Yoni Chetboun

Yoni Chetboun
Date of birth	13 March 1979 (age 35)
Place of birth	Nahariya, Israel
Knessets	19
Faction represented in Knesset
2013–2015	The Jewish Home

Yonatan "Yoni" Chetboun (Hebrew: יונתן "יוני" שטבון‎, born 13 March 1979) is an Israeli politician. He served as a member of the Knesset for the Jewish Home from 2013 until 2015. After joining the Yachad party, he lost his seat in the 2015 elections.

Biography

Chetboun was born in Nahariya to French-Jewish immigrants of Sephardi background. He grew up in Netanya and attended a Bnei Akiva yeshiva high school, before becoming a student at Yeshivat Otniel. In 1998 he began his national service, and joined the 51st Battalion of the Golani Brigade. He was selected to join the Egoz Reconnaissance Unit.^[1] The Egoz unit consists of special forces, with their main theatre of operations being against Hezbollah in Lebanon, though the unit takes part in operations in all theaters, such as Judea, Samaria and Gaza. He fought in the Second Lebanon War, seeing action at the Battle of Bint Jbeil,^[2] and was awarded the Chief of Staff citation.^[3][1] He continued to serve in the reserves after active duty, and left the IDF in 2008.

Chetboun studied at the Interdisciplinary Center Herzliya, where he gained a bachelor's degree in governance and strategy.^[1] In 2011, he founded the "Kanaf" consulting firm.

He is married with 7 children.^[4]

Public career

Prior to his political career, Chetboun was active in the Religion Zionist community and founded the Ra'ananim Religious Zionist youth movement. The organization was active in strengthening Jewish Identity among Israeli youth.^[1] During Operation Cast Lead, Chetboun was one of the organizers of a demonstration in support of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) and the residents of southern Israel. He was motivated by the lack of public confidence in the IDF during the Second Lebanon War in which he fought, which according to him hurt the morale of the troops.^[1][5] In lectures and events, Chetboun advocated a foreign policy based on three pillars: military prowess, diplomatic finesse and most importantly, the assertion of principles in the robust pursuit of the national interest.

He joined the Jewish Home party and supported Naftali Bennett in its 2012 leadership election.^[1] He was placed eleventh on the party's list for the 2013 elections,^[6]and was elected to the Knesset as the party won 12 seats. However, he defied direct orders by Naftali Bennett and voted against the bill that criminalized ultra-orthodox Jews learning Torah full time instead of enlisting in the IDF. On 14 December 2014, he quit the Jewish Home party because of ideological differences with the party, and immediately joined Eli Yishai's new Yachad party.^[7] He stressed his belief in the fact that the new party could bring unity between all the religious sectors in Israel. He was placed second on the party's list for the 2015 elections,^[8] but lost his seat when the party failed to cross the electoral threshold.

References

External links

• Yoni Chetboun on the Knesset website