Aryeh Azulai

Aryeh Azulai was born in 1933 in Fez

Azulai was born in Fez, Morocco, in 1933. As a youth he belonged to the Habonim movement and later headed its national leadership in Morocco. He moved to Israel with his wife in April 1955 and joined Kibbutz Dorot.

At Kibbutz Bror Hayil he became the first member to study at a university, earning a degree in history and literature. He helped found the Sha'ar HaNegev school and later left for Ashdod to pursue a master's degree. He also held a doctorate in Jewish studies from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

He served on missions abroad for Habonim and the Jewish Agency, in Argentina, Paris and France. In 1973 he founded and ran the Makif Gimmel high school in Ashdod, leading it until 1983.

In 1983 he was elected mayor of Ashdod for the Labor Party and served one term until 1989. During his term the city expanded south, and in 1986 he founded the Ashdod Foundation. That year he was arrested in a bribery investigation, and the case was later closed for lack of evidence.

He later headed the Jewish Agency's aliyah and absorption department. In 2007 he was appointed chairman of the appointed committee of Ofakim and resigned in 2008. He died on 3 October 2025.