Ran Ichay

Ran Ichay was born in 1970 in Israel

Ran Ichay was born in Israel in 1970. His father's family descends from Jews expelled from Spain and lived in Sousse, Tunisia, before moving to Israel in 1956. His mother's family came from Yemen.

He joined the Israeli Navy in 1988 and later moved to the Artillery Corps, where he served until 1992. He earned a bachelor's degree in political science and Middle East history at Bar-Ilan University.

He entered the Foreign Ministry cadet course in 1995 and served in Brussels from 1999 to 2001. He advised Benjamin Netanyahu at the foreign and finance ministries, then headed international science relations at the Ministry of Science and Technology. In 2006 he became ambassador to Kazakhstan, where he started a program to help infants with HIV.

From 2010 to 2016 he was a deputy director general of the Prime Minister's Office, where he oversaw the setup of the National Cyber Bureau. In November 2016 he became director general of the Ministry of Jerusalem and Heritage. He left the post in 2019 and ran in the Likud primary without being elected.

In 2017 and 2018 he took part in Camp Ichay, a field clinic in the Golan Heights for Syrian civil war victims. He wrote books on the Jews of Kazakhstan and on Israeli history. He lives in Elazar in Gush Etzion, is married and has 5 children.