Danny Danon

Danny Danon was born in 1971 in Ramat Gan

Danon was born in Ramat Gan to Joseph and Yoheved Danon. His father was born in Egypt, moved to Israel in 1950, and was badly wounded in the Jordan Valley during the War of Attrition. Danon attended Blich High School and was active in the Betar youth movement.

He served in the IDF from 1989 to 1993 as an officer in the Education Corps. He was then sent to Florida by the Jewish Agency as an emissary. He earned a bachelor's degree in international affairs from Florida International University and a master's degree in public policy from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

Back in Israel he advised MK Uzi Landau and later chaired the World Betar Movement. In 2006 he was elected chairman of World Likud, and in 2007 he ran against Benjamin Netanyahu for the Likud leadership.

Danon entered the Knesset in 2009 and served as Deputy Speaker and as chair of committees on children's rights and on immigration. He became Deputy Minister of Defense in 2013 and was dismissed by Netanyahu in July 2014 after criticizing a proposed ceasefire with Hamas. In 2015 he was appointed Minister of Science, Technology and Space.

In 2015 he became Israel's Permanent Representative to the United Nations, and in 2016 he was elected chair of the UN's Legal Committee. He left the post in 2020, returned to the Knesset in the 2022 election, and went back to the UN in August 2024.