2013–2015 Labor Party | Name Itzik Shmuli Role Israeli Politician | |
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Date of birth (1980-02-08) 8 February 1980 (age 35) Knessets Israeli legislative election, 2013, Israeli legislative election, 2015 Profiles | ||
Itzik Shmuli on the Social Justice Protests
Itzik Shmuli (Hebrew: איציק שמולי; born 8 February 1980) is an Israeli politician who currently serves as a member of the Knesset for the Zionist Union. He is a former leader of the National Union of Israeli Students.
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Biography
Shmuli was born in Tel Aviv. During his national service in the Israel Defense Forces he became a sergeant major. He gained a BEd in special education and in social-community education.
In 2011 Itzik Shmuli was one of the ledersd of the Israeli social justice protests.
In the 2013 elections he was elected to the Knesset on the Labor Party list. Still serving as a reservist in the Armored Corps, he had to miss his first planned speech in the Knesset after being called up for reserve duty in his tank unit. During his first term in the Knesset he was a member of the Economic Affairs Committee and an alternative member of the Special Committee for the Equal Sharing of the Burden Bill and the Special Committee for the Enforcement of the Security Service Law and the National-Civilian Service Law. He was a member of seventeen lobbies, chairing eight of them, including the Lobby for the encouragement, strengthening, and support of discharged soldiers and the Lobby for the Fight against `Price Tag` Acts and the Prevention of Harm to IDF Soldiers.
He took the third spot on the Labour Party list in primary elections held on 13 January 2015, which put him to the fifth spot on the Zionist Union list for the 2015 Knesset elections In his second term in the Knesset he became chair of the Subcommittee for cruelty towards animals and a member of six committees, including the Education, Culture, and Sports Committee and the Labor, Welfare and Health Committee. He joined 34 lobby groups, chairing eight of them, including the Lobby for Lone Soldiers.
On 31 July 2015, after a stabbing at the Jerusalem gay pride parade, Shmuli came out as gay. He was the only open gay MK until Amir Ohana from Likud was sworn in as the replacement for minister and MK Silvan Shalom, who resigned after a sexual harassment scandal.