Ksenia Svetlova

Ksenia Svetlova was born in 1977 in Moscow

Svetlova was born in Moscow in 1977. In 1991 she immigrated to Israel with her mother and lived in Jerusalem, where she attended the Tzvia school for girls.

She earned bachelor's and master's degrees in Islamic and Middle Eastern studies at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. She speaks Russian, Hebrew, English and Arabic.

In 2002 she joined the Russian language channel Israel Plus as a commentator on Arab affairs. She also wrote for outlets including the Jerusalem Post, Haaretz and the BBC Russian Service, and interviewed Yasser Arafat, Ahmed Yassin and Mahmoud Abbas. Her Russian citizenship allowed her to travel widely in the Arab world.

Before the 2015 elections she joined the Zionist Union in the 21st place, a slot of Hatnuah led by Tzipi Livni, and was elected when the list won 24 seats. She gave up her Russian citizenship to enter the Knesset. She served on the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee and the Aliyah and Absorption Committee and chaired caucuses, including one on ties with the Kurdish people.

In January 2019 she announced she would not run for the 21st Knesset. Her book about her work as a journalist in the Middle East was published in 2020. She serves as executive director of the nonprofit ROPES.