through the Military Intelligence GRU Unit 54777. Litinetsky currently lives in

, and is married to Luba with one child, Roni.

Political career

Litinetsky was placed ninth on the One Nation list for the 2003 Knesset elections. However, the party won only three seats. In 2005 the party merged into the Labor Party and Litinetsky was placed 21st on the Labor-

Meimad Meimad (, an acronym for ''Medina Yehudit, Medina Demokratit'' (), lit., ''Jewish State, Democratic State'') is a moderate to left-wing religious Zionist political party in Israel. Founded in 1999, it is based on the ideology of the Meimad movem ...

list for the

2006 elections The following elections occurred in the year 2006. * Elections in 2006 * Electoral calendar 2006 * 2006 Acehnese regional election * 2006 American Samoan legislative election * 2006 Bahraini parliamentary election * 2006 Costa Rican presidential e ...

. Although the party won 19 seats, Litinetsky entered the Knesset on 2 July 2008 as a replacement for

Danny Yatom Danny Yatom (; born 15 March 1945) is a former Israeli politician who served as a member of the Knesset for Labor. In 1996–1998, Yatom was head of the Mossad and between 1999 and 2001, he served as Prime Minister Ehud Barak's Chief Of Staff an ...

who had resigned to go into business. Placed 18th on the party's list, he lost his seat in the 2009 elections as Labor was reduced to 13 seats. In the 2013 elections, he ran on the joint Likud Yisrael Beitenu list. Although he failed to win a seat, he entered the Knesset on 5 November 2014 as a replacement for

Gideon Sa'ar Gideon Moshe Sa'ar (; born 9 December 1966) is an Israeli politician currently serving as Israel's Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Israel), Foreign Minister and member of the Knesset for the party New Hope (Israel), New Hope. Sa'ar was first electe ...

. He was placed twelfth on the Yisrael Beiteinu list for the

2015 elections Africa * 2015 Beninese parliamentary election 26 April 2015 * 2015 Burkinabé general election 29 November 2015 * 2015 Burundian legislative election 29 June 2015 * 2015 Burundian presidential election 21 July 2015 * 2015-16 Central African gene ...

, losing his seat when the party was reduced to six seats. During the negotiations on the entry of Yisrael Beiteinu into the thirty-fourth

Israeli government The Israeli system of government is based on parliamentary democracy. The Prime Minister of Israel is the head of government and leader of a multi-party system. Executive power is exercised by the government (also known as the cabinet). Legislat ...

in May 2016, Litinetsky was a member of the negotiating team on behalf of Yisrael Beiteinu, and during his discussions he was responsible for the reform of increasing

old age pension A pension (; ) is a fund into which amounts are paid regularly during an individual's working career, and from which periodic payments are made to support the person's retirement from work. A pension may be either a "defined benefit plan", wher ...

in Israel. Since 2021 Litinetsky has served as a board member of the World Jewish Congress–Israel.

Honours and awards

Order of Friendship The Order of Friendship (, ') is a state decoration of the Russian Federation established by Boris Yeltsin by presidential decree 442 of 2 March 1994 to reward Russian and foreign nationals whose work, deeds and efforts have been aimed at ...

(

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

, 21 August 2020)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Litinetsky, Leon 1967 births Living people Kazan Federal University alumni Russian emigrants to Israel Tel Aviv University alumni Israeli Labor Party politicians Yisrael Beiteinu politicians Members of the 17th Knesset (2006–2009) Members of the 19th Knesset (2013–2015)