Avi Gabbay facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Avi Gabbay
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Gabbay in 2015
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| Ministerial roles | |
| 2015–2016 | Minister of Environmental Protection |
| Faction represented in the Knesset | |
| 2019 | Labor Party |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 22 February 1967 Jerusalem, Israel |
Avraham "Avi" Gabbay (Hebrew: אַבְרָהָם "אָבִי" גַּבַּאי, born February 22, 1967) is an Israeli businessman and politician. He was the CEO of a big phone company called Bezeq from 2007 to 2013. After that, he decided to get into politics. He served as the Minister of Environmental Protection from 2015 to 2016. He was part of the Kulanu political party then. Later, he was chosen to lead the Israeli Labor Party in 2017. He became a member of the Knesset (Israel's parliament) in April 2019. But he stepped down as leader soon after. He did not run in the September 2019 elections. After leaving politics, Gabbay went back to working in business. He is currently the CEO of Partner, another telecommunications company.
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Early Life and Education
Avi Gabbay was born in the Baka neighborhood of Jerusalem. He was the seventh of eight children. His parents, Moïse and Sara Gabbay, were Jewish immigrants from Morocco. They originally came from Casablanca. His father worked for Bezeq, the same company Avi would later lead. When he was young, Avi also worked at his father's company during school breaks.
He went to Geulim primary school. Then he attended high school at the Gymnasia Rehavia. After high school, he joined the Israel Defense Forces. He served in the Intelligence Corps and became a Lieutenant. After his military service, he went to the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. He earned a degree in economics and a master's degree in business.
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. He started as an assistant to the CEO. Soon after, he became the Vice President of Human Resources. Then he became the Vice President of Economics and Regulation. In 2003, he was made CEO of Bezeq International.
In 2007, he became the CEO of Bezeq. He stayed in this important role until 2013. During his 14 years at Bezeq, Gabbay became very successful. He earned a lot of money during this time. After leaving Bezeq, 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 phone company, Cellcom.
Journey in Politics
Joining the Kulanu Party
Before the 2015 elections, Avi Gabbay helped start a new political party called Kulanu. Even though he wasn't elected to the Knesset (Israel's parliament) at first, he was chosen for an important job. He became the Minister of Environmental Protection. This was part of the government led by Prime Minister Netanyahu.
On May 27, 2016, he decided to leave his government job. He resigned because he disagreed with a new appointment. He felt the government was moving too far to the right.
Leading the Labor Party
On December 29, 2016, Gabbay announced he would join the Israeli Labor Party. On March 4, 2017, he said he would run to be the leader of the Labor Party. This was unusual because he wasn't a member of the Knesset at the time.
In the first round of voting in July 2017, he came in second place. But in the second round, he won with 52.4% of the votes! Since he wasn't in the Knesset, he led the party from outside of parliament. Usually, the head of the biggest opposition party in the Knesset gets the title of Leader of the Opposition. But because Gabbay wasn't a Knesset member, the previous Labor leader, Isaac Herzog, kept that title for a while.
On January 1, 2019, Gabbay announced that the Zionist Union, a partnership with another party, was ending. In January 2019, his book Hakol Efshari ("Everything is Possible") was published.
Avi Gabbay's Views
Peace and the Israeli–Palestinian Conflict
Avi Gabbay supports a "two-state solution." This means creating a Palestinian state alongside Israel. He believes this Palestinian state should be demilitarized, meaning it wouldn't have an army. He also thinks certain areas, like Israeli settlement blocs and the Jordan Valley, should stay under Israeli control. He believes that Arab neighborhoods in East Jerusalem could become part of a Palestinian area.
He also thinks that any agreement with the Palestinians should be part of a bigger regional peace deal. This would help strengthen moderate Arab countries. He has said that there might not be a need to remove all Israeli settlements as part of a peace agreement. He believes in finding a solution that works for everyone.
Economy and Society
Gabbay supports spending more on social benefits and services. He wants to make government services more efficient. He believes in reducing the differences between central Israel and other areas. He also wants to reduce inequality between Jewish and Arab communities in education. He supports the public health system and wants to expand public health spending.
He believes that public transport can help reduce inequality. He supports investing a lot of money in public transportation. He wants to make it easier for everyone to get around. He also supports protecting all employees and linking wages to the cost of living.
To help with the high cost of living in Israel, he suggests increasing competition in markets. He also wants to reduce bureaucracy and make things simpler. To deal with rising housing prices, Gabbay proposes building many new homes quickly. He supports ideas for affordable housing.
Religion and State
Gabbay supports public transportation running on Shabbat (the Sabbath). He also thinks supermarkets and other places should be allowed to stay open on Shabbat. He supports Reform conversions and Civil marriage. He is also in favor of the Western Wall compromise. He is against too much religious influence in schools.
Education System
Gabbay wants to reform the education system. He believes that all different types of schools should be united into one main educational system.
LGBT Rights
Avi Gabbay has shown support for LGBT rights many times. He has even introduced laws to protect these rights.
Remembering the Holocaust
In February 2018, the Prime Minister of Poland made a statement about the Holocaust. He said that "there were Jewish perpetrators" of the Holocaust. Gabbay strongly disagreed with this. He said that Jews were victims and that Poles also played a part in the murders. He believed the Israeli government needed to speak up for the millions of murdered Jews and condemn the Polish Prime Minister's words.
Personal Life
Avi Gabbay lives in the Tel Baruch neighborhood of Tel Aviv. He is married to Ayelet. She 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 [Hakol Efshari] (ISBN: 978-965-564-780-8)
