Moshe Gafni

Moshe Gafni was born in 1952 in Tel Aviv

Gafni was born in Tel Aviv on 5 May 1952. His parents were born in Poland and were Gur Hasidim. He finished high school at the Bnei Akiva yeshiva in Raanana in 1971 and later studied at the Slabodka and Grodno yeshivas.

He received a deferral of military service as a full-time Torah student. After marrying, he moved to Ofakim, where he helped found the Haredi community, headed the Zichron Eliyahu kollel and sat on the local council. He also wrote for the newspaper Yated Ne'eman.

Gafni entered the Knesset on the Degel HaTorah list in 1988 and became Deputy Minister of Religious Affairs in 1990. In the 1990s he served partial terms under rotation deals within United Torah Judaism, and he has served without a break since 1999. He later chaired the Interior Committee, the Science and Technology Committee and, from April 2009 with interruptions, the Finance Committee.

He initiated 49 private bills that became law, including measures on clean air and tax benefits for residents near Gaza. In July 2025 he announced that Degel HaTorah would leave the coalition over the draft law. In September 2026 the party decided not to include him on its list for the next election, while asking him to remain party chairman.

Gafni lives in Bnei Brak. He is married to Hana and has two sons and a daughter.