Shlomo Molla (, ; born November 21, 1965) is an Israeli politician who served as a member of the Knesset for

Kadima Kadima () was a centrist and liberal political party in Israel. It was established on 24 November 2005 by moderates from Likud largely following the implementation of Ariel Sharon's unilateral disengagement plan in August 2005, and was soon ...

and

Hatnuah Hatnua () was a liberal political party in Israel formed by former Israeli Foreign Minister and Vice Prime Minister Tzipi Livni to present an alternative to voters frustrated by the stalemate in the Israeli–Palestinian peace process. The pa ...

between 2008 and 2013. He became Israel's second MK of Ethiopian origin. He later joined the

Meretz Meretz (, ; ) was a left-wing political party in Israel. The party was formed in 1992 by the merger of Ratz, Mapam and Shinui, and was at its peak between 1992 and 1996 when it had 12 seats. It had no seats in the Knesset following its failure ...

party.

Biography

Molla was born in a small Jewish village of 40 families in Gondar Province in

Ethiopia Ethiopia, officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country located in the Horn of Africa region of East Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the north, Djibouti to the northeast, Somalia to the east, Ken ...

in 1965 into a family of 9 brothers and 2 sisters. Molla attempted to

immigrate Immigration is the international movement of people to a destination country of which they are not usual residents or where they do not possess nationality in order to settle as permanent residents. Commuters, tourists, and other short-t ...

to Israel in 1984 on foot, after being overlooked by Operation Moses and Operation Joshua. He was rescued by Israeli forces in

Sudan Sudan, officially the Republic of the Sudan, is a country in Northeast Africa. It borders the Central African Republic to the southwest, Chad to the west, Libya to the northwest, Egypt to the north, the Red Sea to the east, Eritrea and Ethiopi ...

; during his journey in Sudan, one of the Ethiopian Jews traveling with him was shot and killed by Sudanese forces. Upon his arrival in Israel, he was sent to an immigrant absorption center in

Safed Safed (), also known as Tzfat (), is a city in the Northern District (Israel), Northern District of Israel. Located at an elevation of up to , Safed is the highest city in the Galilee and in Israel. Safed has been identified with (), a fortif ...

. While suffering from malaria at the time of his arrival, he began learning

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 ...

during his stay in the hospital. After his

national service National service is a system of compulsory or voluntary government service, usually military service. Conscription is mandatory national service. The term ''national service'' comes from the United Kingdom's National Service (Armed Forces) Act ...

in the

Israel Defense Forces The Israel Defense Forces (IDF; , ), alternatively referred to by the Hebrew-language acronym (), is the national military of the State of Israel. It consists of three service branches: the Israeli Ground Forces, the Israeli Air Force, and ...

, he studied for a BA in social work at

Bar-Ilan University Bar-Ilan University (BIU, , ''Universitat Bar-Ilan'') is a public research university in the Tel Aviv District city of Ramat Gan, Israel. Established in 1955, Bar Ilan is Israel's second-largest academic university institution. It has 20,000 ...

. During his studies he served as co-chairman of the Organization of Ethiopian Students. He later also gained an LLB from

Ono Academic College Ono Academic College (''in Hebrew'': הקריה האקדמית אונו) is a private college located in Kiryat Ono, Israel with over 18,000 students.

Career

In 1991, he became head of a

Jewish Agency The Jewish Agency for Israel (), formerly known as the Jewish Agency for Palestine, is the largest Jewish non-profit organization in the world. It was established in 1929 as the operative branch of the World Zionist Organization (WZO). As an ...

immigrant absorption center in

Tiberias Tiberias ( ; , ; ) is a city on the western shore of the Sea of Galilee in northern Israel. A major Jewish center during Late Antiquity, it has been considered since the 16th century one of Judaism's Four Holy Cities, along with Jerusalem, Heb ...

, and in 1995 was appointed supervisor of the absorption centers and

ulpan An ulpan (), plural ''ulpanim'', is an institute or school for the intensive study of Hebrew. Ulpan is a Hebrew word meaning "studio", "teaching", or "instruction". The ulpan is designed to teach adult immigrants to Israel the basic language s ...

s in northern

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 ...

im. In 1996 he became a member of the Ministry of Health's committee to advise on war conditions, and in 1999 he became head of the Jewish Agency's Ethiopian Division. In the same year Molla won eighth place on

Yisrael BaAliyah Yisrael BaAliyah (, ) was a political party in Israel between its formation in 1996 and its merger into Likud in 2003. It was formed to represent the interests of Russian immigrants by former refuseniks Natan Sharansky and Yuli-Yoel Edelstein. ...

's list for the Knesset elections, but the party won only six seats. In 2006, he was a member of the Zionist Executive and head of department at the

World Zionist Organization The World Zionist Organization (; ''HaHistadrut HaTzionit Ha'Olamit''), or WZO, is a non-governmental organization that promotes Zionism. It was founded as the Zionist Organization (ZO; 1897–1960) at the initiative of Theodor Herzl at the F ...

Knesset tenure

Prior to the 2006 elections he was placed thirty-third on Kadima's list. However, following the resignation of Avigdor Yitzhaki in February 2008, Molla became the second MK of

n origin. He was placed nineteenth on the Kadima list for the 2009 elections, and retained his seat as the party won 28 mandates. Shlomo Molla

As a member of the Knesset, Molla advocated for a

two-state solution The two-state solution is a proposed approach to resolving the Israeli–Palestinian conflict, by creating two states on the territory of the former Mandatory Palestine. It is often contrasted with the one-state solution, which is the esta ...

. In 2012, he left Kadima to join the new

party. Placed eighth on its list for the 2013 elections, he lost his seat when the party won only six seats.

Post-Knesset career

In 2015, he encouraged Ethiopian-Israelis to refuse to pay taxes or to serve in the Israeli armed forces to protest racist acts against Ethiopian-Israelis such as the police assault on Demas Fikadey.Kershner, Isabel & Rudoren, Jod
“Soldier Becomes Unlikely Face of Ethiopian-Israeli Discontent”
''New York Times'' 4 May 2015 In 2019, Molla announced he joined

Personal life

Molla is married with three children, and lives in

Rishon LeZion Rishon LeZion ( , "First to Zion") is a city in Israel, located along the central Israeli coastal plain south of Tel Aviv. It is part of the Gush Dan metropolitan area. Founded in 1882 by Jewish immigrants from the Russian Empire who were ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Molla, Shlomo 1965 births Living people Bar-Ilan University alumni Beta Israel Black Jewish members of the Knesset Deputy speakers of the Knesset Ethiopian emigrants to Israel Ethiopian Jews Ethiopian Zionists Hatnua politicians Israeli people of Ethiopian-Jewish descent Jewish Israeli politicians Kadima politicians Members of the 17th Knesset (2006–2009) Members of the 18th Knesset (2009–2013) Ono Academic College alumni People from Amhara Region Yisrael BaAliyah politicians