| Formed: | 1999 |
| Jurisdiction: | Government of Israel |
| Minister1 Name: | Amichai Chikli |
| Chief1 Name: | Avi Cohen-Scali |
| Chief1 Position: | Director-General |
The Ministry of Diaspora Affairs (Hebrew: משרד התפוצות והמאבק באנטישמיות) is a government ministry in Israel. As a ministerial post in the Israeli cabinet, it has gone under several different names and was combined with the Jerusalem portfolio between 2013 and 2015. Between June and November 2005 there was also a Deputy Minister.
The department was created under the as a deputy ministry called the Ministry of Israeli Society and the World Jewish Community in 1999, with a budget of approximately $2 million. Rabbi Michael Melchior was the inaugural minister, with the goal to improve Israel-Jewish diaspora relations, combat antisemitism, and create education and Israel experience programs.[1] [2]
The ministry was temporarily closed in February 2007, with responsibilities moved to the Department for Policy and Implementation in the Prime Minister's Office.
In 2023, the ministry organized three delegations of security personnel from the Baltic states, Brazil, and Belgium to visit Israel and provide tools to handle antisemitic attacks in their respective countries.[3]
Amid the global rise of antisemitism during the Israel-Hamas war, the ministry allocated $2.2 million for protecting Jewish institutions and programs in Jewish schools.[4]
In January 2024, the Center for the Study of Contemporary European Jewry at Tel Aviv University called in a report for the Israeli government to shut down the ministry, stating that it was "established for political reasons, lacked vision and substance, and had promoted few initiatives. The center recommended the ministry's duties be divided between the Israeli Foreign Ministry and the Prime Minister's Office. The report's conclusions mirrored the beliefs of some Israeli diplomats that the ministry lacked purpose and did not have the personnel to fight antisemitism abroad.[5]
| Minister | Party | Governments | Term start | Term end | Notes | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Minister of Social and Diaspora Affairs | |||||||
| 1 | Michael Melchior | One Israel | 28 | 5 August 1999 | 7 March 2001 | ||
| 2 | Natan Sharansky | Likud | 30 | 3 March 2003 | 4 May 2006 | ||
| Minister of Diaspora, Society and the Fight Against Antisemitism | |||||||
| 3 | Isaac Herzog | Labor Party | 31 | 31 March 2009 | |||
| Minister of Public Diplomacy and Diaspora Affairs | |||||||
| 4 | Yuli-Yoel Edelstein | Likud | 32 | 31 March 2009 | |||
| Minister of Jerusalem and Diaspora Affairs | |||||||
| 5 | Likud | 33 | 18 March 2013 | 29 April 2013 | Serving Prime Minister | ||
| 6 | Naftali Bennett | 33, 34 | 29 April 2013 | 1 June 2015 | |||
| Minister of Diaspora Affairs | |||||||
| – | Naftali Bennett | The Jewish Home | 33, 34 | 1 June 2015 | 2 June 2019 | ||
| 7 | Tzipi Hotovely | Likud | 34 | 5 January 2020 | 17 May 2020 | ||
| 8 | Omer Yankelevich | Israel Resilience Party, Blue and White | 17 May 2020 | 13 June 2021 | |||
| 9 | Nachman Shai | Labor Party | 36 | 13 June 2021 | 29 December 2022 | ||
| 10 | Amichai Chikli | Likud | 37 | 29 December 2022 | |||