Yossi Abulafia

Yossi Abulafia was born in 1944 in Tiberias

Yossi Abulafia was born in Tiberias in 1944, during the British Mandate. At 17 he was accepted to the Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design, where he studied graphic design for 4 years.

After his military service he joined Israeli television as a graphic artist and cartoonist. He made animation for children's shows, current affairs, entertainment and satire.

In 1978 he received grants for a study tour of animation studios in North America. He stayed there for years, directing and writing animation in Toronto and Montreal and working freelance in New York. During this time he began to write and illustrate children's books.

He returned to Israel in 1985 and drew illustrations, cartoons and comics for newspapers, including a weekly comic strip in Maariv from 1989 to 1992. He illustrated books by Meir Shalev and Ephraim Sidon, among them Nechama the Head Louse in 1990. He also made the linking clips for the 1999 Eurovision contest, based on Bible stories.

From 1996 to 2000 he headed the animation unit at Bezalel and built a 4-year program with Hanan Kaminski and Noam Nadav. He was a professor there until he retired in 2011. He lives in Har Adar.