Nitzan Horowitz
Nitzan Horowitz (; Transliterated: ; born 24 February 1965) is an Israeli politician and former journalist serving as Minister of Health since 2021. He is currently leader of Meretz. He previously was the chief U.S. correspondent and commentator for the Israeli News Company, known as Channel 2 News. Before rejoining television, he served two full terms in the Knesset (2009-2015) on the Meretz list. In 2013, he ran for mayor of Tel Aviv. Before being elected to the Knesset, he was the Foreign Affairs commentator and head of the International desk at Hadashot 10, the news division of Channel  10. In June 2019, he won the Meretz leadership election, and currently serves as leader of the party and as the Minister of Health. Early life. Horowitz was born in Rishon LeZion in 1965. He graduated from Tel Aviv University Law School, and began working as a journalist. He supported the International Criminal Court probe into Israel's alleged war crimes. Journalism career. In his early career, he served as a Military Affairs reporter during the latter phase of the 1982 Lebanon war, as well as the International News editor at Army Radio between 1983 and 1987. In 1987, he  began working at the "Hadashot" newspaper as the Foreign Affairs editor. In 1989, he started his career at "Haaretz", as the Foreign Affairs Editor. He served as "Haaretz" correspondent in Paris between 1993 and 1998, covering also the European Union, and as "Haaretz" correspondent in Washington, D. C., from 1998 until 2001. Back in Israel, Horowitz was the chief foreign affairs columnist for "Haaretz". When Hadashot 10 began broadcasting on January 2002, Horowitz established its international desk. His work there included creating major documentary films following the tsunami disaster in eastern Asia and the failed manhunt after Osama Bin Laden  in Afghanistan, and regular appearances on Hadashot 10's current affairs show, "London et Kirschenbaum", for which he provided reports and analysis of global news. In 2008, Horowitz created and directed a documentary series for Channel 10, titled "WORLD: The Next Generation – Nitzan Horowitz in search of tomorrow". The series follows major phenomena and trends that could shape the future of the world in the coming decades, including the ageing crisis, urban sustainability, immigration, construction and industrial development in China, and the hi-tech revolution in India. Horowitz served as a board member of the Association for Civil Rights in  Israel. He was also active in environmental issues, and in 2007, he received the "Pratt Prize" for Environmental Journalism. Political career. In December 2008, he resigned from Channel 10 and became a Meretz candidate for the 2009 elections. In the party primaries, he gained the third slot on the joint list of the New Movement and Meretz. He said: "My goal is to continue to do what I have been talking about over the past years, from protecting the seashore to promoting more sophisticated, non-polluting public transportation." Meretz won three seats in the elections, making Horowitz the second openly  gay Knesset member in Israeli history, and the only openly gay member of the eighteenth Knesset. The first, Uzi Even, also was a member of Meretz. On 16 February 2009, he announced a plan to bring to the Knesset a bill that would allow marriages or civil unions between two partners, regardless of their religion, ethnic background, or gender. Before being sworn into the Knesset, he was told to annul his Polish citizenship, which he had obtained due to his father's origins and had used as a journalist to enter countries Israelis have difficulty entering. In 2009, he announced  that he would boycott all the events in Pope Benedict XVI's visit to Israel, saying that in his opinion, the pope bears a message of "rigidness, religious extremism, and imperviousness. Of all the Pope's injustices, the worst is his objection to disseminating contraceptives in Third World countries. It's hard to assess how many miserable men and women in Africa, Asia, and South America have contracted AIDS because of this Philistine attitude, but we are talking about many". He also published a two-part opinion piece on Ynetnews explaining his position. Horowitz was re-elected to the Knesset  in the January 2013 elections. In October 2013, he ran for mayor of Tel Aviv against long-time incumbent Ron Huldai. He lost, receiving 38% of the vote to Huldai's 53%. In 2014, he was given the Outstanding Parliamentarian Award by the Israel Democracy Institute. He did not stand in the 2015 elections. In June 2019, Horowitz successfully challenged incumbent Tamar Zandberg for the leadership of Meretz, which made Meretz the first Israeli party to elect an openly gay person as its leader. Horowitz led the party during the September 2019 Israeli legislative election. In 2021, he became Minister  of Health in Naftali Bennett's cabinet. He resigned his Knesset seat under the Norwegian Law and was replaced by Michal Rozin. He was responsible for banning conversion therapy using a circular in February 2022. He also supports Bernie Sanders, who calls for the conditioning of aid to Israel, as noted in his speeches to the far-left Jewish movement J-Street; and has been criticized for his criticism of Israel. He is also the cause of recent coalition crisis in the Bennett-Lapid government; having fought to have hametz, leaven or food mixed with leaven, prohibited during Passover, in  the hospitals of Israel in an attempt of secular coercion. Yamina MK Idit Silman took this provocative attack as the final straw and left the coalition leaving it empty of a majority and unable to pass legislation. Personal life. Horowitz is openly gay and is the first party leader in Israel to be so; something that many Israelis take offence to due to its forbidden status in Jewish law He resides in Tel Aviv with his life partner.