Ofir Akunis

Akunis was born in Tel Aviv, to a father of Greek-Jewish descent who immigrated to Israel in 1934 and was a member of the Likud Party himself. His mother was Jewish and immigrated from Poland in 1957. He attended the Herzliya Hebrew High School between 1987 and 1991. He served as youth correspondent for the weekly "Ma'ariv LaNoar" magazine. During his national service he served as a military correspondent for the Chief Education Officer of the Education and Youth Corps. After his army service he served as music editor of the radio program "Youth Club" on Reshet Gimmel, and on other programs. He completed his bachelor's degree in political science and international relations at the Open University.[1]

In January 1992, he joined the Likud party and began working in the information department at Metzudat Ze'ev in Tel Aviv. In June 1996, when Binyamin Netanyahu became Prime Minister after winning the elections, Ofir Akunis served as Deputy Media Advisor to the Prime Minister. He subsequently became spokesman for the Likud party.[1] In 2003 he won the Menachem Begin Award for his thesis "Morals and Realism in Israeli Politics". He later worked as a spokesman for the Minister of Justice, and in 2004 was appointed Media Advisor for Netanyahu in the Ministry of Finance. He continued to serve as his advisor until 2008 before being appointed as Deputy Director of Communications and Information for the Likud.

Prior to the 2009 elections, Akunis participated in the primaries for the Likud and reached the 28th place. He submitted a petition to the election committee of the Likud together with other candidates. On 12 December 2008 the petition was accepted, and subsequently was promoted to the 26th place on the list, which is reserved for the Tel Aviv district. Post factum, it turned out that if the petition was not accepted, he would not have been elected to the Knesset, as the Likud won 27 mandates in the elections.[2] Akunis was subsequently moved up to twenty-sixth place, and entered the Knesset as Likud won 27 seats.

During his first two years as a Knesset member, Ofir Akunis served as Chairman of the Economic Committee. He was also appointed Deputy Speaker of the House. After the flotilla to Gaza, Ofir Akunis confronted the Knesset members of the Balad party several times, and even announced several times that as the Likud's representative to the Central Elections Committee he would demand the disqualification of their list and the disqualification of MK Hanin Zuabi, who participated in the flotilla. After recruiting a majority of 19 supporters against 9 opponents, the Central Elections Committee disqualified Zuabi from running for the 19th Knesset. During a pre-vote debate, Akunis said, "Zuabi did not stop undermining the State of Israel, and openly incited against it and against IDF soldiers. He participated in the flotilla, do you need any more than that to disqualify her candidacy?" After a few days, the Supreme Court overturned the decision. According to the statistics of the Knesset Ofir Akunis is considered a very active member, both in the Knesset plenum and in the committees in which he participates.

During his service as Chairman of the Economic Committee, Ofir Akunis collaborated with the Minister of Communications Moshe Kahlon in opening the cellular communications market to competition, including supporting a decrease in link fees and adding virtual operators and new companies to this market. He promoted the consumer cash refund law and initiated the reverse interest law. In the television sector he promoted legislation regulating the transition from franchises to licenses, and initiated the increase of channels broadcast free of charge by the "Idan+" DDT broadcasting service. He objected to the Ministry of Finance's demand to increase radio and television fees, and actually lead to its decrease.

In discussions led by the committee on state royalties on oil and gas profits, Akunis objected to the new fund's initiative to increase royalties to 80%. However, after the publication of the Shinsky Committee's recommendations, the Knesset voted in favor of the "Oil Profit Tax Law."

Ofir Akunis promoted consumer, civilian and political related legislation, among them:

• Legislation enabling parking at bus stations on holidays
• Legislation providing free water saving devices ("chaschamim")
• Legislation prohibiting cable and satellite broadcasting companies to charge fines for terminating services
• In December 2010 an amendment to the Flag and State Symbol Law was approved, stipulating that State flags must be manufactured in Israel. The amendment was submitted together with MK Shelly Yechimovitch and other MKs
• Proposed legislation requiring a referendum to be held for any future political agreement with the Palestinian Authority regarding the future of Yehuda and Shomron
• MK Akunis is one of the initiators of the "Embargo Prohibition Law", the purpose of which is to prevent any party banning Israel to benefit from financing or services provided by the State, including prohibiting their entrance into the country

• Member of the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee
• Member of the State Inspection Committee
• Member of the Children's Rights Committee
• Joint Chairman (together with MK Shai Chermesh) of the "Knesset Forum for International Relations " lobby
• Chairman of the Committee for issues relating to the Second Television and Radio Authority
• Chairman of the Likud's response team
• Likud's representative in the Central Elections Committee

In the elections held for the Likud's list of candidates for the 19th Knesset, Akunis was elected to the 18th place, placed in the 29th place in the joint Likud – Yisrael Beiteinu list and was once again elected to serve in the Knesset. In March 2013 Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu appointed Akunis as Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister's Office, acting as the liaison between the government and the Knesset with the portfolio of the Advancement of Young People and Students.[3] As the liaison between the government and the Knesset, Akunis Respond, on Behalf of the government, against Motion of no confidence from opposition's parties. He spoke much about "Prawer plan", the negotiations with the Palestinians and The Israeli settlements in the West Bank.

On December 9, 2014, Akunis was appointed Deputy Minister of Environmental Protection. Akunis replaced Amir Peretz, who resigned from his post as Minister.[4] The appointment, made by the Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office, came a week after the massive crude oil spill in Israel's Arava region. Akunis said that "it is the Deputy Minister's intention to prioritize treatment of the ecological disaster in the south and to do all that is necessary to prevent the spread of the crude oil, and to prevent a health and environmental disaster."[5] Akunis ordered crews to raise the side walls of the dams that had been built in the Arava to prevent flooding. Thanks to the infrastructure that had already been built in the area, the risk that the oil would reach the Gulf of Eilat significantly dropped. Akunis instructed that the reserve remain closed as long as high values of pollutants were still registered in air quality tests. In the end of December, the government approved a NIS 17 million Environment Ministry plan to rehabilitate. According to Akunis, the NIS 17 million program would serve to treat the soils contaminated by the spill as well as help restore the wildlife populations damaged over the course of the event. As part of the plan, a special team would be appointed to evaluate the environmental impact of various Eilat-Ashkelon Pipeline Company activities on both dry land and beaches. The approved plan also involved opening a closed Eilat beach on EAPC-owned property to the city's residents and visitors.[6] In January 2015, Air quality tests found that there has been a 90% reduction of pollution in Evrona. In July 2017, the beach opened as promised.

For his own request, Akunis was appointed by Binyamin Netanyahu to lead the 'Computer for Every Child' project. He said that "This is one of the most important social projects taking place in Israel," and added "that reducing the technological gaps is a critical element in reducing social disparities." Akunis promised that he will work to "promote, strengthen and upgrade" the project.[7] During 2013, the project has been upgraded from "Computer for Every Child" to "Tablet for the Whole Classroom" and Tablets Distributed to Children of Sderot, Ofakim, Lod etc.[8] In October 2014, Akunis announced that the government had allocated NIS 1.8 million to provide tablets for each and every child living in the south.[9]

Prior to the 2015 elections, Akunis participated in the primaries for the Likud and reached the 15th place.[10]

On May 14, 2015 Akunis was sworn in as a Minister in the 34th Government of Israel.

In June 2015, Akunis was authorized by the Prime Minister to be the Broadcasting Authority and the Second Television and Radio Authority. After his appointment, Bezeq led to changes in the Public Broadcastibng Law. The changes included renaming the law to the "Israeli Public Broadcasting Law" and final cancellation of the television fee. These changes were criticized by his predecessor, Minister Gilad Erdan, and received support from the Ministry of Finance and The New General Workers Union.

Following a controversy with the Prime Minister, he resigned as head of the Broadcasting Authority and the Second Television and Radio Authority.

Minister of Science and Technology

On September 2, 2015, Akunis was appointed Ministry of Science and Technology replacing Danny Danon who was appointed Israel's envoy to the United Nations.[11]

In July 2018, Akunis refused to approve a recommendation from his office to appoint Professor Yael Amitai to the Board of Governors of the German-Israeli Foundation for Scientific Research and Development, stating that in 2005 Amitai signed a petition supporting the refusal to serve in the territories. The academy was harshly criticized for this decision, but Akunis adhered to his decision. Prof. Amitai and the heads of universities filed a petition with the High Court against this decision by Akunis. The Attorney General and the State Attorney's Office filed suit against Akunis, but at the court hearing he continued to hold his position. Due to opposition from the Attorney General to give Akunis an outside legal representation, he decided to represent himself in court and appeared at every Supreme Court hearing and argued before the panel. Amitai eventually accepted the appointment of Akunis' replacement, Izhar Shay.

In January 2020, he was appointed Minister of Labor, Welfare and Social Services instead of the Prime Minister.

The 23rd Knesset

On the 35th day of the new Israeli government (in 2020), Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced that Akunis would be appointed Minister of Regional Cooperation while Gilad Erdan, who held the position before Akunis, was appointed Israeli Ambassador to the United Nations.

MK Akunis has mentioned many times that he operates in the spirit of the late Menachem Begin. When commencing his function as Chairman of the Economic Committee he committed himself to a "free economy with social sensitivity", which is the basis of the Likud's outlook. He supports the concept of decreasing direct and indirect taxes imposed on the public. Akunis is also of the opinion that one of the ways to reduce prices is to abolish monopolies and duopolies, breaking up centralizations and encouraging competition in the Israeli market, also by reducing custom fees on imported products. His views on political and security issues place Akunis in the right wing of the Likud: he is opposed to the formula "two states for two nations" and perceives the Palestinians as an obstacle for peace in the Middle East. In the past he has proposed a 20 year long-term intermediate settlement, so that "the Palestinians born now will not be educated on the narrative of the right of return to Acre, Ramla, Lod, Jaffa and Ashkelon". Akunis is opposed to relinquishing the Occupied Territories and supports settlement in all parts of the country "with no disparity between the Golan, the Galil, the Negev or Yehuda and Shomron". Akunis believes that Israel has the historical and moral right to the territory under Israeli control, according to the teachings of Jabotinsky, "All Mine". MK Akunis supports the strategic alliance between Israel and the United States, but mentioned more than once that Israel is an independent State in its decisions. He has expressed support of the peace agreements with Jordan and Egypt.

Akunis, who sponsored the bill to limit foreign funding to Israeli human rights organization, stood behind Senator Joseph's McCarthy's actions in the 1950s. Speaking on December 5 on the "London and Kirshenbaum" television show on Israel's Channel 10, Akunis referenced Mccarthy– who in the 1950s presided over a committee that investigated Americans suspected of harboring Communist views – said "was right in every word, the fact is -there were Soviet agents.

On September 3, 2015, Akunis, who was responsible for the state broadcasting legislation, submitted and defended the clause barring journalists from the IBA from expressing their opinions on-air. After wide public protest and Prime-minister Netanyahu's retreat from supporting the clause, Akunis immediately gave in his responsibility and resigned.

Ofir Akunis is married to Adi and father of their two children. He is a resident of Tel Aviv-Yafo.[1]