Politicsצביקה ניר

Zvi Nir

Tsvika Nir is an Israeli writer, poet and lawyer who briefly served as a member of the Knesset in 1996 and has chaired the Hebrew Writers Association in Israel since 2015.

born 1946Chairing the Hebrew Writers AssociationBrief Knesset term in 1996Ramat Gan city council serviceNovels and poetry

Born: 14 August 1946, Cluj-Napoca
Occupation: politician, lawyer, advocate, writer
Party: Israeli Labor Party, Independent Liberals, Shinui
Education: Tel Aviv University

Zvi Nir was born in 1946 in Cluj-Napoca

Nir was born in Cluj-Napoca, Romania, in 1946 and came to Israel in 1948. His mother Hannah survived Auschwitz, and his father Samuel was forced into the Hungarian Army and held in a forced labor camp. His only brother, Amos, was killed in the Yom Kippur War.

He grew up in Kiryat Tiv'on and moved to Ramat Gan in 1958, where he finished Ohel Shem high school. He studied law at Tel Aviv University and has practiced law since 1974. In 2005 he earned a master's degree in general literature there.

He ran for the Knesset with the Independent Liberals in 1977 and with Shinui in 1988, then joined the Labor Party. He entered the Knesset on 21 May 1996 in place of Ora Namir but lost his seat in the June elections before taking the oath. He sat on the Ramat Gan city council from 1983 to 2013 and headed the city's culture administration.

His first book, children's poems, appeared in 1993. He published novels from 2012 and poetry books in 2017 and 2019. In 2015 he became chairman of the Hebrew Writers Association.