Shlomo Karhi | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Karhi in 2020 | |
| Ministerial roles | |
| 2022– | Minister of Communications |
| Faction represented in theKnesset | |
| 2019– | Likud |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1982-04-06)6 April 1982 (age 43) Ramat Gan, Israel |
Shlomo Karhi (Hebrew:שְׁלֹמֹה קַרְעִי; born 6 April 1982) is an Israeli politician and academic. He is currently a member of theKnesset forLikud and serving as theMinister of Communications in thethirty-seventh government.[1]
Karhi first joined the Knesset in the 2019 elections in the 25th place in the Likud party. In the 2022 elections he was placed 13th in the Likud party.
Karhi was born inRamat Gan as the eldest of seventeen siblings in a religious family,[2] to mother Mazal and father Rabbi David Karhi, anIsraeli-born Sabra ofTunisian Jewish heritage fromDjerba. At the age of four Shlomo Karhi moved toZimrat, a religiousmoshav.[3] He was educated at theKisse Rahamim andMercaz HaRav yeshivas.
He subsequently served in the religiousNetzah Yehuda Battalion during his national service in theIsrael Defense Forces (IDF),[3] before earning a BA in management accounting and information systems at theJerusalem College of Technology. Karhi received a master's degree and PhD in industrial engineering and management atBen-Gurion University of the Negev.
He began work as a lecturer atSapir Academic College, before becoming part of the faculty at Ben-Gurion University and thenBar-Ilan University.
Karhi was placed twenty-fifth on the Likud list for theApril 2019 elections,[4] a slot reserved for candidates from theNegev.[3] He was subsequently elected to the Knesset as Likud won 36 seats. He was re-elected in theSeptember 2019 andMarch 2020 elections after being placed twenty-seventh on the Likud list,[5][6] and was re-elected again in2021 (in twenty-fourth place)[7] and2022 (in thirteenth place).[8] Following the 2022 elections he was appointedMinister of Communications.
In March 2023 Karhi unveiled his plan for a communications market reform. He announced the cancellation of the Second Authority and the Cable and Satellite Council, declaring an end to the era of "hyperactive regulation". The minister emphasized the need for less intervention, increased competition, and greater freedom in the Israeli communications sector. According to Karhi, the plan involves reducing interference in business models, expanding the advertising market, and encouraging the launch of new content channels.[9]
On 2 October 2023 Karhi visitedRiyadh, Saudi Arabia among a 14-member delegation to attend theUniversal Postal Union's Extraordinary Congress.[10] On the following day, he held a Jewish prayer service with aminyan during theSukkot holiday, complete with aTorah scroll dedicated to the rulers of the kingdom.[11] Later that month, Karhi criticized former U.S. PresidentDonald Trump over his criticism of Netanyahu.[12]
In November 2019 Karhi, who is known for his opposition to theLGBTQ+ community, was quoted as saying that Israeli Pride parades are "contrary to nature."[13]
In March 2023 Karhi sparked a widespread controversy during thePurim holiday in Israel. Karhi took to Twitter to address a group of individuals, including pilots, doctors, and members of the special operations unit, who had announced that they would not volunteer to serve in the reserves if the proposed legal revolution were to pass. He referred to them as "impudent conscientious objectors" and told them to "go to hell." In his tweet, Karhi drew comparisons between the objectors and the biblical story ofMordechai andEsther, suggesting that Israel would prosper without them and that they were self-appointed rulers akin toHaman. The tweet caused a public uproar, but Karhi stood by his statement and doubled down, calling the refusal to serve "sad, stinking, and pathetic."[14]
In 2023 Karhi, serving as Israel's Minister of Communication, initiated a notable legislative action concerning foreign media. The law was framed to prohibit news outlets believed to jeopardize Israel's national security in the wake of theGaza war. The Israeli government endorsed an emergency provision under his guidance, targeting the Qatari news channelAl Jazeera. Karhi critiqued Al Jazeera, characterizing it as a "propaganda platform" and expressed concerns over its coverage, suggesting that it might be inciting adverse sentiments against Israel.[15] He is also an opponent ofKan/Makan, the public broadcasting service of Israel, which he accused of being "too biased toward the left".[16]
In January 2024 Karhi attended a "Settlement Brings Security" conference advocating forIsraeli resettlement of the Gaza Strip,[17] where he stated "We have an obligation to act... to [bring about] voluntary emigration — even if this war... turns this voluntary migration into a situation of 'Coerce him until he says, "I want to do so"'".[18]
In September 2025, Karhi attempted to block the broadcast ofNeta Shoshani’s documentary 1948 – To Remember and Forget on theIsraeli Public Broadcasting Corporation (Kan), threatening to revoke the broadcaster’s budget if it aired the film which highlights widely known and acknowledged facts. In a letter to Kan’s director general, Karhi described the work as advancing a “false andantisemitic narrative” and accused it of libelingIsrael Defense Forces soldiers with allegations ofmassacres and rapes during the 1948 Arab–Israeli War. This was not his first intervention: two years earlier, after the film premiered at the Docaviv Festival and won an award for its investigative research, Karhi had similarly demanded that Kan prevent its broadcast. Kan rejected his accusations, stating that the film was an award-winning historical documentary presenting a range of perspectives on the war and dismissing the claim that it sought to harm the IDF as “baseless and unfounded.”[19]
| International | |
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| National | |
| Academics | |
