Avi Dichter

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Avi Dichter

Date of birth	4 December 1952 (1952-12-04) (age 55)
Knesset(s)	17th (current)
Party	Kadima
Gov't roles (current in bold)	Minister of Internal Security

Avi Dicter (born December 4, 1952) is an Israeli politician, currently Israel's Minister of Public Security and a member of Knesset from the Kadima party. His parents were Holocaust survivors.

As an adolescent, he joined Hashomer Hatzair, the oldest Zionist youth movement still functioning. After graduating high school in Ashkelon (where he met his wife), Dicter was selected to serve in the elite unit of the Israel Defense Forces, Sayeret Matkal, under then Commander Ehud Barak. Upon completing his military service, Dicter joined Shin Bet, Israel's internal security service, in 1974 where he advanced to eventually become its Director in 2000.

He began his career in Shin Bet as an Air Marshal for El Al. After becoming proficient in Arabic and completing field intelligence courses, he began working in the Shin Bet’s Southern District—specifically in the Gaza Strip. In 1992, he was appointed as Director for the region. The targeted assassination of [Hamas]] operative Yahya Ayyash--known as “The Engineer”—took place under Dicter's leadership. The assassination of the late Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin in 1996 shed light on the Shin Bet's shortcomings. Aiming to improve the Shin Bet's protection capabilities, Dicter was appointed Director of the Security and Protection Division. In 1999, he became Deputy Director of Shin Bet. One year later, Prime Minister Ehud Barak promoted Dicter to Director.

During his tenure as Director, the Palestinians launched one of the most deadly and aggressive terrorist campaigns, the Al-Aqsa Intifada. Under Dicter’s leadership, Shin Bet changed its modus operandi and restructured its mission and duties to serve at the forefront of Israel’s homeland security and counter-terrorism efforts. The organization spearheaded counter-insurgency and intelligence operations deep inside the West Bank and Gaza Strip. In doing so, the Shin Bet is credited with drastically reducing the number of terrorist attacks perpetrated against Israel during this time as well as helping to restore safety and positive morale to the public. Another one of Dicter’s successful initiatives included envisioning and planning with Prime Minister Ariel Sharon the West Bank security barrier.

In September 2005, Dicter left office and became a research fellow at the Brookings Institute in Washington, D.C. Several months later, he returned to Israel and announced his foray into politics with the newly-established Kadima party. On May 4, 2006 Dicter was sworn in as the Minister of Public Security. In this role, he oversees Israel’s law enforcement system including Israel's Police Force and Prison Service.

As Minister of Public Security, Avi Dicter is leading massive reform in the fields under the auspices of the ministry. These include budgetary and organizational reform, the building of a Witness Protection Program, and the formation of a national crime fighting unit (Lahav 433) similar to the United States' FBI.

In the international arena Minister Avi Dicter believes that it is essential to build a network of nations dedicated to counter-terrorism and crime-fighting to confront the emerging network of international terror and crime. In this capacity Minister Dicter has led the warming of professional relations with many partners across the globe including the signing of cooperation agreements with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security as well as with other counterparts from Canada and countries in the European Union.

Minister Dicter holds a BA in Social Sciences from Bar Ilan University (’86) and an Executive MBA from Tel Aviv University (’99). He speaks Hebrew, English and Arabic. He and his wife Ilana reside in Ashkelon, where they both grew up. They have three children.