Pnina Tamano-Shata

Pnina Tamano-Shata (Hebrew: פְּנִינָה תַּמֶנוֹ־שֶׁטֶה‎; born 1 January 1981) is an Israeli lawyer, journalist, and politician. She is currently a member of the Knesset for the Blue and White alliance, and was the first Ethiopian-born woman to hold a Knesset seat.[1] She left Yesh Atid on 29 March 2020 and joined Blue and White.[2] On 15 May 2020 she became Israel's first Ethiopia-born minister in the unity government with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and incoming deputy prime minister Benny Gantz, taking the portfolio of the Ministry of Aliyah and Integration.[3] She was sworn in as leader of this department, also titled Minister of Immigrant Absorption, on 17 May 2020.[4]

Pnina Tamano-Shata
Date of birth (1981-01-01) 1 January 1981
Place of birthWuzaba, Ethiopia
Year of aliyah1984
Knessets19, 20, 21, 22, 23
Faction represented in Knesset
2013–2015Yesh Atid
2018–2019Yesh Atid
2019–Blue and White (Resilience)
Ministerial roles
2020–Minister of Immigrant Absorption

Early life

Tamano-Shata was born in Wuzaba, a village located near the city of Gondar in the Amhara Region of northern Ethiopia. Her family immigrated to Israel when she was three during the evacuation of the Ethiopian Jews from Sudan nicknamed Operation Moses.[1] She, her five brothers, and her father were among almost 7,000 Ethiopian Jews airlifted out of the country by Mossad to Israel between November 1984 and January 1985. Her mother followed several years later.[3]

She studied law at Ono Academic College at Kiryat Ono in the Tel Aviv District, and became Deputy Chairman of the national Ethiopian Student Association.[5]

From 2007 to 2012 she worked as a reporter for Channel 1.[6]

Political career

Prior to the 2013 Knesset elections, Tamano-Shata joined the new Yesh Atid party. Placed 14th on the party's list,[7] she became a Knesset member as the party won 19 seats. She was placed 13th on the party's list for the 2015 elections,[8] but lost her seat as the party was reduced to 11 seats.

On 9 February 2018, she returned to the Knesset as a replacement for Ya'akov Peri,[9] who had resigned following allegations that he had leaked information during a corruption investigation twenty years beforehand.[10] Prior to the April 2019 elections, Yesh Atid became part of the Blue and White, with Tamano-Shata placed 24th on the alliance's list. She was re-elected as Blue and White won 35 seats. She was re-elected again in the September 2019 elections. Following the March 2020 elections, she was appointed Minister of Aliyah and Integration, also known as Minister of Immigrant Absorption, becoming the first Ethiopian-born minister in the Israeli government.[11] She was officially sworn in on 17 May 2020.[4]

See also

References
  1. All the kingmaker’s men, and women Times of Israel, 23 January 2013
  2. Raoul Wootliff (29 March 2020). "Knesset panel okays breakup of Blue and White; Gantz keeps name". The Times of Israel. Retrieved 29 March 2020.
  3. "Israel gets first Ethiopia-born minister". BBC News. 2020-05-15. Retrieved 2020-05-15.
  4. https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/elections/.premium-israel-s-biggest-government-set-to-be-sworn-in-this-is-what-it-would-look-like-1.8845810
  5. The people we help: Pnina Archived 2011-12-18 at the Wayback Machine Jewish Community Federation
  6. Pnina Tamano-Shata: 1st female Ethiopian Israeli to make her way Archived 2013-02-17 at Archive.today FJN, 23 January 2013
  7. Yesh Atid Central Elections Committee
  8. Yesh Atid list Central Elections Committee
  9. Exchange of personalities in the 20th Knesset Knesset
  10. Yesh Atid MK Peri steps down amid misconduct allegations The Times of Israel, 7 February 2018
  11. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-52675585
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.