Asaf Zamir

Zamir was born on August 31, 1980.[1] He is a lawyer by profession and graduated in law from Tel Aviv University.[2] He was a lifelong Tel Aviv resident and spent part of his childhood in Florida, living there from ages four to nine while his parents worked in Sarasota.[6] He speaks fluent English and previously held American citizenship, which he gave up when entering the Knesset in 2019.[6]

Zamir is married to actress Maya Wertheimer.[1]

Zamir entered Tel Aviv municipal politics with the young residents’ list Rov Ha’ir (“Majority of the City”). In the 2008 municipal election, the list won three seats, and Ron Huldai appointed the 28-year-old Zamir as a deputy mayor; a later report described him as the city’s youngest deputy mayor at the time.[7][3] He served as Huldai’s deputy for about a decade and also served as acting mayor.[3]

His municipal responsibilities included education and community affairs, and he held the city council’s education portfolio. His work encompassed education from birth to age three, oversight of private kindergartens, youth centers in south Tel Aviv and across the city, and affordable-housing initiatives.[3] His stated priorities also included education equality, civil rights for minorities and refugees, public transportation, affordable housing, and advocacy for Tel Aviv’s LGBTQ community.[8]

Zamir cited the construction of Neve Ofer high school as a major achievement in his education role. The project cost more than NIS 100 million and was planned eventually to serve more than 1,000 students.[6] He also chaired the board of the Yehoshua Rabinovich Foundation for the Arts, supporting literature, music, dance, experimental theater, and cinema.[8]

In July 2018, after a decade as deputy mayor and acting mayor, Zamir announced that he would challenge Huldai for mayor. He said he wanted Tel Aviv-Yafo to remain “the liberal and free center of Israel” and presented his municipal experience as a basis for addressing residents’ needs, including making the city a better place to raise and educate children.[3] His campaign proposed more high-rise housing along major thoroughfares, urban renewal in outlying neighborhoods, and subsidized apartments built through public-private partnerships. He also advocated for bicycle infrastructure and better integration of public transportation across the Gush Dan area, with a shift in preference from private cars to buses.[6]

Huldai won the 2018 election with 46% of the vote to Zamir’s 34%, and Zamir conceded.[9] Zamir’s Rov Ha’ir party increased its municipal council representation from four seats to six.[10]

Zamir entered national politics in 2019 with Benny Gantz’s Blue and White alliance and was elected to the 21st Knesset. He was also elected to the 22nd and 23rd Knessets.[1] He appeared at number 19 on Blue and White’s September 2019 slate and at number 19 on its slate for the March 2020 election.[11][12]

After a 508-day political stalemate and three elections, the Thirty-Fifth Government was sworn in on May 17, 2020, with Zamir of Kahol Lavan as Minister of Tourism. The government included 36 cabinet ministers and 16 deputy ministers.[13] Zamir served as tourism minister for about four and a half months, resigning on October 2, 2020, and returning to his work as a lawmaker.[14]

During his tenure, Zamir spoke about regional tourism cooperation in the context of the COVID-19 crisis and Israel-Egypt tourism interests. He said he viewed regional collaboration in tourism as important to Israel’s economy, foreign relations, and relevant diplomatic agreements, subject to Israeli foreign policy and travel warnings. The discussions also involved the health and security issues affecting implementation.[15]

Foreign Minister Yair Lapid announced Zamir’s appointment as Israel’s consul general in New York in June 2021, and Zamir began the role in October.[16][8] He had served as tourism minister and deputy mayor, including as acting mayor, before entering diplomacy.[16] His consular district covered New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Delaware, and he held the position until his resignation in March 2023.[17][2]

Zamir said he wanted Israel to remain a bipartisan matter in the United States and to engage with political leaders and diverse communities in the region.[4] The American Jewish Committee’s biography states that he called for elections in 2021 and characterizes the development that followed as producing Israel’s “most diverse government,” led by Naftali Bennett and Yair Lapid.[8]

In August 2023, Zamir announced that he would join a joint municipal-election list with incumbent mayor Ron Huldai rather than challenge him again. The arrangement presented Huldai as the head of the ticket and Zamir as his deputy and acting mayor if the list succeeded. Zamir described Tel Aviv as Israel’s central liberal stronghold.[18] He also argued that, given the national situation, internal political conflict in Tel Aviv was not what the city needed. At the time, the specific terms for the list and future municipal roles had not been published.[18]

By September 2024, Zamir was serving as Tel Aviv-Yafo deputy mayor.[19] A July 2026 Ynetnews report described him as acting mayor, while an August 2026 Times of Israel report identified him as deputy mayor.[20][21]

Across his municipal and national roles, Zamir has emphasized practical governance in education, housing, transportation, cultural support, and tourism. His Tel Aviv work included responsibility for education and priorities such as affordable housing, public transportation, equality, civil rights, and support for the arts.[8]

As tourism minister, he also promoted regional cooperation as a way to advance economic and diplomatic interests while remaining subject to Israeli foreign-policy, travel-warning, health, and security constraints.[15]

The COVID-19 crisis and restrictions on protests were central to Zamir’s stated reasons for resigning as tourism minister in 2020. He called the new restrictions on protests during lockdown the “final straw” and said he could no longer serve in a government whose leader he did not trust. He argued that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was prioritizing legal and political concerns over the pandemic and said he no longer believed he could make a difference from inside the government. Benny Gantz accepted the resignation “with understanding and sorrow.”[22][14]

While serving as consul general, Zamir publicly criticized the government’s proposed judicial overhaul. After remarks at a New York fundraising event attended by Jewish-American donors, he was summoned to a Foreign Ministry meeting to clarify his position. He said he was deeply concerned about Israel’s direction and that the national home “must be democratic.”[2]

On March 26, 2023, after Defense Minister Yoav Gallant called for a pause in the legislation and Netanyahu announced his decision to dismiss him, Zamir announced his resignation.[5][23] In his resignation letter, Zamir said the reform “undermines the foundation of our democratic system and threatens the rule of law,” and described his decision as motivated by love for Israel rather than rejection of the country.[23] The resignation occurred amid protests and a politically contested national debate over the proposed reforms.[5][2]