Amichai Chikli

Amichai Chikli is an Israeli politician and former military officer. Born in Jerusalem in 1981 to Camille and Rabbi Eitan Chikli, he was raised in Kibbutz Hanaton, a community rooted in the Masorti (Conservative) movement. Though he has strong personal ties to the Conservative world, his father was ordained at the Schechter Rabbinical Seminary and his family was active in the Masorti youth group Noam, Chikli has distanced himself from the movement, preferring to describe himself simply as “a Jew”.

Chikli was a combat officer in the Israel Defense Forces’ Golani Brigade and Egoz Unit. Following his military service, he pursued higher education, earning a bachelor’s degree in Security and Middle East Studies from the University of Haifa and a master’s in Security and Diplomacy Studies from Tel Aviv University.

In 2010, he founded the Tavor pre-military academy (mechina) in Nof HaGalil, which has prepared many graduates for service in elite IDF units. He later created programs to strengthen Israeli youth’s connection to the land and help new immigrants and international volunteers prepare for military service in Israel.

Chikli entered national politics in 2019 when he joined the New Right party, although the party failed to win Knesset representation then. He returned in 2021 as a member of the right-wing Yamina party, led by Naftali Bennett. Opposing Bennett’s decision to form a government with centrist and left-wing parties, Chikli defied party lines, voted against the coalition, and was declared a defector. In 2022, Israel’s High Court permitted him to run on the Likud slate, and he was elected to the 25th Knesset.

After being appointed Diaspora Affairs Minister in December 2022, Chikli has positioned himself as a vocal defender of Israel on the world stage. He has courted controversy for his outspoken criticism of Reform Judaism and liberal American Jewish politics, including his refusal to meet with J Street, which he called “hostile to Zionism and the State of Israel”. He has also drawn headlines for defending Elon Musk against charges of anti-Semitism and for describing pro-Palestinian campus protests as a “pandemic” comparable to the fentanyl crisis.

Chikli has further advocated for a robust stance against Islamist political movements, emphasizing what he views as ideological ties between Hamas and Muslim Brotherhood-linked activism in the West. He has also expressed concern about the dilution of Jewish identity among younger Diaspora Jews, criticizing “woke” culture on U.S. campuses.

He resides in Kibbutz Hanaton in the Jezreel Valley with his wife Hadas, a school psychologist, and their three children.

Sources: “Amichai Chikli,” The Ministry for Diaspora Affairs and Combating Antisemitism.
Zvika Klein, “Who is Amichai Chikli, the incoming Diaspora affairs minister?” Jerusalem Post, (December 28, 2022).
Judah Ari Gross, “Amichai Chikli, son of a Conservative rabbi, named Diaspora affairs minister,” Times of Israel, (December 29, 2022).
Melanie Phillips, “Amichai Chikli’s rescue remedy,” JNS, (May 9, 2023).
Jacob Kornbluh, Lauren Markoe, “5 facts about Amichai Chikli, the Israeli minister who defended Elon Musk,” Forward, (May 19, 2023).
“Who is Amichai Chikli? The right-wing Israeli minister who called for Syria’s Al Shara to be ‘eliminated,’” The National, (July 16, 2025).

Photo: ראובן קופיצינסקי , צלם 053514246, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.