Matan Vilnai

Matan Vilnai was born in 1944 in Jerusalem

Vilnai was born in Jerusalem in 1944. His father was Zev Vilnay, a scholar of the geography of the Land of Israel. He studied at the Rehavia Gymnasium and later at the military boarding school by the Hebrew Reali School in Haifa.

He holds a B.A. in history from Tel Aviv University. He also studied at the IDF Command and Staff College and the National Security College, and was a research fellow at Harvard and Johns Hopkins.

He joined the IDF in 1962 and served in the Paratroopers and Sayeret Matkal. He was deputy commander of the Entebbe operation, then headed the Manpower Directorate and Southern Command and became Deputy Chief of Staff. He left the army in July 1998.

In 1999 he joined the Labor Party and became Minister of Science, Culture and Sport. He later held other ministerial posts and became Deputy Minister of Defense in 2007. In 2011 he helped found the Independence party and became Minister for the Home Front.

From 2012 to 2017 he was Israel's ambassador to China. He later became president of the Israel-Asia Chamber of Commerce. He lives in Mevasseret Zion and is married with 3 children.