Naama Lazimi (; born 11 January 1986) is a politician and Member of the Knesset for the
Democrats and previously for the
Labor Party. Previously, she was a member of the
Haifa
Haifa ( ; , ; ) is the List of cities in Israel, third-largest city in Israel—after Jerusalem and Tel Aviv—with a population of in . The city of Haifa forms part of the Haifa metropolitan area, the third-most populous metropolitan area i ...
City Council and vice chairman of the Student Association at the
University of Haifa
The University of Haifa (, ) is a public research university located on Mount Carmel in Haifa, Israel. Founded in 1963 as a branch of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, the University of Haifa received full academic accreditation as an inde ...
. She is also involved in
LGBT rights
Rights affecting lesbian, Gay men, gay, Bisexuality, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ) people vary greatly by country or jurisdiction—encompassing everything from the legal recognition of same-sex marriage to the Capital punishmen ...
activism.
Biography
Naama Lazimi was born and raised in
Migdal HaEmek
Migdal HaEmek (, lit. ''Tower of the Valley'', also officially spelled Migdal HaEmeq, ) is a city in the Northern District of Israel. In it had a population of .
Migdal HaEmek was established in 1953 as a ma'abara for Jews from Arab countr ...
to
Moroccan Jewish
Moroccan Jews (; ; ) are Jews who live in or are from Morocco. Moroccan Jews constitute an ancient community dating to Roman times. Jews began immigrating to the region as early as 70 CE. They were much later met by a second wave of migrants fro ...
parents. Her father, Avi, was a school principal and deputy mayor of Migdal HaEmek. She studied at the local school 'Rogozin', served in the IDF as an officer in the
Ministry of Defense and later as a reserve officer in the
Home Front Command
The Home Front Command (HFC; , ''Pikud HaOref'', also referred to by the Hebrew-language acronym ''Pakar'') is an Israel Defense Forces military district command responsible for civil protection.
It was created in February 1992 in response t ...
. She studied political science and Jewish history at the
University of Haifa
The University of Haifa (, ) is a public research university located on Mount Carmel in Haifa, Israel. Founded in 1963 as a branch of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, the University of Haifa received full academic accreditation as an inde ...
. As a student she was vice-chair of the University Student Association.
Political career
Lazimi worked as a parliamentary adviser to Knesset member
Shelly Yachimovich
Shelly Rachel Yachimovich (; born 28 March 1960) is an Israeli politician, who served three terms as the official Leader of the Opposition, a member of the Knesset, and a member of the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee. She served as leade ...
.
She founded the Center for Political Training and Resolution of the "Vision" conflict within the
Peace Now
Peace Now ( ''Shalom Achshav'', ) is an Israeli liberal advocacy organization with the aim of promoting a two-state solution to the Israeli–Palestinian conflict.
Early activism
In an official document from 1982 Peace Now advocated for an und ...
organization, and chaired the finance committee of the
Koah LaOvdim organization.
In 2012 she was elected to the Labor Party conference. In 2016, as chairman of the Young Shift of the Labor Party in Haifa, she ran for the presidency of the National Young Shift but lost by a narrow margin.
In the second decade of the 21st century, she moved to the
Hadar HaCarmel
Hadar HaCarmel ( lit. "''Splendor of the Carmel''"; or simply known as the neighbourhood of Hadar , الهدار in Arabic language, Arabic) is a district of Haifa, Israel. Located on the northern slope of Mount Carmel between the upper and lower c ...
neighborhood of Haifa. In the run-up to the local elections in Israel held in November 2018, an agreement was signed between
Einat Kalisch-Rotem and the head of the Labor Party,
Avi Gabbay
Avraham "Avi" Gabbay (; born 22 February 1967) is an Israeli businessman and politician. He was CEO of the telecommunications company Bezeq from 2007 to 2013, then entered politics. He served as Minister of Environmental Protection between 2015 ...
, according to which Lazimi was placed third on Kalisch-Rotem's list. In the election, the list won four seats and the mayoralty, and Lazimi was elected a member of the city council. As part of this role, she chaired the Haifa Gender Equality Committee and the board of directors of the Haifa Museums Company, and was a member of the Audit, Welfare and Construction Committees, and the Shikmona Board of Public Housing.
She conducted a collaboration between the
Technion and the
ORT Braude College of Engineering on behalf of ISEF - Israel Scholarship Education Foundation. In addition, she worked as a consultant for the northern field at the
Jewish National Fund
The Jewish National Fund (JNF; , ''Keren Kayemet LeYisrael''; previously , ''Ha Fund HaLeumi'') is a non-profit organizationProfessor Alon Tal, The Mitrani Department of Desert Ecology, The Blaustein Institutes for Desert Research, Ben Gurion ...
.
In February 2021, ahead of the twenty-fourth Knesset elections,
Lazimi was elected in the primaries to the 9th place on the Labor Party list, which received seven seats.
Following the resignation of
Omer Bar-Lev
Omer Israel Bar-Lev (; born 2 October 1953) is an Israeli politician who formerly served as Ministry of Public Security (Israel), Minister of Public Security. He was previously a member of the Knesset for the Israeli Labor Party. He was placed se ...
from the Knesset under the
Norwegian Law, she entered the Knesset for the first time.
In August 2022, ahead of the twenty-fifth Knesset elections, Lazimi was elected in the primaries to the 1st place on the Labor Party list, second only to party leader Merav Michaeli.
Personal life
in 2023 Lazimi moved from
Haifa
Haifa ( ; , ; ) is the List of cities in Israel, third-largest city in Israel—after Jerusalem and Tel Aviv—with a population of in . The city of Haifa forms part of the Haifa metropolitan area, the third-most populous metropolitan area i ...
to
Holon
Holon (, ) is a city in the Tel Aviv District of Israel, located south of Tel Aviv. Holon is part of the Gush Dan, Gush Dan metropolitan area. In , it had a population of , making it the List of cities in Israel, tenth most populous city in Isra ...
. She is married and a mother of two.
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lazimi, Naama
1986 births
Living people
21st-century Israeli military personnel
21st-century Israeli women politicians
City councillors of Haifa
Israeli Labor Party politicians
Israeli military officers
Israeli women activists
Jewish human rights activists
Jewish Israeli politicians
Jewish military personnel
Israeli LGBTQ rights activists
Members of the 24th Knesset (2021–2022)
Members of the 25th Knesset (2022–)
People from Migdal HaEmek
University of Haifa alumni
Women members of the Knesset
The Democrats (Israel) politicians