Naomi Chazan

{{Infobox officeholder

| image = Naomi Chazan 01A.jpg

| birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1946|11|18|df=y}}

| birth_place = {{nowrap|Jerusalem, Mandatory Palestine}}

| death_date =

| death_place =

| suboffice1 = Meretz

| office1 = Faction represented in the Knesset

| subterm1 = 1992–2003

| native_name = נעמי חזן

| native_name_lang = he

}}

Naomi Chazan ({{langx|he|נעמי חזן}}; born 18 November 1946) is an Israeli academic, activist, and politician. As a legislator, Chazan championed the causes of human rights, women's rights, and consumer protection.[http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/world/story/2011-11-10/israel-moshe-katsav-rape/51154652/1 Israel Moshe Katsav rape] USA Today {{dead link|date=May 2023}}{{Cite web|url=http://www.pjvoice.com/v30/30004chazan.aspx|title=A Conversation With Naomi Chazan|website=www.pjvoice.com|access-date=23 May 2023}} Chazan is a past president of the New Israel Fund.

Today,{{when|date=June 2023}} Chazam heads the School of Government and Society at the Academic College of Tel Aviv-Yafo, and sits on the board of the Hotline for Refugees and Migrants.{{Cite web|url=https://hotline.org.il/en/about-us/board-of-directors/|title=Hotline for Refugees and Migrants | Board of Directors|website=hotline.org.il|accessdate=23 May 2023}}

Biography

Naomi Chazan (née Harman) was born in Jerusalem during the British Mandate era. Her parents were Avraham and Zina Harman. Her father was later Israeli ambassador to the United States, while her mother worked in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and served as a member of Knesset between 1969 and 1974.

Chazan studied at Columbia University, earning a B.A. and M.A., before attending the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, where she gained a PhD. She later headed the Truman Institute for the Advancement of Peace at the university. She became a professor of political science, specializing in the politics of Africa, in 1994.

Political career

In 1985 she was a member of the Israeli delegation to the UN Conference on Women in Nairobi, and in 1995 to the Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing. She served as president of the Israeli branch of the Society for International Development, was a founder and member of the board of the Israel Women's Network, and has served as Vice President of the International Association of Political Science.[https://www.knesset.gov.il/mk/eng/mk_eng.asp?mk_individual_id_t=56 Naomi Chazan: Public Activities] Knesset website

In 1992 she was elected to the Knesset on the Meretz list. She retained her seat in the 1996 elections and was made a Deputy Speaker. She was a candidate in the 1998 Jerusalem mayoral election, finishing fourth with 4% of the vote. She was re-elected to the Knesset again in 1999 and remained a Deputy Speaker until losing her seat in the 2003 elections.

She backed efforts to improve women's rights in Israel outside of the Knesset as well, including supporting the Alice Miller case which paved the way for women to serve in combat roles in the Israeli military.{{Cite web|url=http://www.jta.org/1995/11/08/archive/israeli-supreme-court-rules-women-can-be-air-force-pilots|title = Israeli Supreme Court Rules Women Can be Air Force Pilots|date = 8 November 1995}}

Controversy

A 2010 campaign by Im Tirtzu against the New Israel Fund included cartoon images of Chazan with a horn coming out of her forehead - the word "horn" in Hebrew also meaning "fund." Chazan served as the lay leader of New Israel Fund at the time. Haaretz described the campaign as "savage."{{Cite news|url=http://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/fighting-for-israel-s-soul-1.374700|title = Fighting for Israel's soul|newspaper = Haaretz}}

In 2010, Chazan was fired by The Jerusalem Post. The Post said the decision was made on account of a lawsuit against the newspaper filed by Chazan and the NIF. The lawsuit was filed in response to an ad campaign by Im Tirtzu.{{cite news|last=Lis|first=Jonathan|title=Amid row over contentious ad, Jerusalem Post fires Naomi Chazan of New Israel Fund|url=http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/amid-row-over-contentious-ad-jerusalem-post-fires-naomi-chazan-of-new-israel-fund-1.265894|accessdate=13 June 2012|newspaper=Haaretz|date=5 February 2010}}{{cite news|title=Jerusalem Post: Chazan fired due to lawsuit over NIF advert|url=http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/jerusalem-post-chazan-fired-due-to-lawsuit-over-nif-advert-1.262877|accessdate=13 June 2012|newspaper=Haaretz|date=7 February 2010|author1=Izikovich, Gili |author2=Liphshiz, Cnaan }}

Published works

Chazan is the author, co-author and editor of eight books and 56 articles in academic journals on comparative (especially African) and Israeli politics.

An Anatomy of Ghanaian Politics: Managing Political Recession, 1969-1982 (Westview Press, 1983, {{ISBN|0-86531-439-X}})
Ghana: Coping with Uncertainty (Westview Press, 1986, {{ISBN|0-86531-369-5}}), with Deborah Pellow
Coping with Africa’s Food Crisis (Lynne Rienner Publishers, 1988, {{ISBN|0-931477-84-0}}), with Timothy M. Shaw
The Precarious Balance: State and Society in Africa (Westview Press, 1988, {{ISBN|0-8133-0968-9}}), with Donald Rothchild
Politics and Society in Contemporary Africa (Lynne Rienner Publishers, 1988, {{ISBN|0-333-46838-4}}), with Robert Mortimer, John Ravenhill, and Donald Rothchild; reprinted 1992 ({{ISBN|1555872832}}) and 1999 ({{ISBN|155587679X}})
Irredentism and International Politics (Lynne Rienner Publishers, 1991, {{ISBN|1-55587-221-2}}), edited volume
Civil Society and the State in Africa (Lynne Rienner Publishers, 1994, {{ISBN|1-55587-360-X}}), edited with John W. Harbeson and Donald Rothchild
The Early State in African Perspective: Culture, Power and Division of Labor (Brill Academic Publishers, 1997, {{ISBN|90-04-08355-3}}), edited with S.N. Eisenstadt and Michel Abitbol

References

External links

[http://cds.haifa.ac.il/documents/cvs/NAOMI_CHAZAN.pdf Curriculum vitae]
[http://fathomjournal.org/making-sense-of-the-israeli-elections/ Making Sense of the Israeli elections - Fathom Journal]

Category:1946 births

Category:Living people

Category:Columbia University alumni

Category:Deputy speakers of the Knesset

Category:Hebrew University of Jerusalem alumni

Category:Academic staff of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem

Category:Israeli people of British-Jewish descent

Category:Israeli political scientists

Category:Women members of the Knesset

Category:Israeli women's rights activists

Category:Jewish Israeli politicians

Category:Members of the 13th Knesset (1992–1996)