Colette Avital

Avital was born in Romania in 1940.[1] During the Second World War she survived the Holocaust as a child by hiding in Bucharest with her mother.[2] She emigrated to Israel in 1950.[1]

She earned a B.A. in political science and English literature from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, an M.A. in English literature from the University of Montreal, and an M.A. in public administration from Harvard University.[1] Her facility with languages became a professional asset throughout her diplomatic career; she is proficient in Hebrew, English, French, Romanian, Italian, German, and Portuguese.[1]

Avital entered Israel's Foreign Ministry in 1960 and held a series of overseas posts.[1] Her assignments included Chancellor in Montreal, Press and Cultural Attaché in Brussels, Minister-Counselor in Paris, Consul in Boston, Ambassador in Lisbon, and Consul General in New York.[1] Correspondence of philosopher André Neher covering 1983–1985 lists Avital as "Ministre-conseiller" at the Israeli Embassy in Paris, corroborating her service there during that period.[3]

At Foreign Ministry headquarters in Jerusalem, Avital held a succession of senior administrative roles: Deputy Director of Information (1979–1981), director of the Training Division in the mid-1980s, Deputy Director General for Information, Media Communication and Culture (1986–1988), and Deputy Director General in charge of European Affairs (1997–1999).[1] A June 1987 report records an April 29 meeting with Avital and identifies her by the title "Director of Training in Foreign Ministry." It also names her among the proposed inner committee of approximately fifteen people that included Shimon Peres, Abba Eban, and Teddy Kollek.[4]

Avital entered politics in 1999 and joined the 15th Knesset as a Labor Party member, first taking her seat following the resignation of Shlomo Ben-Ami.[5] She went on to serve in the 16th and 17th Knessets as well, accumulating ten years of parliamentary service in total.[6]

In the 15th Knesset she chaired the Ethics Committee and an inquiry committee on locating and restituting Holocaust victims' assets, and also served on the Foreign Affairs and Defense, Finance, and Status of Women committees.[1] In the 16th Knesset she chaired the Immigration, Absorption and Diaspora Affairs Committee alongside a renewed mandate for the Holocaust assets inquiry committee.[1] Following Labor's 19-seat result in the March 2006 election to the 17th Knesset — in which Avital was the party's twelfth elected member — she became Deputy Speaker of the Knesset, chaired the Lobby for Holocaust Survivors and the Lobby for Jerusalem, and led the Forum of the Jewish Nation.[1][7]

After leaving the Knesset, Avital said in a 2015 interview that she had moved to Meretz before the preceding election for ideological reasons, criticizing Labor for insufficient attention to foreign affairs, the peace process, and settlements.[6]

Avital was the first woman to submit a candidacy for president of Israel.[8] As early as 2006 she argued that it was time for a woman to become president, a view that coincided with a campaign by women's organizations encouraging a female candidate, though those organizations stopped short of endorsing any individual.[9]

In the June 13, 2007 Knesset election for president, Avital ran as the Labor Party candidate and received 21 votes in the first round, finishing third behind Shimon Peres with 58 votes and Reuven Rivlin with 37.[6][10] She and Rivlin then withdrew, clearing the way for Peres to win the second round unopposed with 86 votes.[10]

On February 15, 2000, the 15th Knesset unanimously established the Parliamentary Committee of Inquiry for the Location and Restitution of Assets of Holocaust Victims, following a motion by Avital, who became its chair.[11] The committee was reestablished in March 2003, again under her chairmanship, and its mandate covered dormant bank accounts, safe-deposit boxes, and other assets — particularly land held by institutions in Israel.[11]

The banking inquiry involved 36 committee meetings from July 2000 through November 2004.[11] Five banks agreed to external audits financed by the banks themselves, with a budget of NIS 13 million and approximately 70,000 auditor-hours of work.[11] An earlier 2001 decision to commission an external investigation covered bank records, accounts, safe-deposit boxes, computerized databases, and archives, with unclaimed assets to be referred to the Custodian General or the Ministry of Finance.[12] By 2004 the committee had identified approximately 4,500 accounts believed still unclaimed; nearly all were held by the Custodian General, and roughly half had originally been opened at Bank Leumi — then known as Anglo-Palestine Bank — with others linked to Barclays branches in Israel, United Mizrahi Bank, and other institutions.[13]

The committee concluded that the State and banks had not adequately located owners or heirs and that some funds had been transferred or returned at less than their real value.[11] Under a minimum reappraisal method, it calculated total bank liability of approximately NIS 37.25 million and State liability of approximately NIS 101.2 million; under a maximum method it estimated NIS 322.7 million for banks and NIS 587 million for the State, though the committee explicitly described those higher figures as theoretical and dependent on finding all heirs.[11] Its recommendations included returning assets to owners or heirs at reappraised value, publishing names of possible account holders, and directing funds whose owners could not be found toward assistance for survivors and Holocaust commemoration.[11]

The inquiry also unfolded amid allegations of criminal conduct involving dormant accounts. In 2001, following police arrests of a former senior Bank Leumi credit executive and a private investigator on suspicion of stealing millions of shekels from dormant accounts and selling account information, Avital said the suspicions reinforced the committee's concern that some heirs' applications had been rejected because funds were already missing.[14] She had previously exposed Bank Leumi for withholding large sums belonging to survivors and their heirs.[15]

Avital's personal history as a child Holocaust survivor has shaped her decades of advocacy on behalf of survivors. In 2012 she was appointed to lead the Center of Organizations of Holocaust Survivors in Israel, an umbrella body then representing 50 organizations that assist survivors; by 2016 that number had grown to 56.[16][15] In that role she warned that government budget cuts could reduce assistance for needy survivors.[16]

She has also served as a longtime member of the board and negotiating team of the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany.[2] In 2022 she intervened on behalf of Israeli survivors holding Romanian citizenship, describing Romania's documentation requirements for survivor pensions as an "unacceptable list of documents that can no longer be obtained"; a 2020 bilateral agreement allowing survivors to use Israeli documentation had not been recognized by Romania's national insurance agency, requiring further diplomatic engagement.[17]

In October 2020 Avital wrote to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Minister Zeev Elkin urging them to reconsider the proposed nomination of Effi Eitam as chairman of Yad Vashem. Her letter argued that the appointment criteria should be professional and free of political considerations, and emphasized the need for relevant background, sensitivity, subject knowledge, organizational ability, and the capacity to engage international dignitaries and raise funds.[18]

Beyond politics and diplomacy, Avital has held an extensive range of cultural and civic positions. She chairs the Zimriya Festival of Choirs and the International Harp Contest. The Zimriya was founded in 1952 and the harp contest in 1959; both were initiated by Aharon Zvi Propes and remained organizationally linked. Avital succeeded Esther Herlitz in that role around 2009 and has recalled attending the first harp contest in Jerusalem while serving as an IDF soldier.[8]

Her board and leadership roles have included chair of the Schechter Institute of Jewish Studies, secretary general of the World Organization for the Recovery of Jewish Property, director of the Berl Katznelson Foundation's Ideological and Educational Center, and board member of Na'amat, the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra, Mitvim, Ramat Gan College, and Gesher Theater.[8] She has also served as vice president of the Socialist International and international secretary of the Labor Party.[8]

The World Jewish Congress identifies her as its Co-Commissioner for Holocaust Legacy.[1] Her honors include honorary doctorates from the College of New Rochelle and Wellesley College, France's Chevalier de la Légion d'Honneur, and Italy's Order of Merit.[1]

In 2021, Avital publicly alleged that Shimon Peres had sexually harassed her on two occasions during the 1980s.[19] She said one incident occurred in Paris, where she was serving as a diplomat, and a second took place in 1984 — when Peres was prime minister — at the end of a meeting about her candidacy to become his communications adviser.[19] Avital said she resisted both advances, told Peres's adviser Yossi Beilin about the Paris incident, and subsequently avoided seeing Peres for roughly two years.[19] Beilin said he did not remember the Paris incident and had not witnessed such conduct; former MKs Yael Dayan and Sofa Landver said they were not familiar with the alleged behavior.[19] Avital later said she continued working with Peres because she admired him and did not expect the conduct to recur; she also objected to the question "why now," saying it often conveyed blame or disbelief.[20]

The investigation into Holocaust-era bank assets chaired by Avital also generated procedural criticism. The arrangement under which the banks financed an investigation into their own conduct drew objections from MK Michael Eitan, who argued it could cast doubt on the outcome; MK Kleiner alleged that Avital and Knesset Speaker Avraham Burg had reached an understanding with the banks without informing other committee members.[21] These were reported allegations, not formal findings of impropriety. The Association of Banks in Israel separately disputed aspects of the committee's methodology, with its director general arguing that missing payment records did not by themselves establish bank liability and that the proposed reappraisal formula lacked sufficient professional grounding.[11]