Yohanan Plesner

Yohanan Plesner was born in 1972 in England

Plesner was born in London in 1972 to Danish architect Ulrik Plesner and Israeli communications scholar Tamar Liebes. At 2 months old he moved with his family to Jerusalem, where he grew up. He competed in swimming from age 9.

From 1989 to 1994 he served in the IDF as an officer in Sayeret Matkal. He then earned a BA in economics with distinction in the Amirim program at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. He later completed a master's degree at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University.

He worked in business as a consultant in Britain and co-founded a software company. In 2005 he became head of special projects in the Prime Minister's Office. In June 2006 he was appointed director general of the new Kadima party and built its organization.

Plesner entered the Knesset in 2007 and was reelected in 2009. He sat on the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee and the Constitution, Law and Justice Committee, and in 2011 the Ethics Committee censured him over remarks about Haneen Zoabi. In 2012 he chaired the committee on Haredi conscription known as the Plesner Committee, which Benjamin Netanyahu dissolved.

He lost his seat in the 2013 elections. In March 2014 he became President of the Israel Democracy Institute. He lives in Hod HaSharon and has children from 2 marriages.