Amichai Chikli (; born 12 September 1981)בחירות 2021: חברי הכנסת ה-24 מטעם מפלגת ימינה Mako, 5 April 2021 is an Israeli Likud politician serving as the Minister of Diaspora Affairs. He initially entered the 24th Knesset in 2021 as a member of Naftali Bennett's Yamina party, but defected by voting against his own coalition's formation and helping collapse the Bennett–Lapid government. He subsequently left Yamina to join Likud, winning election to the 25th Knesset on its party list.
Biography Chikli was born in Jerusalem in 1981 to Rabbi Eitan Chikli and artist Camille Chikli, who had emigrated from France.Interview with MK Amichai Chikli The Times of Israel. 26 August 2021 The family lived in Kibbutz Hanaton, the only kibbutz founded by the Masorti movement. The family attended synagogue services from different streams of Judaism.Amichai Chikli's father: He has 'openness, tolerance of inclusion' - interview The Jerusalem Post. 15 January 2023
After completing high school he spent a year in Ma'ayan Baruch attending the Social Leadership Institute. He then joined the Israel Defense Forces and served in the Golani Brigade and the Shayetet 13 naval unit.Amichai Chikli Schusterman He subsequently studied for a bachelor's degree in security and Middle Eastern studies at the Tactical Command Academy, after which he became a company commander in the Egoz Unit. After leaving the army he began studying for a master's degree in diplomacy and security at Tel Aviv University. During his studies he established the Tavor Academy for Social Leadership in Nazareth Illit in 2010.
Political career
Entering politics, Chikli was ninth on the New Right list for the April 2019 elections,הימין החדש בראשות שקד ובנט Central Elections Committee but the party failed to win a seat.Reform rabbi, Kahanist agitator, firebrand writer: The new Knesset's 16 rookies The Times of Israel, 26 March 2021 He was then fifth on the Yamina list, for the 2021 elections and elected a Member of the Knesset (MK) when Yamina won seven seats. After Yamina joined a coalition government that included Meretz and an Arab party, Chikli voted against the new government in its investiture vote on 13 June 2021, the only Yamina MK to do so. In July 2021, he voted against the Citizenship and Entry into Israel Law that would prevent Palestinians from marrying Israelis and receiving citizenship, resulting in its failure to pass in a 59–59 tie vote.Yamina Maverick's Fate Uncertain Hamodia, 7 July 2021
Chikli voted against his party a total of 754 times, regularly assisting the opposition. On 25 April 2022, a Knesset committee voted 7–0 in favour of a request from Yamina to declare him a "retiree", meaning he could only run for the Knesset as part of a new party. Chikli was only the third Knesset member to be declared a retiree.
Chikli resigned from the Knesset in July 2022 to run on the Likud list in the 2022 legislative election, and was given the list's 14th spot. Judge Yitzhak Amit, chairman of the Central Election Committee, initially disqualified Chikli from running on the Likud list based on the allegation that Chikli violated election law in resigning from the Knesset only a few months after announcing his withdrawal from his party. Likud appealed to the Supreme Court, which overturned his disqualification on 9 October. He was subsequently elected to the Knesset and sworn in on 29 December, before resigning on 17 January 2023 under the Norwegian Law after being named Minister of Diaspora Affairs and Combating Antisemitism. He served concurrently as Minister for Social Equality from 2022 to 2024. He resigned from the Social Equality ministry in January 2024 in an effort cut government spending amid the Gaza war.Chikli resigns from Social Equality Ministry to cut spending during war in Gaza The Times of Israel. 9 January 2024
On 16 January 2025 he vowed to resign from the government over a deal between Israel and Hamas to end the hostage crisis. He has insisted that Israel maintain a presence on the Philadelphi Corridor on the Gaza-Egypt border or return to fight and achieve the goals of the war.Breuer, Eliav (16 January 2025). Chikli first Likud minister to threaten resignation over hostage deal The Jerusalem Post. Retrieved on 18 January 2025
Diaspora Affairs Minister As part of his position, he met leaders and rabbis in the diaspora from the Reform, Conservative and Orthodox communities. He met Rick Jacobs, president of the Union for Reform Judaism in the United States. He also met leaders of the Orthodox Union, the Jewish Federations of North America and Agudath Israel of America.
In January 2023, at the Israeli American Council's conference in Texas, he discussed proposals to amend the grandchild clause of the Law of Return. He expressed concern that a high number of recent immigrants from former Soviet Union countries are not connected to Judaism and that many do not settle long-term in Israel.‘We’re listening,’ Israel’s new Diaspora minister says in first public comments in the US The Jewish Telegraphic Agency. 10 January 2023 He announced that diaspora Jewry would be involved in any process to revise the law and that he supports compromise.Diaspora Minister Chikli: 'I support compromise on amending the Law of Return' Arutz Sheva. 9 February 2023
In 2023 Chikli launched a new initiative, Project Aleph Bet in collaboration with the Jewish Federations of North America to invest $40 million in the training of North American Jewish day school teachers.Symbolic Israeli stake in US Jewish education could be growth catalyst Jewish News Syndicate. 13 July 2023Federations join Israeli partners to increase Jewish Day School enrollment Jewish Federations of North America. 22 November 2024Israel to invest $40 million in North American Jewish day schools The Jewish Telegraphic Agency. 16 May 2023 His ministry also launched the UnitED program, used by 650 Jewish day schools around the world. The program aims to strengthen Jewish identity, increase literacy regarding Israel and Zionism, build resilience amid antisemitism and bring participants closer to their diaspora Jewish communities.Israeli Diaspora Ministry program helps students connect with Jewish history and identity Jewish News Syndicate. 28 October 2024Hoffman, Maayan (1 January 2025). Fighting antisemitism starts with education, says Minister Amichai Chikli Ynet. Retrieved on 18 January 2025
Since the October 7 attacks in 2023, his ministry has sent twelve delegations of the families of the Israeli hostages in Gaza to countries around the world. The delegations have spoken in countries such as Mexico, Australia and Japan to raise awareness of the plight of their relatives and have also met with heads of state. As part of these delegations, the father of hostage Noa Argamani visited Japan and met with Yoko Kamikawa, the Minister for Foreign Affairs of Japan. Upon learning of Noa's survival and return to Israel, she and her father were invited to Tokyo at the invitation of the Israeli Ambassador to Japan and the US Ambassador to Japan, Rahm Emanuel.Noa Argamani and her father were invited to visit Tokyo by the Ambassadors of Israel and the USA to Japan The Ministry for Diaspora Affairs and Combating Antisemitism. 14 June 2024
His ministry also led over 100 civil initiatives since the attacks, allocating tens of millions of shekels to projects such as the Nova music festival exhibition, The Moment Music Stood Still. The touring exhibition in the United States memorializes the memory of the victims of the Nova music festival massacre.Diaspora Affairs Minister details ministry’s activities since October 7 The Jerusalem Post. 11 June 2024 The exhibition attracted over 100, 000 visitors per month in New York. His ministry also launched a platform of information documenting concerning the 7 October attacks.The Ministry of Diaspora and Combating Anti-Semitism established a platform of information documenting the atrocities that happened on October 7 The Ministry for Diaspora Affairs and Combating Antisemitism. 30 October 2023
In October 2023 he also condemned Itamar Ben-Gvir, who had urged the Israeli Police to be prepared for widespread Arab Israeli unrest after 7 October. Chikli reiterated that "so far, the Arab population has shown much solidarity and responsibility." He continued: "And this is especially true for the Bedouin population in the Negev, which has suffered victims and missing people and is displaying responsibility and solidarity with quite a few initiatives for hosting families and helping distressed citizens."Chikli pans Ben Gvir fear-mongering: Arab citizens are showing solidarity The Times of Israel. 11 October 2023
Chikli also supports the hasbara efforts of former government spokesperson Eylon Levy. Levy's State of the Nation podcast, in which he interviews guests about Israel, antisemitism, and Jewish history, is partly funded by Chikli's ministry.The stunning rise, curious suspension and insistent return of Israel’s star spokesman The Times of Israel. 31 March 2024
In May 2024 the Israeli government approved Chikli's proposal to memorialize non-Israeli Jews in the diaspora that were murdered by perpetrators that had antisemitic motives. In the resolution that was passed it was agreed to set a date to commemorate the murdered Jews in the diaspora, to create physical monument and integrate their stories into the education system. A website and database will be open to the public to view details of the victims that are being memorialized.The Government approved the proposal of Minister Chikli: State Commemoration of Jews who were murdered in hostile acts in the Diaspora The Ministry for Diaspora Affairs and Combating Antisemitism. 27 May 2024
In June 2024 he was interviewed by The Jerusalem Post Editor-in-Chief, Zvika Klein at the Jerusalem Post Annual Conference in New York. On rising rates of antisemitism in the diaspora, Chikli reiterated his ministry's mission to support the safety of diaspora communities, monitor antisemitism and investigate student organizations hostile to Israel.War on Hamas may take two more years, Chikli tells 'Post' in New York The Jerusalem Post. 3 June 2024 In August 2024, his ministry launched a new monitoring system, the National Command Post (“Mashlat”) to track online antisemitic discourse.Diaspora Ministry unveils system for monitoring antisemitic discourse online The Jerusalem Post. 18 August 2024The Ministry for Diaspora Affairs and Combating Antisemitism has launched the National Command Post (“Mashlat”) to combat online antisemitism The Ministry for Diaspora Affairs and Combating Antisemitism. 18 August 2024
In January 2025 he was targeted by far right commentator, Candace Owens over an upcoming TikTok ban in the United States. Owens shared a conspiracy theory that Israel is responsible for the ban, sharing a clip of Chikli discussing his efforts to lobby TikTok to curb antisemitism on the platform.
In May 2026, following a meeting with the Israeli pro-settler organization, Nachala, Chikli said that establishing new Israeli settlements in northern Gaza should be a part of the Likud party's election platform, stating: "Settling the northern border area [of Gaza] should be a part of our election manifesto."
Views and opinions
In 2021 he distanced himself from any denominational affiliation: "I define myself as a Jew, without any additional [descriptors]." He criticized negative attitudes towards Conservative Judaism in Israel, arguing that the movement is "bound by halacha" and that the movement's egalitarian prayer should not warrant vitriol. He supports egalitarian prayer, at the Western Wall and the Kotel compromise.Amichai Chikli: The first rebel in Israel's government has no regrets The Jerusalem Post. 3 June 2022 Egalitarian prayer—where men and women are permitted to pray side by side—is generally opposed by Orthodox Judaism.