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Colette AvitalIsraeli politician and diplomat
Date of Birth: 01.05.1940
Country:  Israel |
Content:
Early Life and Education
Colette Avital was born on May 1, 1940 in Bucharest, Romania. In 1950, at the age of 10, she immigrated to Israel with her family. To cover her tuition expenses, Avital began working as a secretary at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs while still a student.
Diplomatic Career
Over the years, Avital steadily rose through the ranks of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, serving as a diplomat in the Israeli delegation in Paris from 1982 to 1985, as Israel's ambassador to Portugal from 1988 to 1992, and as Israel's consul general in New York from 1992 to 1996. Upon her return to Israel, she was appointed Deputy Director-General for Western European Affairs, the third-highest position in the ministry.
Political Career
In 1999, Avital decided to run for the Knesset on the Labor Party list as part of the One Israel alliance, which included the Gesher and Meimad parties. Avital was placed 24th on the party list, and Labor won only 23 Knesset seats in the May 1999 elections (One Israel won 26 seats, two of which went to Gesher and one to Meimad), so Avital did not enter the Knesset. However, in November 1999, she entered the Knesset when Labor MK Matan Vilnai resigned.
During her tenure in the 15th Knesset, Avital served as chair of the Ethics Committee and headed the Commission of Inquiry for the Identification and Restitution of Holocaust Victims' Assets, which submitted its findings to the government in 2005. She also served on the Finance Committee, the State Control Committee, the Law Committee, the Committee for the Advancement of the Status of Women, and the Education and Culture Committee, as acting chair of the Foreign Affairs and Security Committee, and was the Labor Party's international secretary.
Awards and Honors
In 2001, Colette Avital was made a Chevalier of the Legion of Honour. On March 18, 2010, the French Ambassador to Israel, Christophe Bigot, awarded former MK Colette Avital the rank of Officer of the Legion of Honour at a special ceremony held at the ambassador's residence in Jaffa.
