Naama Lazimi | |
|---|---|
נעמה לזימי | |
 Lazimi in 2022 | |
| Faction represented in theKnesset | |
| 2021–2024 | Labor Party |
| 2024– | The Democrats |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1986-01-11)11 January 1986 (age 39) Migdal HaEmek, Israel |
Naama Lazimi (Hebrew:נעמה לזימי; born 11 January 1986) is a politician and Member of the Knesset for theDemocrats and previously for theLabor Party. Previously, she was a member of theHaifa City Council and vice chairman of the Student Association at theUniversity of Haifa.
Naama Lazimi was born and raised inMigdal HaEmek[1][2] toMoroccan Jewish parents.[3][4] Her father, Avi, was a school principal and deputy mayor of Migdal HaEmek. She studied at the local school 'Rogozin', served in the IDF as an officer in theMinistry of Defense and later as a reserve officer in theHome Front Command. She studied political science and Jewish history at theUniversity of Haifa. As a student she was vice-chair of the University Student Association.[1]
Lazimi worked as a parliamentary adviser to Knesset memberShelly Yachimovich.[5] She founded the Center for Political Training and Resolution of the "Vision" conflict within thePeace Now organization, and chaired the finance committee of theKoah LaOvdim organization.[1] In 2012 she was elected to the Labor Party conference. In 2016, as chairman of the Young Shift of the Labor Party in Haifa, she ran for the presidency of the National Young Shift but lost by a narrow margin.
In the 2010s, she moved to theHadar HaCarmel neighborhood of Haifa. In the run-up to the local elections in Israel held in November 2018, an agreement was signed betweenEinat Kalisch-Rotem and the head of the Labor Party,Avi Gabbay, according to which Lazimi was placed third on Kalisch-Rotem's list. In the election, the list won four seats and the mayoralty, and Lazimi was elected a member of the city council. As part of this role, she chaired the Haifa Gender Equality Committee and the board of directors of the Haifa Museums Company, and was a member of the Audit, Welfare and Construction Committees, and the Shikmona Board of Public Housing.[1] She conducted a collaboration between theTechnion and theORT Braude College of Engineering on behalf of ISEF - Israel Scholarship Education Foundation. In addition, she worked as a consultant for the northern field at theJewish National Fund.[5]
In February 2021, ahead ofthe twenty-fourth Knesset elections,[5] Lazimi was elected in the primaries to the 9th place on the Labor Party list,[6] which received seven seats.[7]
Following the resignation ofOmer Bar-Lev from the Knesset under theNorwegian Law, she entered the Knesset for the first time.[8]
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In August 2022, ahead ofthe twenty-fifth Knesset elections, Lazimi was elected inthe primaries to the 2nd place on the Labor Party list, second only to party leaderMerav Michaeli.[2][9] The Labor Party only retained four seats in the election.[10]
Lazimi led an effort in October 2021, which included eight other MKs from boththe government and the opposition, to sponsor a bill which would raise the minimum wage by 35% to 40NIS (equivalent to $12.50USD).[11] In December 2022, Lazimi presented a bill to peg Knesset members' wages to the minimum wage.[12]
In March 2023, Lazimi, along with Michaeli,Gideon Sa'ar, andMeirav Ben-Ari, proposed a bill that would allow courts to use electronic tracking on convicted domestic abusers. The bill was defeated with 59 votes for and 60 votes against, primarily due to opposition from thenational security ministerItamar Ben-Gvir.[13]
The Labor Partyheld a leadership election in 2024. Lazimi endorsed the formerIDF deputy chief of staffYair Golan, who ran on a platform of merging Labor with the left-wing partyMeretz. Lazimi stated, "The responsibility for change and hope is on us. We have an opportunity for a diplomatic-security, economic, and social horizon for life itself." Golan described Lazimi and her fellow Labor MKGilad Kariv as "excellent parliamentarians".[14][15] Following Golan's victory, the two parties merged into a new left-wing alliance calledthe Democrats in June of that year.[16]
Yair Netanyahu, the son of Prime MinisterBenjamin Netanyahu, has lived abroad with bodyguards since 2023,[17] which was estimated to cost the governmentNIS 2.5 million (equivalent to $680,000USD) in 2024.[17][18] In February 2025, during a Knessset Finance Committee meeting, Lazimi criticized this, and asserted that Netanyahu was "exiled" for allegedly hitting his father, stating:
I want to ask about the prime minister’s son, Yair Netanyahu. Last year, an article stated that his security costs around NIS 2.5 million per year. I want to ask whether this sum is still budgeted and whether there is still an intention to fund the prime minister’s son’s stay because he hit the prime minister and had to be abroad as he damaged a symbol of authority.[18]
A representative for Netanyahu's party,Likud, called the allegations an "absolute lie and detestable, a new low from the depths of the Left’s sewer."[18] The representative also said that Lazimi should lose her immunity and pay, as should anyone else who repeated her claims.[17][18] Yair Netanyahu also filed a lawsuit against Lazimi.[18]
During theIran–Israel war, theArabcity ofTamra was hit by a missile from Iran, killing four and injuring ten. Lazimi, Golan, and Kariv visited the city on 15 June 2025 to pay condolences to the families of those killed. Fellow opposition partyNational Unity followed suit the next day, prompting criticism of the government for failing to visit Tamra despite visiting other cities hit by Iranian missiles.[19]
Lazimi has been heavily active inanti-government protests during theGaza war.[20][21] AfterTel Aviv resident Noa Goldenberg was arrested in September 2024 for allegedly throwing sand onNational Security MinisterItamar Ben-Gvir, Lazimi andYesh Atid MKVladimir Beliak were involved in a protest outside of the prison where she was being held, calling for her release.[22] In July 2024, Ben-Gvir called Lazimi a "criminal" due to her participation in protests.[23]
Also in September 2024, police in Tel Aviv barred a protest that would block an intersection, stating that the expected turnout would be too to justify blocking the intersection. Lazimi criticized the police, arguing that they were suppressing protests on Ben-Gvir's orders.[24]
During a protest on 31 March 2025, Lazimi was attacked by police. Afterwards, she accused the police of suppressing democracy and working "forthe coup government,a Kahanist criminal and a prime minister suspected of serious security incidents".[25] The following day,opposition leaderYair Lapid sent a letter toKnesset speakerAmir Ohana, requesting that police protect lawmakers and demonstrators, and criticizing police brutality against Lazimi, other MKs, and citizens, whom he referred to as "Israeli patriots".[26] However, in May, a leaked conversation included Lapid criticizing Golan and the Democrats as being "radical leftists". While he praised protests and criticized the government, he said that, "we don’t think that jumping on water cannons like Na’ama Lazimi is what will save the State of Israel." Golan defended his party and its approach onTwitter.[20]
Lazimi has been described as aliberal;[25] she has described herself as afeminist,social democrat, and "left-wingZionist."[5][21] She has criticized racism againstMizrahi Jews in Israel,[3] and praised the right-wing Moroccan-born politicianDavid Levy, who played a pivotal role in bringing Mizrahi Jews into Israeli political life.[4] She is also involved inLGBT rights activism.[27]
She supports the existence of Israel as aJewish and democratic state, and atwo-state solution to resolve theIsrael-Palestine conflict.[21] She is critical ofanti-Zionism in the global left.[21]
Lazimi has criticized the far-right politicianItamar Ben-Gvir, saying in 2021 that he belongs in prison and his presence in the Knesset is a "disgrace for all of Israel",[28][29] and called for sanctions against him and warned against his reelection.[29] His party,Otzma Yehudit, left the government following the2025 Gaza war ceasefire, and rejoined when the ceasefire broke down in March 2025. Lazimi stated that his reappointment asminister of national security was "madness", and opined, "It’s a strange world. A faction resigns from the government because lives are being saved, and the same party returns to the government when they are being abandoned".[30]
In June 2025, United States PresidentDonald Trump made posts calling for an end toNetanyahu's corruption trial, referring to it as a "Witch Hunt" and a "travesty of 'justice'", and accusing it of interfering in negotiations withIran andHamas. In response, Lazimi criticized Netanyahu, stating that by, "trading his indictment in exchange for a political settlement and an end tothe war", he demonstrated his unfitness for office and is "conditioning the future of Israel and our children on his trial".[31]
In 2023 Lazimi moved fromHaifa toHolon.[32] She is married and a mother of two.[33]