24 Facts About Tzipi Hotovely

Tzipura "Tzipi" Hotovely is an Israeli diplomat and former politician who serves as the current Ambassador of Israel to the United Kingdom.

Tzipi Hotovely served as Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, Minister of Diaspora Affairs, Minister of Settlement Affairs, and as a member of the Knesset for the Likud party.

Tzipi Hotovely was a doctoral student at the Faculty of Law in Tel Aviv University.

On 11 November 2008, Tzipi Hotovely announced that she was joining Likud, and would compete in the party's primaries for the 2009 Knesset elections.

Tzipi Hotovely won 18th place on the party's list, and became a member of the Knesset when Likud won 27 seats.

Tzipi Hotovely chaired the Knesset Committee on the Status of Women in the 18th Knesset, before joining the government at the beginning of the 19th Knesset in 2013.

In December 2011, Tzipi Hotovely gained media attention by sitting at the front of a Mehadrin bus used by some Haredim, where women are asked to sit at the back of the bus.

Tzipi Hotovely was re-elected in the 2013 elections, after winning fifteenth place on the joint Likud-Yisrael Beiteinu list, and was appointed Deputy Minister of Transportation and Road Safety in the new government.

Tzipi Hotovely was appointed Deputy Minister of Minister of Science and Technology in December 2014, after Yaakov Peri quit as the minister.

In January 2020, Tzipi Hotovely was nominated for Minister of Diaspora Affairs, but her nomination was put on hold pending Knesset approval.

Tzipi Hotovely was later sworn in as Minister of Settlement Affairs in the new government in May 2020.

On 9 November 2021, Tzipi Hotovely took part in a debate forum at the London School of Economics.

Tzipi Hotovely was evacuated under heavy security from the event after pro-Palestinian students and the LSE Islamic Society organised large protests against her presence.

Tzipi Hotovely practises Orthodox Judaism, and is a self-described "religious right-winger".

In 2013, Tzipi Hotovely rejected Palestinian statehood aspirations, supporting a Greater Israel spanning over the entire land of current Israel, along with the Palestinian territories.

Tzipi Hotovely later reiterated her position in a speech to Israeli diplomats on 22 May 2015, rejecting criticism from the international community regarding the West Bank settlement policies and saying that Israel has tried too hard to appease the world, and must stand up for itself.

Tzipi Hotovely justified her position as she referenced religious texts to back her belief that the Israeli-occupied West Bank belongs to the Jewish people.

Alongside fellow politician Avraham Michaeli, Tzipi Hotovely is one of the most prominent Georgian-Jewish politicians in Israel, and takes part in events to celebrate the Georgian-Jewish community.

In 2019, Tzipi Hotovely criticised the Board of Deputies of British Jews.

At her first event as ambassador with the Board of Deputies of British Jews in November 2021, Tzipi Hotovely described the Nakba as an "Arab lie".

Tzipi Hotovely had earlier sponsored in the Knesset groups deemed to be 'racist' who are opposed to mixed marriages; favours a one-state solution that withholds citizenship from West Bank Palestinians.

Tzipi Hotovely was strongly criticised for several of her remarks by Janner-Klausner.

On 27 May 2013, Tzipi Hotovely married Or Alon, a lawyer, in a wedding that had 2,500 guests.

Tzipi Hotovely gave birth to her first daughter in 2014, to her second in 2016, and to her third in 2018.