Nitzan Horowitz

Nitzan Horowitz (Hebrew: ניצן הורוביץ‎; born 24 February 1965) is an Israeli politician and journalist. He is currently leader of Meretz and a member of the Knesset. He previously was the chief U.S. correspondent and commentator for the Israeli News Company, known as Channel 2 News. Before rejoining television, he served two full terms in the Knesset (2009-2015) on the Meretz list. In 2013, he ran for mayor of Tel Aviv. Before being elected to the Knesset, he was the Foreign Affairs commentator and head of the International desk at Hadashot 10, the news division of Channel 10. In June 2019, he won the Meretz leadership election, and currently serves as leader of the party.

Nitzan Horowitz
Faction represented in the Knesset
2009–2015Meretz
2019–2020Democratic Union
2020–Meretz
Personal details
Born (1965-02-24) 24 February 1965
Rishon LeZion, Israel

Early life

Horowitz was born in Rishon LeZion in 1965. He graduated from Tel Aviv University Law School, and began working as a journalist.

Journalism career

In his early career, he served as a Military Affairs reporter during the latter phase of the 1982 Lebanon war, as well as the International News editor at Army Radio between 1983 and 1987. In 1987, he began working at the Hadashot newspaper as the Foreign Affairs editor. In 1989, he started his career at Haaretz, as the Foreign Affairs Editor. He served as Haaretz correspondent in Paris between 1993 and 1998, covering also the European Union, and as Haaretz correspondent in Washington, D. C., from 1998 until 2001. Back in Israel, Horowitz was the chief foreign affairs columnist for Haaretz.

When Hadashot 10 began broadcasting on January 2002, Horowitz established its international desk. His work there included creating major documentary films following the tsunami disaster in eastern Asia and the failed manhunt after Osama Bin Laden in Afghanistan, and regular appearances on Hadashot 10's current affairs show, London et Kirschenbaum, for which he provided reports and analysis of global news.

In 2008, Horowitz created and directed a documentary series for Channel 10, titled "WORLD: The Next Generation – Nitzan Horowitz in search of tomorrow". The series follows major phenomena and trends that could shape the future of the world in the coming decades, including the ageing crisis, urban sustainability, immigration, construction and industrial development in China, and the hi-tech revolution in India.

Horowitz served as a board member of the Association for Civil Rights in Israel. He was also active in environmental issues, and in 2007, he received the "Pratt Prize" for Environmental Journalism.

Political career

In December 2008, he resigned from Channel 10 and became a Meretz candidate for the 2009 elections.[1] In the party primaries, he gained the third slot on the joint list of the New Movement and Meretz. He said: "My goal is to continue to do what I have been talking about over the past years, from protecting the seashore to promoting more sophisticated, non-polluting public transportation."[2] Meretz won three seats in the elections,[3] making Horowitz the second openly gay Knesset member in Israeli history, and the only openly gay member of the eighteenth Knesset.[4][5] The first, Uzi Even, also was a member of Meretz.[6] On 16 February 2009, he announced a plan to bring to the Knesset a bill that would allow marriages or civil unions between two partners, regardless of their religion, ethnic background, or gender.[7] Before being sworn into the Knesset, he was told to annul his Polish citizenship, which he had obtained due to his father's origins and had used as a journalist to enter countries Israelis have difficulty entering.[8]

In 2009, he announced that he would boycott all the events in Pope Benedict XVI's visit to Israel, saying that in his opinion, the pope bears a message of "rigidness, religious extremism, and imperviousness. Of all the Pope's injustices, the worst is his objection to disseminating contraceptives in Third World countries. It's hard to assess how many miserable men and women in Africa, Asia, and South America have contracted AIDS because of this Philistine attitude, but we are talking about many".[9] He also published a two-part opinion piece on Ynetnews explaining his position.[10]

Horowitz was re-elected to the Knesset in the January 2013 elections. In October 2013, he ran for mayor of Tel Aviv against long-time incumbent Ron Huldai. He lost, receiving 38% of the vote to Huldai's 53%.[11] In 2014, he was given the Outstanding Parliamentarian Award by the Israel Democracy Institute.[4]

He did not stand in the 2015 elections.[4]

In June 2019, Horowitz successfully challenged incumbent Tamar Zandberg for the leadership of Meretz, which made Meretz the first Israeli party to elect an openly gay person as its leader. Horowitz led the party during the September 2019 Israeli legislative election.[12][13]

Personal life

Horowitz is openly gay.[12] He resides in Tel Aviv with his life partner.[14]

References
  1. Paz, Shelly (15 December 2008). "Gilon beats Gal-On in Meretz primary". The Jerusalem Post. Retrieved 15 December 2008.
  2. Paz, Shelly (18 December 2008). "Meretz and Hatnua Hahadasha unveil their joint Knesset list". The Jerusalem Post. Retrieved 18 August 2015.
  3. Senyor, Eli (11 February 2009). "Meretz shock: Gal-On not in Knesset". Ynetnews. Retrieved 18 August 2015.
  4. "Meretz MK Nitzan Horowitz leaves politics after six years". The Jerusalem Post. 31 January 2014. Retrieved 25 June 2013.
  5. Cohen, Benjamin (20 October 2010). "Israel's only gay MP speaks out for marriage on visit to London". PinkNews. Retrieved 6 August 2012.
  6. Ilan, Shahar (13 February 2009). "The freshman". Haaretz. Archived from the original on 16 February 2009. Retrieved 21 February 2009.
  7. "First-term Meretz MK to present bill for gay and civil marriages". Haaretz. 17 February 2009. Retrieved 18 August 2015.
  8. Ilan, Shahar (18 February 2009). "Three dual-citizen MKs ordered to annul their foreign passports". Haaretz. Retrieved 11 April 2009.
  9. Meretz MK to boycott all pope's activities in Israel
  10. Horowitz, Nitzan (10 May 2009). "Making our world worse". Ynetnews. Retrieved 12 May 2009.Horowitz, Nitzan (11 May 2009). "Disrespecting other faiths". Ynetnews. Retrieved 12 May 2009.
  11. Maltz, Judy (24 June 2013). "Can Nitzan Horowitz become the Mideast's first gay mayor?". Haaretz. Retrieved 25 June 2013.
  12. "Israel's Meretz party becomes country's first to elect an openly gay leader - Jewish Telegraphic Agency". Jta.org. Retrieved 3 July 2019.
  13. Jeremy Sharon (27 June 2019). "Israel's first gay party leader Nitzan Horowitz elected head of Meretzr (sic)". The Jerusalem Post. Retrieved 27 June 2019.
  14. Nitzan Horowitz Knesset website
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