Shai Hermesh

Shai Hermesh was born in 1944 in Israel

Shai Hermesh was born in Tel Aviv on 23 March 1944. He attended Tichon Hadash high school in the city.

He served in the Nahal and the paratroopers. After his service ended in 1965, he joined kibbutz Kfar Aza near the Gaza Strip border. As a reservist he fought in the 1967 battle for Jerusalem and in the 1973 crossing of the Suez Canal.

From 1967 to 1972 he studied economics and sociology at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and later earned an MBA there. He worked as economics manager of Kfar Aza and as finance director of Kafrit. He began doctoral studies in modern Jewish history but stopped when he became head of the regional council.

He headed the Sha'ar HaNegev Regional Council and chaired the executive committee of Sapir Academic College. In 2002 he became treasurer of the Jewish Agency. He left the Labor Party for Kadima and entered the Knesset in 2006 after Uriel Reichman resigned.

He kept his seat in 2009 and sat mainly on the Finance Committee. He lost his seat in the 2013 elections. He lives in Kfar Aza, and his son Omer was killed there in the October 2023 massacre.