Yoram Cohen

Yoram Cohen was born in 1960 in Tel Aviv

Cohen was born in Tel Aviv in 1960 to Moshe and Leah Cohen, who came to Israel from Afghanistan in 1951. For this reason he was nicknamed "the Afghan". He grew up in the Shapira neighborhood and attended the Midrashiat Noam yeshiva high school in Pardes Hanna.

He was drafted into the IDF in 1979 and served in the Golani Brigade. He later earned a BA and an MA in political science from the University of Haifa and graduated from the National Defense College.

Cohen joined Shin Bet in 1982 and became a field coordinator in the Binyamin area in 1983. He rose through posts in Judea and Jerusalem, and in 2005 became deputy to Shin Bet chief Yuval Diskin. In 2008 he was a research fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.

On 15 May 2011 he became the 12th Director of Shin Bet and served until 8 May 2016. He supported the Shalit deal and was among the commanders of the 2012 strike that killed Ahmed Jabari. A 2017 State Comptroller report criticized him and others over the Gaza attack tunnels before Operation Protective Edge.

After retiring he worked as a security consultant and joined company boards. In 2023 he spoke against the judicial reform. In May 2026 he joined Gadi Eisenkot's Yashar party and was elected to the Knesset. He is married with 5 children and has lived in Jerusalem since 1983.