Gadeer Kamal-Mreeh

Gadeer Kamal-Mreeh was born in 1984 and grew up in Daliyat al-Karmel, a Druze village in northern Israel.[1] She has described her identity in layered terms: Israeli but not Jewish, Arab but not Muslim, a member of a minority within the Arab minority, with Arabic as her mother tongue and Druze as her religion.[2] She has said this combination of identities brings both complexity and beauty that outsiders may not readily understand.[2]

Her father instilled in her from childhood the belief that she was a "social agent" obligated to shape reality rather than merely consume it.[2] That orientation expressed itself early: she began volunteering at a local radio station in sixth grade, presented cable-television segments, and produced filmed school reports.[3] She has recalled presenting her first television program at the age of twelve.[2]

Kamal-Mreeh earned a degree in Medical Imaging and Social Sciences from Bar-Ilan University and subsequently worked as an ultrasound technician.[4][3] She later earned a master's degree with honors in International Relations from the University of Haifa and attended the Reshet School for TV Professions in Israel.[4][3]

Kamal-Mreeh entered broadcast journalism after completing her studies at the Reshet school. In 2011 she joined the Arabic division of the Israel Broadcasting Authority, where division head Yasser Atilla first assigned her to host an Arabic-language program covering social and cultural issues affecting Arab youth in Israel.[3] In 2015 she was selected to host the broadcaster's daily Arabic-language newscast.[5]

In February 2017 she was appointed to present Channel 1's Saturday evening Hebrew-language news edition alongside Amir Ivgy.[6] Before her Hebrew-language debut she underwent three months of intensive preparation, focusing primarily on working with a Hebrew teleprompter.[3] The appointment made her the first Druze woman — and the first non-Jewish woman — to anchor a major Hebrew-language news program on Israeli television.[5][1] By 2017 she was also anchoring a nightly newscast and had signed on to present the Arabic-language edition for the new public broadcaster, Kan.[5][3]

Her first Hebrew broadcast drew an immediate response: veteran presenter Yaakov Ahimeir wished her success on air, journalist Carmela Menashe wrote that she "looks and sounds excellent," and Kamal-Mreeh recalled hearing applause from the control room and receiving a flood of calls and messages afterward.[7][3]

The path was not without resistance. Some members of her conservative Druze community objected to her entering a public-facing profession that involved work outside the home and irregular hours.[3] During a medical internship at Rambam Hospital earlier in her career, a nurse asked her condescendingly how she lived and how she had come there; she answered sarcastically that she had drawn water from a well, milked goats, ridden a donkey, and come.[3] She said she did not intend to hide her accent and described it as part of her Druze-Israeli identity.[3]

Kamal-Mreeh was elected to the Knesset in April 2019 as number 25 on the Blue and White (Kahol Lavan) party list, becoming the first Druze woman to serve in Israel's parliament.[8][9] At the time she described herself as the sole native Arabic speaker among Blue and White's 35 lawmakers and said she intended to represent Arab citizens broadly, not only Druze constituents.[8] She was also listed at number 25 on the Blue and White slate in the September 2019 election.[9]

Before entering politics, Kamal-Mreeh had already faced criticism from some in her community who considered journalism unsuitable for a Druze woman. She said support grew over time among Druze elders, including spiritual leader Sheikh Muwafaq Tarif.[10]

During her two years in the Knesset, Kamal-Mreeh chaired the Israel-Switzerland parliamentary friendship group and co-chaired the Israel-Germany friendship group.[11] She served on the Interior and Environment Committee, the Committee on the Status of Women and Gender Equality, and the special committee for fighting crime in the Arab sector.[11] She also chaired caucuses on planning, zoning, and industrial areas and on the advancement of Druze women.[11]

In May 2019, shortly after taking office, she submitted a proposal to the Knesset Secretariat to amend the 2018 Nation-State Law.[8] Her proposal called for language affirming that Israel is the home of all its citizens and guarantees them equal rights, a provision recognizing Arabic as the country's second official language, and a commitment to develop communities for all citizens.[8] The Knesset had passed the law by a vote of 62 to 55 on July 19, 2018; it defined Israel as the nation-state of the Jewish people, made Hebrew the state's language while reducing Arabic's former official-language status, and described Jewish settlement as a national value.[8][10] The Knesset was dissolved on May 28, 2019, before any committee discussion or vote on Kamal-Mreeh's proposal could take place; she argued that amending rather than abolishing the law was the practical course.[8]

In 2020, after Benny Gantz agreed to join an emergency national-unity government with Benjamin Netanyahu, Kamal-Mreeh publicly objected, stating that she had joined Blue and White to replace Netanyahu and oppose corruption.[12] After Blue and White split, she moved to Yesh Atid.[13] In a 2020 Knesset debate, now identified as a Yesh Atid member, she urged lawmakers to support an amendment to the Nation-State Law; the proposal was defeated by a vote of 21 in favor and 53 against, with Blue and White members including Gantz absent.[14] Blue and White stated that it opposed that particular proposal and favored addressing equality through a separate Basic Law.[14] Kamal-Mreeh announced she would not run in the election for the 24th Knesset, and her Knesset service ended in April 2021.[13]

In June 2021, the Jewish Agency for Israel and the Jewish Federation of Greater Washington appointed Kamal-Mreeh as a senior Israeli emissary (shlicha) to Washington, D.C.[11] She was described as the Jewish Agency's first Druze senior emissary and its first non-Jewish senior emissary.[11][1] Her remit included representing Israel, building connections between Israel and World Jewry, supporting Israel-engagement efforts on North American college campuses in cooperation with the agency's Campus Israel Fellows network and Hillel International, and helping train campus advocates.[11]

In October 2022 she spoke at a University of Maryland Hillel presentation, discussing the Druze community, her broadcasting career, and her parliamentary service.[15] She encouraged students to engage directly with Israelis rather than speaking about them from a distance, saying, "Don't talk about them, talk to them," and invited them to visit Daliyat al-Karmel, drink coffee, and speak with local residents.[15]

By September 2026, Kamal-Mreeh was identified as a strategic adviser on U.S.-Israel and Middle East affairs.[16] Speaking at a webinar on people-to-people ties between Israelis and Lebanese, she warned against a "cold peace" confined to political leaders and official institutions, arguing that civil society could press governments toward genuine peace and that international meetings could allow Israelis and Lebanese to discuss shared interests including democracy, equality, and regional stability.[16]

Kamal-Mreeh has accumulated a series of historic firsts spanning television, parliament, and public diplomacy. She was the first Druze woman and the first non-Jewish woman to anchor a Hebrew-language news program on Israeli television.[5][1] She later became the first Druze woman elected to the Knesset.[9] In 2021 she was appointed the first Druze and first non-Jewish senior emissary of the Jewish Agency.[11][1]

Her career has drawn attention as an example of a Druze woman navigating and reshaping boundaries in Israeli public life. She has spoken candidly about the difficulties of doing so in a conservative community while also describing the support she eventually received from Druze elders.[10] Her identity — Israeli, Arab, Druze, non-Jewish, and Arabic-speaking — places her at a complex intersection that she has described as both challenging and meaningful.[2] As she put it, "I am an Israeli but not a Jew, I am an Arab but not a Muslim, I am a minority within the Arab minority."[2]

Kamal-Mreeh's efforts to revise the Nation-State Law formed part of a broader political dispute over equality and Jewish self-determination. She argued that Israeli law needed an explicit guarantee of equality for all citizens, while supporters of the Nation-State Law defended it as necessary to protect Jewish self-determination.[10] When a Yesh Atid amendment was defeated in 2020, Blue and White maintained that equality should instead be protected through a separate Basic Law.[14] Her subsequent move from Blue and White to Yesh Atid followed her objection to Gantz's decision to join a national-unity government led with Netanyahu.[12][13]