Naor Reuven Bitton () is an Israeli political activist and community leader. He is a

Fulbright The Fulbright Program, including the Fulbright–Hays Program, is one of several United States cultural exchange programs with the goal of improving intercultural relations, cultural diplomacy, and intercultural competence between the people ...

Scholar and was one of the founders of the international advocacy organization Students Supporting Israel (SSI), that has dozens of pro-Israel groups across US and Canadian campuses. Bitton published numerous op-eds concerning the State of Israel in American and Israeli news outlets.

Personal life

Naor Bitton was born and raised in Ashdod. After finishing his mandatory military service in the

Israeli Defense Forces Israeli may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to the State of Israel * Israelis, citizens or permanent residents of the State of Israel * Modern Hebrew, a language * ''Israeli'' (newspaper), published from 2006 to 2008 * Guni Israeli (b ...

, he founded an activists youth group called "Ashdod Mitoreret" (Ashdod Wakes-up). After being elected to chair the group, Bitton initiated and led Ashdod's demonstrations, calling for a more affordable cost of living for young Israelis. Those demonstrations were part of the

2011 Israeli social justice protests The 2011 Israeli social justice protests (), #Naming, which are also referred to by various other names in the media, were a series of demonstrations in Israel beginning in July 2011 involving hundreds of thousands of protesters from a variety o ...

. During the protests, thousands of Ashdod's residents marched throughout the city while Bitton and two fellow activists created a "tent city" in one of the city's park. Following the protests, Bitton went on to study a master's degree in Public Policy in the US, during which, he interned as an adviser for Congressman

Jared Polis Jared Schutz Polis ( ; ; born May 12, 1975) is an American politician and businessman serving as the 43rd governor of Colorado since 2019. He served one term on the Colorado State Board of Education from 2001 to 2007, and five terms as the Unite ...

(D) of

Colorado Colorado is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States. It is one of the Mountain states, sharing the Four Corners region with Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah. It is also bordered by Wyoming to the north, Nebraska to the northeast, Kansas ...

. In addition, he interned as a Cabinet Adviser to the

Governor of Minnesota The governor of Minnesota is the head of government of the U.S. state of Minnesota, leading the state's executive branch. Forty people have been governor of Minnesota, though historically there were also three governors of Minnesota Territory ...

Mark Dayton Mark Brandt Dayton (born January 26, 1947) is an American politician who served as the List of governors of Minnesota, 40th governor of Minnesota from 2011 to 2019. He served as a United States Senate, United States Senator representing Minneso ...

Following his graduation, Bitton interned and later worked for Israel's Mission to

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is the Earth, global intergovernmental organization established by the signing of the Charter of the United Nations, UN Charter on 26 June 1945 with the stated purpose of maintaining international peace and internationa ...

as an adviser to Ambassador

Ron Prosor Ron Prosor (; born 11 October 1958) is an Israeli diplomat, writer, and columnist. He has served a Israel's ambassador to Germany since August 22, 2022. He previously served as Israel's Permanent Representative to the United Nations from 2011 t ...

. He also represented Israel in General Assembly discussions and UN deliberations. Bitton wrote multiple op-eds about Israel in leading news sites and papers, including: the

Jerusalem Post ''The Jerusalem Post'' is an English-language Israeli broadsheet newspaper based in Jerusalem, Israel, founded in 1932 during the British Mandate of Palestine by Gershon Agron as ''The Palestine Post''. In 1950, it changed its name to ''The Je ...

Times of Israel ''The Times of Israel'' (ToI) is an Israeli multi-language online newspaper that was launched in 2012 and has since become the largest English-language Jewish and Israeli news source by audience size. It was co-founded by Israeli journalist Dav ...

Star Tribune ''The Minnesota Star Tribune'', formerly the ''Minneapolis Star Tribune'', is an American daily newspaper based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. As of 2023, it is Minnesota's largest newspaper and the List of newspapers in the United States, seventh- ...

Ynetnews Ynet (stylized in all lowercase) is an Israeli news and general-content website, and the online outlet for the '' Yedioth Ahronoth'' newspaper. History Ynet launched on June 6, 2000, in Hebrew, following other Hebrew outlet's website launches i ...

, etc. He comes from a family of well-known art and Intellectual figures. Bitton is related to the poet and

Israel Prize The Israel Prize (; ''pras israél'') is an award bestowed by the State of Israel, and regarded as the state's highest cultural honor. History Prior to the Israel Prize, the most significant award in the arts was the Dizengoff Prize and in Israel ...

winner Erez Bitton, and his uncle is the Israeli comedian

Israel Katorza Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

Fighting against the Boycott Movement

During his studies at the

University of Minnesota The University of Minnesota Twin Cities (historically known as University of Minnesota) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul, Twin Cities of Minneapolis and Saint ...

, Bitton co-founded

Students Supporting Israel Students Supporting Israel (SSI) is a Zionist student activist group. History SSI was founded in 2012 in Minnesota by Ilan Sinelnikov, Valeria Chazin, and Naor Bitton. In March 2014, Indiana University and DePaul University students register ...

(SSI) together with Ilan Sinelnikov and Valeria Chazin. SSI is a network of pro-Israel groups that came under one name and one leadership, for the first time. The organization is focused on fighting the BDS (Boycott, Divestment & Sanctions) campaign against Israel. Using a grassroots approach SSI was able to pass multiple pro-Israel resolutions in student governments.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bitton, Naor Israeli activists