Zvi Hendel

Zvi Hendel was born in 1949 in Transylvania

Hendel was born in Transylvania, Romania, to parents who survived the Holocaust. He immigrated to Israel with his family in 1959. In high school he became deputy chairman of the central student council of Tel Aviv.

In the IDF he served as a Gadna instructor. In the reserves he served in an Artillery Corps reconnaissance unit and fought in the Yom Kippur War.

In 1977 he moved to Ganei Tal in Gush Katif. He was elected to the Hof Aza Regional Council in 1983 and headed it from 1988. He was elected to the Knesset in 1996 for the National Religious Party, then formed the Emunim faction with Hanan Porat, later renamed Tkuma.

He chaired the Aliyah, Absorption and Diaspora committee and served as Deputy Minister of Education under Ariel Sharon until June 2004. He opposed the Disengagement Plan, and in 2005 he was evicted from his home in Ganei Tal. He lost his seat in the 2009 elections.

In 2010 the government appointed him chairman of the Israel Anti-Drug Authority. He is married with 4 children and is the uncle of politician Yoaz Hendel.