Shai Abuhatsira (; born July 19, 1980) is an Israeli

public servant The civil service is a collective term for a sector of government composed mainly of career civil service personnel hired rather than elected, whose institutional tenure typically survives transitions of political leadership. A civil service offic ...

. He served as a deputy Mayor of

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 ...

between 2011 and 2018. Abuhatsira is the youngest to ever serve in this position.

Early life

Abuhatsira is the son of Eliyhau and Nelly. Abuhatsira is the fourth son in his family and he has three sisters. He was born and raised in

Kiryat Ata Kiryat Ata () also spelled Qiryat Ata, is a city in the Haifa District of Israel. In it had a population of , 92% of whom were Jewish citizens. History The Early Bronze Age site at Kiryat Ata has been extensively excavated since 1990, reveal ...

and is of

Jewish Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...

Moroccan descent. He is a distant relative of Moroccan

Sephardi Sephardic Jews, also known as Sephardi Jews or Sephardim, and rarely as Iberian Peninsular Jews, are a Jewish diaspora population associated with the historic Jewish communities of the Iberian Peninsula (Spain and Portugal) and their descendant ...

rabbi A rabbi (; ) is a spiritual leader or religious teacher in Judaism. One becomes a rabbi by being ordained by another rabbi—known as ''semikha''—following a course of study of Jewish history and texts such as the Talmud. The basic form of t ...

Baba Sali Yisrael Abuhatzeira (; 26 September 1889 – 8 January 1984), known as the Baba Sali (; ; ) was a leading Moroccan Sephardic rabbi and kabbalist who was renowned for his ability to work miracles through his prayers. His burial place in Netiv ...

. He graduated from high school at age 18 and shortly after military service, he attended 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 ...

Career

National Union of Israeli Students

In 2004 Abuhatsira was elected chair of the University of Haifa student union. He made comprehensive efforts and played an important part in promotion of students, environmental accessibility to disabled students and the building of the students legal and academic status. In 2006 Abuhatsira was elected deputy chair in the

National Union of Israeli Students The National Union of Israeli Students (Hebrew: התאחדות הסטודנטים בישראל, Arabic: إتحاد الطلاب في إسرائيل; NUIS) has been the representative body of students' throughout Israel since 1934. Today NUIS repr ...

. He played an important part in the national tuition reduction campaign, which was accompanied by national strikes and student demonstrations.

Haifa City Council

During 2008, Abuhatsira and other public activists founded the Tzeirey Haifa (

Hebrew Hebrew (; ''ʿÎbrit'') is a Northwest Semitic languages, Northwest Semitic language within the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family. A regional dialect of the Canaanite languages, it was natively spoken by the Israelites and ...

: צעירי חיפה) political party, which participated in

's local city elections. The party achieved success in elections and won two seats on the council. Abuhatsira became a member of the city's municipal coalition, headed Mayor

Yona Yahav Yona Yahav (; born 19 June 1944) is an Israeli lawyer and politician currently serving as the mayor of Haifa since 2024. Yahav previously served as Mayor from 2003 and, 2018, when he lost re-election to Einat Kalisch-Rotem. In 2024, Yahav was r ...

. He became the deputy mayor and the head of the youngsters population affairs. Abuhatsira helped many young population initiatives and is an important supporter of city's growth development and students promotion.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Abuhatsira, Shai 1980 births Living people Deputy mayors of Haifa Israeli people of Moroccan-Jewish descent People from Kiryat Ata