GOVERNMENT

Pnina Tamano-Shata

Politician

Israeli Knesset Member Pnina Tamano-Shata became the first Ethiopian-Israeli woman to win appointment to the Israeli cabinet in 2020. Born in the Ethiopian village of Wuzaba in 1981, Tamano-Shata arrived in Israel in 1984 as part of Operation Moses. Now she herself is in charge of immigrant absorption as Minister of Aliyah and Integration. “For me, this is a landmark and the closing of a circle, from that three-year-old girl who immigrated to Israel without a mother on a cross-desert foot journey; through growing up in Israel and the struggles I led and am still leading for the community, integration, the acceptance of the other, and against discrimination and racism; up to my public mission inside and outside the walls of the Knesset and today to the status of minster of aliyah and integration,” she reflected in a Hebrew-language interview following her promotion. (Photo: Wikimedia / Creative Commons License)