Yulia Malinovsky Kunin (, , ''Yuliya Malinovskaya''; born 5 September 1975) is a Ukrainian-born Israeli politician, lawyer and former local police officer. She is currently a member of the

Knesset The Knesset ( , ) is the Unicameralism, unicameral legislature of Israel. The Knesset passes all laws, elects the President of Israel, president and Prime Minister of Israel, prime minister, approves the Cabinet of Israel, cabinet, and supe ...

for

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 ...

Early life and education

Malinovsky was born in Voroshilovgrad in the

Ukrainian SSR The Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic, abbreviated as the Ukrainian SSR, UkrSSR, and also known as Soviet Ukraine or just Ukraine, was one of the Republics of the Soviet Union, constituent republics of the Soviet Union from 1922 until 1991. ...

of the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

(today

Luhansk Luhansk (, ; , ), also known as Lugansk (, ; , ), is a city in the Donbas in eastern Ukraine. As of 2022, the population was estimated to be making Luhansk the Cities in Ukraine, 12th-largest city in Ukraine. Luhansk served as the administra ...

Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...

). Her mother, Sophia, is Jewish, and her father, Vladimir, was of Russian,

Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...

and

Armenian Armenian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Armenia, a country in the South Caucasus region of Eurasia * Armenians, the national people of Armenia, or people of Armenian descent ** Armenian diaspora, Armenian communities around the ...

descent. She studied law at the Luhansk branch of the East Ukrainian Volodymyr Dahl National University, gaining a BA. She served in a local police force as a manpower officer. Malinovsky emigrated to Israel from Ukraine in 1998. Her younger sister had immigrated before her with NAALE in 1997, and the rest of her immediate family joined her in Israel later.

Political career

Malinovsky was elected 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 ...

City Council on the Yisrael Beiteinu list in

2003 2003 was designated by the United Nations as the International Year of Fresh water, Freshwater. In 2003, a Multi-National Force – Iraq, United States-led coalition 2003 invasion of Iraq, invaded Iraq, starting the Iraq War. Demographic ...

. She was placed eighteenth on the party's list for the 2009 Knesset elections. However, the party won only 15 seats, and she failed to win election. She was 37th on the joint

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 ...

–Yisrael Beiteinu list for the 2013 Knesset elections, but once again failed to win a seat. Prior to the 2015 Knesset elections, she was placed ninth on the party's list. Although Yisrael Beiteinu won only six seats, the resignation of several MKs saw her enter the Knesset on 1 June 2016 as a replacement for

Avigdor Lieberman Avigdor Lieberman (, ; born 5 June 1958) is a Soviet-born Israeli politician who served as Ministry of Finance (Israel), Minister of Finance between 2021 and 2022, having previously served twice as Deputy Prime Minister of Israel from 2006 to ...

, after he had resigned from the Knesset under the Norwegian Law following his appointment as Minister of Defense. After Lieberman resigned as Defence Minister in November 2018, he returned to the Knesset in place of Malinovsky. Malinovsky was placed fifth on the Yisrael Beiteinu list for the April 2019 elections, and returned to the Knesset as the party won five seats. She was in fifth place again for the September 2019 elections, retaining her seat as Yisrael Beiteinu won eight seats. In 2023 Malinovsky called Prime Minister

Benjamin Netanyahu Benjamin Netanyahu (born 21 October 1949) is an Israeli politician who has served as the prime minister of Israel since 2022, having previously held the office from 1996 to 1999 and from 2009 to 2021. Netanyahu is the longest-serving prime min ...

a "traitor, a liar, and a fraudster", but apologized for her comments. In May 2024, Malinovsky authored a bill that, if approved, would designate the

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 ...

Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (

UNRWA The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA, pronounced ) is a UN agency that supports the relief and human development of Palestinian refugees. UNRWA's mandate encompasses Palestinians who fl ...

) as a

terrorist organization Several national governments and two international organizations have created lists of organizations that they designate as terrorist. The following list of designated terrorist groups lists groups designated as terrorist by current and former ...

. In the bill's introduction, she wrote, "The purpose of this bill is to declare UNRWA as a terrorist organization for all intents and purposes as well as order the termination of the relations nd the cooperationof the State of Israel with the agency, either directly or indirectly.”

Personal life

Malinovsky lives in

, and is married with two children.

References

External links

* 1975 births Living people Politicians from Luhansk East Ukrainian Volodymyr Dahl National University alumni Soviet people of Jewish descent Ukrainian Jews Ukrainian emigrants to Israel Israeli lawyers Israeli people of Ukrainian-Jewish descent Israeli people of Armenian descent Israeli people of Russian descent Yisrael Beiteinu politicians Women members of the Knesset Members of the 20th Knesset (2015–2019) Members of the 21st Knesset (2019) Members of the 22nd Knesset (2019–2020) Members of the 23rd Knesset (2020–2021) Members of the 24th Knesset (2021–2022) Members of the 25th Knesset (2022–) Soviet Armenians Soviet people of Greek descent Jewish Israeli politicians {{Israel-politician-stub