Ofir Sofer (Hebrew: אופיר סופר, born 1 August 1975) is an Israeli politician. He is currently the Minister of Aliyah and Integration and a member of the Knesset for the National Religious Party–Religious Zionism.
Ofir Sofer | |
|---|---|
| אופיר סופר | |
 Official portrait, 2023 | |
| Ministerial roles | |
| 2022– | Minister of Aliyah and Integration |
| Faction represented in the Knesset | |
| 2019 | Union of Right-Wing Parties |
| 2019 | Yamina |
| 2019–2020 | Jewish Home–Tkuma |
| 2020–2021 | Yamina |
| 2021 | Likud |
| 2021– | Mafdal–Religious Zionism |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 1 August 1975 Alma, Israel |
| Spouse | Adina |
| Children | 7 |
Sofer is a former IDF major and is considered a disabled veteran. Afterwards he worked at the Ministry for the Development of the Periphery, the Negev and the Galilee.[1]
Political career
editIn 2014, he became secretary general of the Orthodox-nationalist Tkuma party.[2] When the party joined the Union of Right-Wing Parties alliance for the April 2019 Knesset elections, Sofer was placed fourth on the alliances' list, and entered the Knesset when it won five seats.[3] During the 2021 election he ran in Likud list for the Knesset, as a member of Atid Ehad party, using it as a shelf party. On 14 June he split from Likud and merged with the Religious Zionist Party, after the swearing-in of the 36th government.[4][5] The split was not officially approved until 27 June.[6]
Ahead of the 2022 election, Sofer was given the third spot on a joint list between the Religious Zionist Party and Otzma Yehudit,[7] and was re-elected to the Knesset as a result. On 29 December 2022, Sofer was appointed Minister of Aliyah and Integration in the new government.[1]
Personal life
editSofer is married, has 7 children,[8] and lives in Tefahot, a religious moshav in Northern Israel.
He is of Tunisian-Jewish descent.
References
edit- ^ a b "Ofir Sofer". Knesset. Retrieved 12 January 2023.
- ^ "'All cities in the Galilee will become mixed'". Israel National News. 15 July 2018. Retrieved 13 April 2019.
- ^ "Here's the Full List of Israeli Lawmakers – and Only a Quarter Are Women". Haaretz. 8 April 2019. Retrieved 13 April 2019.
- ^ "Official: Ofir Sofer returns to the Religious Zionist Party". Srugim (in Hebrew). 14 June 2021.
- ^ "Ophir Sofer returns, Yamina waiting for Shai Maimon". Arutz 7 (in Hebrew). 14 June 2021.
- ^ @IsraelexLive (27 June 2021). "Ofir Sofer's request has been approved. He is now a Religious Zionist MK rather than a Likud MK. This reduces the size of the Likud's Knesset faction to 29, and increases the RZP's to 7" (Tweet). Retrieved 28 June 2021 – via Twitter.
- ^ "רשימת הציונות הדתית-עוצמה יהודית לבחירות לכנסת ה-25". www.maariv.co.il. Retrieved 12 January 2023.
- ^ Harkov, Lahav (22 April 2019). "Meet the New MK: Ofir Sofer, URP". The Jerusalem Post. Retrieved 13 December 2020.
External links
edit- Ofir Sofer on the Knesset website