29 Facts About Yossi Dagan

Yossi Dagan is an Israeli activist and politician who has been the head of the Shomron Regional Council since August 2015.

Yossi Dagan was a counselor in the Bnei Akiva youth movement, and later joined the youth division of the Moledet party, of which he eventually became the leader.

Yossi Dagan is a graduate of the first class of the Darkei Noam Yeshiva, and then continued his studies at the Shavei Shomron Yeshiva and Yeshivat Nir in Kiryat Arba.

Yossi Dagan is a leader of Homesh First, a grassroots organization dedicated to re-settling and re-building Homesh.

Yossi Dagan himself was a resident of Sanur, which was demolished and evacuated as part of the 2005 disengagement plan.

Yossi Dagan is married, and father to four small children.

Yossi Dagan has a bachelor's degree in law from the Ono Academic College and a master's degree in law from Bar-Ilan University, and is an accredited mediator.

Yossi Dagan served as an officer in the Israel Defense Forces, where he holds the rank of captain in the reserve forces.

Yossi Dagan became one of the leaders of the struggle against Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's Disengagement Program first proposed in 2003, that focused on ending the Israeli presence in the Gush Katif Jewish communities as well as in four Jewish communities in the Northern Shomron region.

Yossi Dagan served as deputy director of the "rebel faction" in the party that opposed the disengagement, and played an instrumental role in this faction's sweeping victory in the referendum.

When Sharon decided to implement the disengagement plan, despite the results of the referendum, Yossi Dagan led the struggle against the uprooting of Jewish communities in the Northern Shomron region.

Yossi Dagan continued his resistance until the final evacuation, during which he barricaded himself on the roof of an ancient fortress, together with his fellow residents in Sa-Nur, and figures such as Rabbi Dov Lior, Member of Knesset, Professor Aryeh Eldad, the former Member of Knesset Elyakim Haetzni, Member of Knesset Yehiel Hazan, and various religious leaders.

In 2008 Yossi Dagan was one of the founders of the "Samaria Residents Committee".

Yossi Dagan has been a member of the Likud Central Committee since 2012.

In 2007, Yossi Dagan was elected as a member of the General Assembly of the Shomron Regional Council, representing Shavei Shomron.

Yossi Dagan, who coined the phrase "the Jewish community movement's greatest enemy is ignorance," established the Shomron strategic information service that targeted both the Israeli and the foreign public.

Yossi Dagan is considered a key figure on the Israeli right, and has played crucial roles in political campaigns, including serving as a mediator between Prime Minister Netanyahu and Avigdor Lieberman in 2016.

Yossi Dagan's efforts resulted in Lieberman joining the government, thereby blocking the entrance of the Labor Party, then led by Isaac Herzog and Tzipi Livni.

Yossi Dagan took part in Trump's 2016 electoral campaign, and was active in promoting him among Israeli-Americans and Christian Evangelists, with whom he is well connected.

Yossi Dagan has met with official representatives of the American administration a number of times.

Yossi Dagan was active in actions of civil disobedience as a method of protesting the Disengagement Plan.

Yossi Dagan helped to organize the 2007 Yom Ha'atzmaut march to Homesh.

In 2013, Yossi Dagan helped to spearhead a public relations campaign focused on welcoming Israelis to the West Bank.

Yossi Dagan hoped to counter what he said were "radical left-wing Israeli groups" that promote hatred against settlements in Israel and Europe.

In 2016, Yossi Dagan acted as the mediator between Prime Minister Netanyahu and the residents of Amona in a crisis that developed around the evacuation of the Jewish community, and played a key role in the establishment of the new Jewish community Amihai.

In 2017, Yossi Dagan succeeded in thwarting the cabinet's decision to double the size of Qalqilya, a city in the Palestinian Authority near Kfar Saba.

Yossi Dagan exposed the plan, which had been kept secret from the ministers and the public, on Channel 12 news, causing a political uproar, after which it was shelved.

In November 2017, Yossi Dagan led a protest by local authorities together with bereaved families whose loved ones were murdered on West Bank roads in front of the Prime Minister's House, while going on hunger strike demanding that bypass roads be improved and the security components in the West Bank improved.

Yossi Dagan called on the government of Israel to retake and protect the Jewish holy place.