Michael Biton

Michael Biton was born in 1970 in Yeruham

Biton was born in Yeruham to Masuda and Eliyahu Biton, who had immigrated from Ouarzazate, Morocco. He was the youngest of 9 siblings. He studied at the Ohel Shlomo yeshiva high school in Beersheba and volunteered as a counselor in the Bnei Akiva movement.

He served in the Golani Brigade and became an officer, later reaching the rank of major in the reserves. He earned a BA in behavioral sciences from Ben-Gurion University of the Negev and an MA from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

After his army service he worked in education and youth programs in Yeruham. From 2000 to 2003 he ran the Yeruham community center, and from 2003 to 2005 he managed a Beersheba district of the Jewish Agency. In 2005 he founded the nonprofit Youth of Yeruham.

He was elected head of Yeruham in 2010 and re-elected in 2014 for the Labor Party. In 2015 he ran to head the Jewish National Fund and lost.

In 2019 he joined the Israel Resilience Party and entered the Knesset on the Blue and White list. He was appointed minister in the Ministry of Defense in May 2020 and later served as Minister of Strategic Affairs. He was re-elected in 2021 and 2022.