1. Amichai "Ami" Ayalon is an Israeli politician and a former member of the Knesset for the Labor Party.
25 Facts About Ami Ayalon
1. 2.
Ami Ayalon was previously head of the Shin Bet, Israel's secret service, and commander-in-chief of the Navy.
3.
Ami Ayalon came in second to Ehud Barak in a Labor party leadership election in June 2007, and was appointed a Minister without Portfolio in September 2007.
4.
Ami Ayalon is one of the recipients of Israel's highest decoration, the Medal of Valor.
5.
Ami Ayalon enlisted in 1963 and volunteered for the Shayetet 13 navy commando unit.
6.
Ami Ayalon stormed the position from which he was fired upon and injured as a result, killing two Egyptian soldiers and neutralizing the post.
7.
In 1979, Ami Ayalon was appointed commander of Shayetet 13, and was decorated for carrying out a long list of operations without casualties.
8.
Ami Ayalon, receiving the rank of major general, served as commander of the Israeli Navy from 1992 through 1996.
9.
On 25 June 2003, Ami Ayalon launched, together with Palestinian professor Sari Nusseibeh, a peace initiative called "The People's Voice".
10.
Ami Ayalon managed to outrage many left-wing activists when he said that only Ariel Sharon and the Likud could bring peace.
11.
Ami Ayalon took part in the "Mateh HaRov" demonstration in support of the withdrawal from the Gaza Strip, and made a very critical speech against the Israeli peace camp.
12.
In 2006, Ami Ayalon was elected to the Knesset on the Israeli Labor Party's list, but was not given a position in the cabinet when Labor entered a coalition with Kadima.
13.
In January 2007, public opinion polls showed Ami Ayalon leading the race, followed by former Prime Minister Ehud Barak and Ophir Pines-Paz.
14.
In September 2007, Ami Ayalon was appointed to the Israeli cabinet as a Minister without Portfolio and later became a member of the security cabinet.
15.
Ami Ayalon was appointed chairman of the Knesset State Control Committee, which is responsible for implementing the recommendations outlined in the state comptroller's report on the performance of the Home Front Command during the 2006 Lebanon War.
16.
On 16 November 2008, Ami Ayalon announced he would be leaving the Labor Party for the left-wing religious Meimad party.
17.
In 2012, Ami Ayalon featured in a documentary film The Gatekeepers directed by Dror Moreh and discussed the main events of his tenure in the Shin Bet.
18.
Ami Ayalon is a senior fellow at the Israel Democracy Institute.
19.
Amihai Ayalon was born in Tiberias, and grew up in kibbutz Ma'agan.
20.
Ami Ayalon's parents moved to the British Mandatory Palestine in the 1930s.
21.
Ami Ayalon's mother, born in Cluj, Transylvania, Romania, came as a young girl to study in Jerusalem; his father, Yitzhak, emigrated illegally from Transylvania, Romania, and was one of the founders of Ma'agan, where he worked until retirement as a carpenter.
22.
Ami Ayalon graduated from Bar-Ilan University with a Bachelor of Arts in 1980.
23.
In 2024, in an interview, Ami Ayalon said: "If I were a Palestinian, I would fight those who occupied my land".
24.
Ami Ayalon has emphasized several times in interviews with Arabic and other foreign media: "Israelis cannot blame the Palestinians for their resistance to the occupation, and if I were a Palestinian, I would fight endlessly against those who are looting my land".
25.
Ami Ayalon, who headed the Shabak between 1996 and 2000, explained that in 1948, Israel was established in the occupied Palestinian territories, which displaced hundreds of thousands of Palestinians.