Meet the new Diaspora Affairs minister, Amichai Chikli

Likud Knesset Member Amichai Chikli will serve as Israel’s diaspora affairs minister and social equity minister in the new government of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Chikli, 41, is a member of Kibbutz Hannaton in northern Israel, not far from Nazareth, and is the son of Conservative Rabbi Eitan Chikli.

After serving in the elite Golani Brigade and the Shayetet 13 naval unit as a company commander, the Likud member became an educator and social media influencer.

His political career began with Naftali Bennett’s Yamina party in 2021, but soon came to an end when he was unable to support the rotation of two political parties, or a coalition which included Arab members.

Labeled as a rebel, Chikli often took the side of the opposition, voting against his own party 754 times. Being given the title of “retiree” by Yamina, he was forced to resign from the Knesset before he could eventually run under the Likud party.

Chikli has expressed concerns over the “woke” atmosphere on many campuses abroad and said he aspires, in his new position, to bring a greater understanding of the different streams of Judaism, in an effort to unite what he sees as a fractured Jewish community outside of Israel.