A Moroccan-born Israeli to be voted in as the Knesset’s new speaker

A Moroccan-born Israeli is expected to be voted in, Wednesday, as the Knesset’s new speaker. Meir Cohen, from the Yesh Atid political party that was formed in 2012, will be replacing Yuli Edelstein, Jerusalem Post reports.

Meir Cohen was born in Essaouira in 1964. At the age of seven, his family left Morocco to for Dimona, a city where he «earned a master’s degree in Jewish studies and pedagogy at Jerusalem’s Schechter Institute», the same source wrote. Cohen became the mayor of the same city in 2003.

«It is very emotional that a modest immigrant from Morocco blossomed to be mayor and now may become Knesset speaker», said former Jewish Agency chairperson Ze’ev Bielski, who put him on the Agency’s Board of Director. Meir Cohen was Minister of Social Affairs from 2013 to 2014.

Coalition parties in Israel include another Israeli politician of Moroccan origin : Amir Peretz, leader of the Labor-Gesher-Meretz alliance (left).