Ilana Cohen

Ilana Cohen was born in 1943 in Iraq

Cohen was born in Iraq in 1943 under the name Soham. Her father was executed in Iraq when she was 2 weeks old. She immigrated to Israel in 1949 and studied at the Onim school and at the Ben Shemen and Hadassim youth villages.

In 1965 she qualified as a nurse at the Assaf Harofeh hospital nursing school. She then became head nurse in the hospital's internal medicine ward.

She took part in nurses' struggles in 1978, 1986 and 1988. During the 1988 strike she went on a hunger strike for 15 days. From the early 1990s she chaired the Nurses' Union.

In 2003 she was elected to the Knesset for One Nation, which merged into the Labor Party in 2005. Her work there focused on health, workers' rights and the status of nurses. She left the Knesset in 2006 after deciding to retire from politics.

After leaving the Knesset she was again elected head of the Nurses' Union and served until December 2024. She lived in Rishon LeZion, was married to Yossi Cohen and had 3 children. She died on 21 June 2026.