Ksenia Svetlova

Ksenia Svetlova
Date of birth 28 July 1977
Place of birth Moscow, Soviet Union
Year of aliyah 1991
Knessets 20
Faction represented in Knesset
2015– Zionist Union

Ksenia Svetlova (Hebrew: קסניה סבטלובה‎; Russian: Ксения Светлова, born 28 July 1977) is an Israeli journalist and politician.

Personal life

Born in Moscow, Svetlova attended School 77 between 1984 and 1991. In 1991 she immigrated to Israel with her mother and joined a religious school in Jerusalem. She later studied Islamic and Middle Eastern history at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, gaining bachelors and master's degrees. As of 2015, she is a doctoral candidate in Middle Eastern studies and an associate professor at Hebrew University.[1] She is also a policy fellow at Mitvim, the Israeli Institute for Regional Foreign Policies.[2]

She speaks Russian, Hebrew, English, and Arabic. She lives in Modi'in and has two daughters.[1]

Journalism career

In 2002 she joined the Russian language Israel Plus as a commentator on Arab affairs. She has also written pieces for publications such as the The Jerusalem Post, The Jerusalem Report, Haaretz, and BBC Russian Service. She has interviewed Yasser Arafat, Ahmed Yassin, and Mahmoud Abbas.

Political career

Before the 2015 Knesset elections, she joined the Zionist Union (an alliance of the Labor Party and Hatnuah)[3] and was placed 21st on the list, a slot reserved for a candidate chosen by Hatnuah leader Tzipi Livni.[4] She was elected to the Knesset as the alliance won 24 seats.[5] After her election, she was required to give up her Russian citizenship,[6] which had been an asset to her past travel to the Arab world.

At the 2015 J Street conference, she stressed the importance of the two-state solution but, along with fellow incoming Hatnuah MK Yoel Hasson, said it should be advanced through negotiations, not U.N. resolutions. She also urged American Jews to unite in preventing Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons, and criticized Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for creating friction with the U.S. administration on the matter.[7][8] In an i24news interview, she discussed her priority as an incoming MK of advancing the peace process despite the current challenges.[9] She has also pledged to work against racism and discrimination.[10]

She is an advocate for progressive streams of Judaism, having had a bitter experience with authorities of the Chief Rabbinate wherein she was refused a divorce for two years.[11]

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Huffington Post bio
  2. ↑ Ms. Ksenia Svetlova
  3. ↑ Zionist Union list Central Elections Committee
  4. ↑ Russian journalist joins Zionist Camp list Times of Israel, 18 January 2015
  5. ↑ Final Unofficial* results of the Elections for the Twentieth Knesset Central Elections Committee
  6. ↑ Five new MKs must give up foreign citizenship Haaretz, 26 March 2015
  7. ↑ J.J. Goldberg, Israeli Left Splits on Tactics at J Street Conference, The Jewish Daily Forward (March 23, 2015)
  8. ↑ Gil Hoffman, Danon takes lawmakers to task for slamming Netanyahu at J Street conference, The Jerusalem Post (March 25, 2015)
  9. ↑ Interview with Ksenia Svetlova, i24news, 31 March 2015
  10. ↑ Meet Israel's new lawmakers, Ynetnews, 20 March 2015
  11. ↑ Judy Maltz, Among new Knesset faces, some staunch advocates of Jewish pluralism, Haaretz (March 25, 2015)

External links