Yuli Edelstein

(1958 - )

Yuli Edelstein was born in 1958 in Chernovitz (part of the former USSR). He studied foreign languages at the Moscow Institute for Teacher Training.

A former aliya activist and Hebrew teacher in Moscow and a Prisoner of Zion (1984-87), he immigrated to Israel in 1987.

In 1990 he graduated from the Jerusalem Fellows Program, and from 1990-93 was a Department Head at the Melitz Center for Zionist Education.

In 1993-94 he served as an advisor to then opposition leader MK Benjamin Netanyahu.

He was a founding member of Yisrael ba-Aliya in 1996, and was elected to the Knesset in May of that year.

In June 1996, Yuli Edelstein was appointed Minister of Immigrant Absorption.

He is married and has two children.