Orna Barbivai

Orna Barbivai was born in 1962 in Ramla

Barbivai was born Orna Shochetman in Ramla on 5 September 1962 and grew up in Afula. Her father Eli came from Romania and her mother Tzila from Iraq, and she was the eldest of 8 children. She studied in Afula and spent 2 years at the Kfar Galim boarding school.

She holds a bachelor's degree in social sciences and humanities from Ben Gurion University and a master's degree from the University of Haifa. She is also a graduate of the National Security College.

She joined the IDF in 1981 and served mostly in the Adjutant Corps and the Manpower Directorate. In 2011 she became head of the Manpower Directorate with the rank of major general. She retired in October 2014 after 33 years of service.

After the army she chaired the board of the Jezreel Valley College from 2015 to 2018 and lectured at Reichman University. She entered the Knesset in 2019 with Blue and White and was the first woman to chair the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee. In June 2021 she became Minister of Economy and served until December 2022.

In 2023 she resigned from the Knesset to run for mayor of Tel Aviv and lost to Ron Huldai in 2024. She then joined the city council. She is married to Moshe Barbivai, they have 3 children and live in Tel Aviv.