19 Facts About Ze'ev Elkin

Ze'ev Elkin is an Israeli politician who currently serves as a Member of the Knesset for the New Hope Party.

Ze'ev Elkin was previously a member of the Knesset for Kadima, Likud and the National Unity Party and served as Minister of Jerusalem Affairs, Minister of Housing and Construction, Minister of Immigrant Absorption, Minister of Environmental Protection, Minister of Higher Education and Minister of Water Resources.

Ze'ev Elkin studied mathematics and physics at Kharkiv University from 1987 to 1990, earning a BA in mathematics.

Ze'ev Elkin founded the Association of Hebrew and Jewish Teachers during his time at university.

Ze'ev Elkin studied at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, gaining a BA in history in 1994 and an MA in history in the same year.

Later, Ze'ev Elkin was involved in academic Jewish and medieval studies; in particular, he studied the works of Saadia Gaon.

Ze'ev Elkin was involved in Jewish education in the countries of the former Soviet Union.

Ze'ev Elkin was elected to the 17th Knesset in 2006 as a member of Kadima and chaired the subcommittee on the absorption of immigrant children and youth.

Ze'ev Elkin subsequently joined Likud, and won twentieth place on its list for the 2009 elections.

Ze'ev Elkin retained his seat as Likud won 27 mandates.

Ze'ev Elkin served as Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs between March 2013 and June 2014, and then became Chairman of the Knesset's Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee.

Ze'ev Elkin was placed eighth on the Likud list for the 2015 elections, and was re-elected when Likud won 30 seats.

Ze'ev Elkin surrendered the Strategic Affairs post after only 11 days, when Prime Minister Netanyahu appointed Gilad Erdan Minister of Public Security, Strategic Affairs, and Public Diplomacy on 24 May 2015.

Ze'ev Elkin demanded the Minister of Jerusalem Affairs portfolio as compensation for losing Strategic Affairs.

On 30 May 2016, Ze'ev Elkin lost the portfolio of Minister of Immigrant Absorption to Sofa Landver of Yisrael Beiteinu.

Ze'ev Elkin ran for the Jerusalem mayoralty in the 2018 local elections on the "Jerusalem Will Succeed" list.

Ze'ev Elkin was re-elected to the Knesset in April 2019, September 2019 and March 2020.

Ze'ev Elkin resigned from the government as Minister of Water Resources and Higher Education, left Likud and joined Gideon Sa'ar's party, New Hope, on 23 December 2020.

Ze'ev Elkin was placed third on the list for the March 2021 elections and regained his seat in the Knesset as New Hope won six seats.