Avi Gabbay facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Avi Gabbay
|
|
|---|---|
|
אָבִי גַּבַּאי
|
|
.jpg)
Gabbay in 2015
|
|
| Ministerial roles | |
| 2015–2016 | Minister of Environmental Protection |
| Faction represented in the Knesset | |
| 2019 | Labor Party |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 22 February 1967 Jerusalem, Israel |
Avi Gabbay, born on February 22, 1967, is an Israeli businessman and politician. He used to be the boss (CEO) of a big phone company called Bezeq. Later, he decided to get involved in politics.
He served as the Minister of Environmental Protection from 2015 to 2016. He was part of the Kulanu political party then. In 2017, he was chosen to lead the Israeli Labor Party. He became a member of the Knesset (Israel's parliament) in April 2019. However, he stepped down as leader soon after. He did not run in the elections held in September 2019. After leaving politics, Avi Gabbay went back to working in business. He is currently the CEO of Partner, another telecommunications company.
Contents
Early Life and Education
Avi Gabbay grew up in the Baka neighborhood of Jerusalem. He was the seventh of eight children. His parents, Moïse and Sara Gabbay, were Jewish immigrants from Morocco. His father worked for Bezeq, and Avi even helped out there during his school breaks.
He went to Geulim primary school and then to Gymnasia Rehavia for high school. After finishing school, he joined the Israel Defense Forces (IDF). He served in the Intelligence Corps and became a Lieutenant. After his military service, he studied economics and business at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
Avi Gabbay started his career working for the Ministry of Finance for about four and a half years.
Business Career Highlights
In 1998, Avi Gabbay joined Bezeq, the company where his father worked. He started as an assistant to the CEO. Soon, he became the Vice President of Human Resources. After that, he was promoted to Vice President of Economics and Regulation.
In 2003, he became the CEO of Bezeq International. Then, in 2007, he was appointed the CEO of Bezeq itself. He stayed in this important role until 2013. During his 14 years at Bezeq, Avi Gabbay earned a lot of money. After leaving Bezeq and before entering politics, he tried to buy El Al, Israel's national airline, but it didn't work out. In January 2020, Gabbay became the CEO of another telecommunications company, Cellcom.
Political Journey
Joining the Kulanu Party
Before the 2015 elections for the Knesset, Avi Gabbay helped start a new political party called Kulanu. Even though he wasn't elected to the Knesset, he was chosen to be the Minister of Environmental Protection in the government led by Prime Minister Netanyahu.
On May 27, 2016, he decided to resign from the government. He did this to protest the appointment of Avigdor Lieberman as the Minister of Defense. Gabbay felt this move shifted the government too far to the right.
Leading the Labor Party
On December 29, 2016, Avi Gabbay announced he would join the Israeli Labor Party. On March 4, 2017, he said he would run for the leadership of the party. This was unusual because he wasn't a member of the Knesset at the time.
The election for the Labor Party leader happened in July 2017. In the first round, another candidate, Amir Peretz, came first. Avi Gabbay came second. In the second round, on July 10, Gabbay won with 52.4% of the votes. Since he wasn't a Knesset member, he led the party from outside the parliament. Usually, the head of the biggest opposition party in the Knesset gets the title of Leader of the Opposition. However, Isaac Herzog, the previous Labor Party leader, kept that title.
In January 2019, Avi Gabbay announced that the Zionist Union, a political alliance, was ending its partnership. In the same month, his autobiography, Hakol Efshari (meaning "Everything is Possible"), was published.
Political Views and Ideas
Israeli–Palestinian Conflict
Avi Gabbay supports a "two-state solution." This means creating a Palestinian state alongside Israel. He believes the Palestinian state should be demilitarized, meaning it wouldn't have an army. He also thinks that Israeli settlement areas and the Jordan Valley should stay under Israeli control.
He suggested that Arab neighborhoods in East Jerusalem could become part of a Palestinian area. He also believes that Palestinian refugees should receive money as compensation. Gabbay sees a peace agreement with Palestinians as part of a bigger regional deal. This deal would help strengthen moderate Arab countries against Iran. He also thinks the IDF should stay along the Jordan River until the conflict is solved.
In October 2017, he said that settlements might not need to be removed as part of an agreement. He later clarified that he supports the two-state solution. He believes that building new homes should stop in isolated settlements. He wants money to be used for larger settlement areas and other parts of Israel instead.
After President Donald Trump recognized Jerusalem as Israel's capital, Gabbay said that "undivided Jerusalem" was more important than a political deal with Palestinians. However, he had previously explained that "undivided Jerusalem" did not include Arab neighborhoods on the outskirts of Jerusalem. In January 2018, he stated that if talks with Palestinians fail, Israel might need to act alone. He said this plan might not require removing settlements.
Economy and Society
Avi Gabbay supports spending more money on social benefits and services. He also wants the government to be more efficient. He aims to reduce the differences between central Israel and less developed areas. He also wants to reduce inequality between Jews and Arabs in the education system. He is against public school teachers being hired through outside companies.
He supports the public health system and wants to increase public health spending. He believes public transport can help reduce inequality. He supports investing a lot more money in public transport over ten years. He prefers public transportation over private cars for infrastructure.
Gabbay supports better protection for all workers. He wants wages to be linked to the cost of living. He also thinks soldiers in combat units should earn at least the minimum wage. He believes the tax system should be fair to help reduce inequality. To lower the cost of living in Israel, he suggests more competition in markets and less bureaucracy. He also wants competition among kosher food agencies. To deal with rising housing prices, Gabbay proposes building many new homes quickly. He supports affordable housing models and wants to make the building process faster.
Religion and State
Avi Gabbay supports public transportation running on Shabbat (the Jewish day of rest). He also believes supermarkets and entertainment places should be allowed to stay open on Shabbat. He supports Reform conversions and Civil marriage. He also supports the Western Wall compromise. He is against too much religious influence in schools. However, he has said that forcing Ultra-Orthodox Jews to join the army is not realistic.
Education System
Gabbay has called for changes in the education system. He wants all different types of education for each group to be combined into one system.
LGBT Rights
Avi Gabbay has shown support for LGBT rights many times. He has even introduced a package of 24 laws to protect these rights.
Holocaust Remembrance
In February 2018, the Prime Minister of Poland said that "there were Jewish perpetrators" of the Holocaust. Avi Gabbay strongly criticized these words. He said that millions of Jews were murdered in the Holocaust and that Poles took an active part in their murder. He urged the Israeli government to speak out against the Polish prime minister's statement.
Personal Life
Avi Gabbay lives in the Tel Baruch neighborhood of Tel Aviv. He is married to Ayelet, who moved to Israel from Australia. Ayelet used to work in high-tech. Now, she is a teaching coordinator and an English teacher at a high school in Tel Aviv. They have three sons. His family is described as usually voting for the Likud party. Avi Gabbay enjoys sports and has run in several marathons.
Published Works
In Hebrew
- Everything is possible, Yediot Ahronot, 2019 (ISBN: 978-965-564-780-8)
