Amnon Cohen

Amnon Cohen was born in 1960 in Samarkand

Amnon Cohen was born on 1 June 1960 in Samarkand, then part of the Soviet Union and today in Uzbekistan. He immigrated to Israel in 1973. He studied at a yeshiva, trained in mechanics, and from age 16 worked while attending evening high school.

He earned a BA in business administration at the academic center in Kiryat Ono. He also took a two-year course at the Institute for Local Government at Bar-Ilan University.

He joined the IDF in 1987 and served as a company sergeant major in a paratroop Nahal battalion. Before and after his service he worked at a Beit Shemesh engine factory, then moved to private business and politics.

From 1998 he was acting mayor of Ramla and headed the city's prisoner rehabilitation group. Elected to the Knesset for Shas in 1999, he chaired the Public Petitions, State Control and Economic Affairs committees and served as Deputy Speaker. He initiated laws on bank fees, used car sales and road sign transliteration.

He left politics in 2015 and in 2016 briefly headed the Standards Institution of Israel. He was investigated for corruption after a 2016 television report, which he denied, and the case was closed in 2021. He lives in Rehovot, is married to Pnina and has 4 children.