Orly Levy-Abekasis (; born 11 November 1973) is an Israeli politician and former member of the Knesset. Formerly a model, Levy-Abekasis first entered the Knesset in 2009 as a representative of

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 ...

, but left the party in 2017 to sit as an independent. In 2019, she formed her own party, Gesher, to contest the April 2019 elections. Although the party failed to win a seat, she returned to the Knesset following the September 2019 elections, in which Gesher ran together with the Labor Party. In May 2020, she was appointed by Prime Minister Netanyahu as the newly created Minister for Community Empowerment and Advancement. Levy-Abekasis worked as a model and a local television host, before following her father into politics. Levy-Abekasis's political views are primarily focused on social issues and issues of economic justice. Whilst a member of Yisrael Beiteinu, she was one of two governing coalition members to abstain from the controversial Nation State Law.

Biography

Levy was born in

Beit She'an Beit She'an ( '), also known as Beisan ( '), or Beth-shean, is a town in the Northern District (Israel), Northern District of Israel. The town lies at the Beit She'an Valley about 120 m (394 feet) below sea level. Beit She'an is believed to ...

Israel 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 ...

, to a

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 ...

family. She is the ninth of twelve children of Moroccan-born former Foreign Affairs Minister David Levy. She did her military service in the

Israeli Air Force The Israeli Air Force (IAF; , commonly known as , ''Kheil HaAvir'', "Air Corps") operates as the aerial and space warfare branch of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF). It was founded on May 28, 1948, shortly after the Israeli Declaration of Indep ...

, and later earned a

law Law is a set of rules that are created and are enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior, with its precise definition a matter of longstanding debate. It has been variously described as a science and as the ar ...

degree at the IDC Herzliya college. She is married to Lior Abekasis. They have four children, and reside in

kibbutz A kibbutz ( / , ; : kibbutzim / ) is an intentional community in Israel that was traditionally based on agriculture. The first kibbutz, established in 1910, was Degania Alef, Degania. Today, farming has been partly supplanted by other economi ...

Mesilot Mesilot () is a kibbutz in northern Israel. Located in the Beit She'an Valley near the city of Beit She'an, it falls under the jurisdiction of Valley of Springs Regional Council. In it had a population of . History The gar'in, community was ...

. Her brother, Jackie, served as mayor of

for the

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 ...

Political career

For the 2009 elections, Levy-Abekasis was placed sixth on the

list, and entered the Knesset after the party won fifteen seats. During her first term, she served as Deputy

Speaker of the Knesset The speaker of the Knesset (, ) is the presiding officer of the Knesset, the Unicameralism, unicameral legislature of Israel. The Speaker also acts as President of Israel when the President is incapacitated. The current speaker is Amir Ohana, who ...

and Chair of the Committee on the Rights of the Child. For the 2013 elections, Levy-Abekasis was placed 16th on the Likud Yisrael Beiteinu list, and entered the Knesset after the party won 31 seats. She was re-appointed Chair of the Committee of the Rights of the Child. In January 2015, it was announced that she would be second on the Yisrael Beiteinu list for the March 2015 elections. In May 2016, she announced she was quitting Yisrael Beiteinu due to the need for more attention to social affairs in the party's negotiations over joining the coalition government. She officially became an independent MK on 15 March 2017. Due to leaving Yisrael Beiteinu during a Knesset term, she was limited by Knesset protocol from running for the next elections. As a result, in March 2018, she announced plans to form a new party. In December 2018, the party was named Gesher, reviving the name of the party founded by her father in 1996. In the April 2019 elections, the new party failed to cross the electoral threshold. However, after a failure to form a new government, the newly elected Knesset voted to dissolve itself in May 2019, and snap elections were called for September. On 18 July, Gesher agreed to form an electoral alliance with

Labor Labour or labor may refer to: * Childbirth, the delivery of a baby * Labour (human activity), or work ** Manual labour, physical work ** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer ** Organized labour and the labour ...

, with Levy-Abekasis placed second on the joint list. She returned to the Knesset as the alliance won six seats. In May 2020, she was made head of the newly created Ministry for Community Empowerment and Advancement after she signed a coalition deal with

. For the 2021 elections, Levy-Abekasis was placed twenty-sixth on

's list and retained her seat in the Knesset, as Likud won thirty seats. For the 2022 elections, Levy-Abekasis was placed fiftieth on

's list and lost her seat in the Knesset, as Likud won thirty-two seats.

Media appearances

In 2023 Levy-Abekasis competed in the ninth season of

Rokdim Im Kokhavim Rokdim Im Kokhavim (, "Dancing with Stars") is the Israel, Israeli version of the British reality TV competition ''Strictly Come Dancing'' and is part of the ''Dancing with the Stars'' franchise. The show features local celebrity, celebrities par ...

('Dancing with the Stars'), in which she was the eleventh person eliminated (out of 18 couples).

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Levy-Abekasis, Orly 1973 births Living people 21st-century Israeli women politicians Deputy speakers of the Knesset Reichman University alumni Israeli female models Israeli people of Moroccan-Jewish descent Israeli television presenters Israeli women television presenters Jewish Israeli politicians Kibbutzniks Likud politicians Members of the 18th Knesset (2009–2013) Members of the 19th Knesset (2013–2015) Members of the 20th Knesset (2015–2019) Members of the 22nd Knesset (2019–2020) Members of the 23rd Knesset (2020–2021) Members of the 24th Knesset (2021–2022) Israeli Mizrahi Jews People from Beit She'an Women government ministers of Israel Women members of the Knesset Yisrael Beiteinu politicians