Tzipi Hotovely

Tzipi Hotovely
Date of birth 2 December 1978
Place of birth Rehovot, Israel
Knessets 18, 19, 20
Faction represented in Knesset
2009– Likud

Tzipi Hotovely (Hebrew: ציפי חוטובלי, born 2 December 1978) is an Israeli politician. She is a member of the Knesset for the Likud party since 2009. On 18 March 2013 she joined the new government of Israel as Deputy Minister of Transportation. As of 23 December 2014, she is also the new Deputy Minister of Science, Technology and Space.[1][2]

Hotovely is a doctorate student at the Faculty of Law in Tel Aviv University. Hotovely practises Orthodox Judaism and is a self-described "religious rightwinger".[3] At the age of 34, she was the 18th Knesset's youngest member. She is described as the "ideological voice" of the Likud Party.[4] She regularly campaigns for improved women's rights, and chaired the Knesset Committee on the Status of Women in the 18th Knesset, before joining the government at the beginning of the 19th Knesset in 2013.[5]

Early life

Hotovely is from a Georgian Jewish family. Her parents immigrated from Georgia, then part of the former Soviet Union, to Israel. She was born and grew up in Rehovot and graduated from the 'Bnei Akiva' ulpanit (a national-religious high school for girls) in Tel Aviv. She subsequently served two years of national service as a tour guide in Beit HaRav Kook museum in Jerusalem, and as a Jewish Agency representative in Atlanta.

She completed her Bachelor's and Master's degrees at Bar-Ilan University, graduating with honors. Upon completion of her academic studies she interned in the law office of Ram Caspi in Tel Aviv, specializing in Corporate Law, and became a certified lawyer in 2003. Between 2003 and 2005 she served as the editor of Bar-Ilan's Journal of Law, and later chose to continue her academic career, beginning her studies for a doctorate at Tel Aviv University. During her studies she was active in the World Union of Jewish Students (WUJS), and represented the organization at a student conference in South Africa. She was also the representative of the World Bnei Akiva movement in Paris. She has a higher education in Judaism, having studied at the Bruria Seminary in Jerusalem, and the Girl's Seminary at Bar-Ilan University.

She married Or Alon, a lawyer, on 27 May 2013.[6]

Media career

In 2006, she joined the panel of the political discussion program "Moetzet HaHahamim" (Council of the Wise) on Channel 10, hosted by Dan Margalit. Among the panel's members were journalists Amnon Dankner, the late Tommy Lapid, Ari Shavit and Gideon Levy. Hotovely represented the right-wing on the panel, and was among the critics of the Olmert government following the 2006 Lebanon War. She supported the reserve soldiers' demonstrations, and called on the country's leadership to resign.

Also in 2006, she started writing opinion pieces for Maariv concerning current political issues, and since 2007 she has a regular column in the Judaism section of nrg, the subject being the link between topics in Judaism and current events. She took part in several television programs on Channel 2: "Osim Seder" (putting in order) with Ben Caspit, "Talking of Current Events" with Dalia Neumann, and "Medinat Halakha" with Uri Orbakh and Sarah Blau. She also participated as a guest host in the program "HaBayit HaYehudi" (The Jewish Home) on Channel 1.

Political career

On 11 November 2008, she announced that she was joining Likud, and would compete in the party's primaries for the 18th Knesset. She made the 18th slot on the party's list for the 2009 elections, and became a member of the Knesset.[7]

In March 2011, she wrote that Israeli author Amos Oz was naive, after he sent a Hamas leader a copy of his auto-biography, writing that Oz would lack even the instinct to distinguish between Mordechai and Haman.[8]

In July 2011, Hotovely met with Glenn Beck. She told him that "this [Israeli-Palestinian] conflict isn't territorial...This is a religious battle led by Islam. We can't ignore this basic truth."[9]

In December 2011, as part of the Haredi-secular conflict in Israel in winter of 2011-2012, Hotovely gained media attention by sitting at the front of a Mehadrin public bus used by the Haredi public, where women are asked to sit at the back of the bus.[10]

Hotovely rejects Palestinian statehood aspirations — she's for Eretz Israel, or a Greater Israel spanning over the entire land of current Israel along with the Palestinian territories.[11]

References

  1. ↑ https://www.knesset.gov.il/mk/eng/mk_eng.asp?mk_individual_id_t=825
  2. ↑ http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4607016,00.html
  3. ↑ Lehmann, Sara (1 July 2009). "Likud's Rising Star - Single, Female And Religious". The Jewish Press. Retrieved 23 March 2011.
  4. ↑ Young Israelis of the year: MK Tzipi Hotovely, 30: Trying to change the world, Jpost, Magazine, 09/17/2009 14:49
  5. ↑ "ציפי חוטובלי, למישהו אכפת מזכויותיה של אשה?" Chairperson of the Committee on the Status of Women, Press Releases, 03/08/2011, www.tzipi.org.il
  6. ↑ Likud-MK-Tzipi-Hotovely-gets-engaged Likud MK Tzipi Hotovely gets engaged By LAHAV HARKOV, 02/02/2013 20:48
  7. ↑ Ilan, Shahar. "The freshman". Haaretz. Retrieved 2009-02-21.
  8. ↑ Book of Esther: Jewish fate ever since, Tzipi Hotovely, Israel Today, 17 March 2011
  9. ↑ LAHAV HARKOV. Beck’s love for Israel not ‘right’ enough for some MKs. Jerusalem Post.
  10. ↑ Female MK to sit at front of 'mehadrin' bus. Jerusalem Post.
  11. ↑ "Hotovely laments Likud 'schizophrenia' on two states". Jerusalem Post. 2013-08-28.

External links

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