Politicsנסים זאב

Nissim Ze'ev

Nissim Ze'ev is an Israeli politician, one of the founders of Shas, who was deputy mayor of Jerusalem from 1983 to 1998 and a Knesset member from 1999 to 2015.

born 1951Co-founding the Shas partyDeputy mayor of JerusalemOpposing settlement evacuations

Born: 9 September 1951, Jerusalem
Occupation: politician
Party: Shas

Nissim Ze'ev was born in 1951 in Jerusalem

Nissim Ze'ev was born in Jerusalem on 9 September 1951. His parents, Yosef Haim and Juliette Ze'ev, were born in Baghdad, Iraq. He studied at Porat Yosef Yeshiva and was ordained as a rabbi.

In 1968 he founded Torah youth clubs in memory of the soldiers lost on the INS Eilat. He worked as a rabbi and shochet in Ein HaEmek, then abroad in Mexico City and in Brooklyn, New York. In 1979 he founded the Nevat Israel institutions for Sephardic girls in Jerusalem.

In 1983 he turned to Rabbi Ovadia Yosef to support a new party, which became Shas, and he was chosen as its chairman. He headed its list in Jerusalem, where it won 3 seats. He served as deputy mayor in charge of welfare from 1983 to 1998 and ran for mayor in 1993.

He entered the Knesset for Shas in 1999 and was re-elected in 2003, 2006, 2009 and 2013. He chaired the Knesset Committee on the War Against Drugs and Alcohol and opposed the evacuation of settlements. Shas leader Aryeh Deri left him off the list for the 2015 elections.