Ruhama Avraham

Ruhama Avraham Balila(Hebrew:רוחמה אברהם בלילא; born 29 January 1964) is anIsraeli politicianwho served as a member of theKnessetforLikudandKadimabetween 2003 and 2013. She also held the positions of  Deputy minister of interiorMinister of TourismandMinister without Portfolioresponsible for liaison with the Knesset and was in charge of the Israel's 60thIndependence Daycelebrations.
Avraham was born inRishon LeZion. Graduated from the Rakusin School inRamlain the field ofdrafting machines. She holds a B.A. inpolitical sciencefromBar-Ilan University. and anMBAfromPeres Academic Center, specializing in Organizational Management andHuman Resources).
She began her political career as an assistant toLikudgeneral managerAvigdor Liebermanin the early 1990s. In 1994–1999, she served as the bureau chief of theopposition leaderand later prime ministerBenjamin Netanyahu. She later served as a selection advisor to the Minister of National Infrastructures for Lieberman.
She ran in theLikudprimaries in 2003 and won 16th place in theKnessetelections, in which the Likud won 38 seats.
She served as Chairperson of the Sub-Committee forSmall and Medium Businesses, as well as a member of the KnessetFinance Committee, the Committee on the Status of Women, the Special Committee on Foreign Workers. As chairman of the Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises Committee, she initiated the establishment of the State-guaranteed Small Business Loans Fund, which is currently managed byBank Leumiand leveraged NIS 3 billion.
On 30 March 2005, she was appointed DeputyMinister of the Interiorby then-Prime MinisterAriel Sharon.
On 1 November,Army Radioreported that Avraham and the deputy minister of the interior were traveling toAgrexcoin the US with the funding of Agrexco. In August 2008, it was decided to close the case for lack of evidence.
At the end of 2005, Interior MinisterOphir Pinesresigned. Avraham, who served as Deputy Minister of Interior, received the powers of the Minister of the Interior. She became the acting interior minister until the end of the2006 election campaign. During her tenure as interior minister, the interior minister first came out with a municipal bond program that was implemented in the cities ofRamla,Yehud,EilatandRa'anana.
At the end of November 2005, she left the Likud faction and together with Ariel Sharon, the prime minister and another 12 MKs, established the Kadima party. She was placed in the 18th place on the list and was elected to the 17th Knesset.
With the establishment of the31st government of Israelheaded byEhud Olmert, Avraham was appointed chair of the House Committee, and in her position she directed a struggle to reduce the Arrangements Law – a law that would mean economic sanctions on the public, reducing it and canceling a quarter of its provisions. In addition, the most prominent law initiated by MK Avraham was the "Hot Meal for the Student Law", in which 250,000 students receive hot meals in schools
On 4 July 2007, as part of a round of government portfolios, Avraham was appointed to serve as the liaison between the government and the Knesset, which is responsible for the loneliness of the 60th anniversary of the State of Israel.IDFsoldiers by teenagers, and the main show on Independence Day, which was widely praised.
On 6 July 2008, the government approved its monopoly on the tourism minister. In her role as Tourism Minister she canceled the visa to their tourist from Ukraine opened a representative office of theMinistry of Tourismin China and crossed the tourist 3 million line.
In the elections to the 18th Knesset, she was elected sixth on the Kadima list and in this Knesset served as Deputy Speaker of the Knesset, Chairperson of the Lobby for Minors and Mid-sized Businesses, Chairperson of the Lobby forFood Security, Member of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee.
During her tenure as a member of the Knesset, she was considered a Knesset member whose social agenda is very close to her heart. It initiated a number of major laws, including:
Amendment to the Law and Administration Law:
The amendment provides that an agreement or government decision according to which the law, jurisdiction and administration of the State of Israel shall not apply to territory shall be subject to the approval of the Knesset and shall be brought to a referendum. The law also regulates the way to conduct a referendum.
An amendment to theComputers Lawthat prohibits the editing and transfer of software that causes damage to the computer or the computer material, even if there is no actual damage if the purpose is to penetrate the computer, to perform actions that result in false information or output or to carry out wiretapping.
Following the dissolution of the 18th Knesset, Avraham announced that she would not run for the19th Knesset.
Since 2017, she has served as an external director at Minrav and Canada's Ski Line.
Between 2013 and 2019 She also served as a strategic consultant to companies and organizations.
Since 2019 until the present she is serving as the acting General Manager of Real Estate Participations in Israel Ltd. (a subsidiary of the Jewish Agency for Israel).
She is divorced and a mother of two. She speaks Hebrew,Ladinoand English.She lives inPetah Tikva.