Amichai Eliyahu

Amichai Eliyahu was born in 1979 in Jerusalem

Eliyahu was born in Jerusalem in 1979 and grew up in Shlomi and Safed. He is the eldest son of Rabbi Shmuel Eliyahu and the grandson of Rabbi Mordechai Eliyahu, a former Sephardi Chief Rabbi of Israel.

He studied at the Netivot Yosef high school yeshiva and at the Safed hesder yeshiva. He served as a combat soldier in the Paratroopers Brigade, and later studied at the Ateret Nehemia yeshiva.

From 2009 to 2013 he taught at the Hispin high school yeshiva. In 2014 he founded Igud Rabbanei Kehilot, a group of community rabbis, and led it until 2022. In 2016 he founded Tzav Echad, which works for religiously observant soldiers.

He ran for the Knesset in 2019 without being elected. In 2022 he entered the Knesset for Otzma Yehudit and became Minister of Heritage, then left the Knesset under the Norwegian Law. He resigned from the government in January 2025 over the ceasefire deal and returned as minister in March 2025.

In November 2023 he said in a radio interview that a nuclear bomb on Gaza was one option, later calling it metaphorical. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu suspended him from cabinet meetings. He is married and lives in Rimonim.