Karine Elharrar

Elharrar was born in 1977 in Holon to Motty and Colette, who owned a hair salon.[1][2] She was the eldest of three children and described her childhood as active, with many extracurricular activities, until she learned at age nine that she had a muscular dystrophy condition.[1] A neurologist told her she would eventually use a wheelchair; she later recounted that she chose to continue living her life rather than sit at home feeling sorry for herself.[1]

She decided at thirteen to pursue a career in law.[3] She studied at the College of Management in Rishon LeZion, where she transitioned to wheelchair use during her law studies.[4] Her experience there was formative: on her first day, the college elevator was not working, and she later discovered that a wall blocked access from the elevator to the cafeteria.[4] After campaigning for six months, she succeeded in having the wall removed, making the cafeteria accessible — an early and personal encounter with the structural barriers facing people with disabilities.[4]

After completing her law degree, Elharrar earned a master's degree and spent the final year of her graduate studies in Washington, where she trained in human rights.[1] On returning to Israel, she joined the legal clinic for the rights of people with disabilities at Bar-Ilan University.[1] Within three years she was directing six university clinics and had established two more, including clinics addressing the rights of older people and Holocaust survivors.[4][5] She also provided legal advice to people with limited means through the “Heart in Law” initiative and later opened a private law practice.[4]

Elharrar's path into politics ran through Bar-Ilan University, where Shai Piron, one of her clinic students, introduced her to Yair Lapid.[4] She joined Yesh Atid's founding list and became one of its longest-serving lawmakers.[6] She was placed fourth on the Yesh Atid slate for the 2021 Knesset election, after Lapid, Orna Barbivai, and Meir Cohen.[7]

She entered the Knesset in 2013, beginning a legislative career centered on disability rights and the welfare of vulnerable populations.[2] During her second term she chaired the Knesset State Control Committee, which examined implementation of State Comptroller reports.[4] In that role she summoned Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu — who was then also serving as foreign minister — to a committee discussion about Israel's public diplomacy, and she chaired a subcommittee dealing with state control and security matters.[4]

Among her legislative priorities was a bill to give legal status to foster families, including relatives who informally take children into their homes.[3] She argued that Israel's pattern — in which roughly eighty percent of children in care were placed in institutions and only twenty percent in foster families — was the reverse of practice elsewhere, and that relatives who stepped in to care for children should be recognized and supported.[3] She also helped pass a law requiring Israeli firms to recruit a percentage of disabled staff, though the resulting compromise left only a symbolic penalty for non-compliance rather than the meaningful incentives she had sought.[8]

Elharrar consistently advocated for integrating children with disabilities into mainstream schools rather than educating them in separate institutions, arguing that therapy could be delivered within regular school settings and that early integration helped children become more independent and better equipped to enter the workforce.[8] She also expressed concern about young people leaving institutions at age twenty-one who could face social isolation and barriers to employment.[8]

When the coalition government led by Naftali Bennett was formed in June 2021, Elharrar became Israel's Minister of Infrastructure, Energy and Water — a portfolio spanning natural-gas policy, regional energy agreements, water diplomacy, and the country's transition toward renewable sources.[2][9] She served in this role until December 28, 2022, when the 36th government left office.[9]

On taking office in June 2021, Elharrar met U.S. mediator John Desrocher to continue indirect Israel-Lebanon negotiations over their disputed maritime border.[10] She stated that despite Israel's strong legal case, the country was prepared to consider creative solutions, and stressed the importance of the talks even amid the change of government.[10] In a 2026 interview she continued to defend the maritime agreement concerning the Karish and Qana gas fields, describing the portion Israel relinquished as dry and partly territorial waters and calling the outcome a “win-win.”[11]

In October 2021, Elharrar and Jordanian Water Minister Mohammed El-Najjar signed an agreement to nearly double the volume of water Israel sold to Jordan, with the amount set to reach approximately 100 million cubic meters — up from a baseline of 50 million cubic meters established in the mid-1990s and later raised to 60 million.[12] The new price was set at $0.65 per cubic meter, a substantial increase from the previous rate of $0.04, with a higher price of $0.75 applying to any additional volume Jordan requested.[12] Elharrar described the agreement as a statement in favor of good-neighborly relations.[12]

The following month, at the Dubai Expo in November 2021, she signed a water agreement alongside UAE Climate Change Minister Mariam Almheiri and Jordanian Water and Irrigation Minister Mohammed Al-Najjar, with U.S. Climate Envoy John Kerry and UAE Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed present as observers.[13] The broader arrangement brokered by the UAE — described as the countries' largest-ever cooperation agreement — envisaged a UAE company building a solar power plant in Jordan, with Israel purchasing 600 megawatts of electricity for a desalination plant that would send 200 million cubic meters of Mediterranean water to Jordan.[14]

Elharrar was also identified as supporting environmental concerns surrounding the proposed UAE use of the Eilat-Mediterranean oil pipeline and the adequacy of its environmental risk assessment.[15]

Elharrar arrived in the energy ministry with a clear preference for accelerating Israel's transition to renewable energy. At a conference in the Golan Heights she argued for greater investment in solar, wind, and new technological solutions, citing Israel's government commitment to a 30% renewable-energy target by 2030 and urging developers to approach her ministry.[16]

In December 2021, she announced that Israel would not issue new natural-gas exploration licenses in its economic waters during 2022, saying the one-year pause would allow the ministry to focus on renewable energy.[17] The decision applied to future licensing procedures rather than previously awarded licenses or rounds already underway, so drilling based on earlier licenses could still proceed.[17] The ministry also announced the formation of a new department devoted to renewable energy.[17] Her predecessor Yuval Steinitz and industry representatives criticized the pause, arguing that it could deter companies and delay projects.[17]

The Russia-Ukraine war altered the calculus significantly. The resulting European energy crisis increased demand for natural gas and prompted renewed European efforts to secure alternative supplies, and by May 2022 Elharrar had reversed course, announcing a return to issuing new exploration licenses.[18] She said Israel could help meet European demand using offshore reserves estimated at nearly 1,000 billion cubic meters.[19]

In June 2022, energy ministers from Israel, Egypt, and the European Union signed a memorandum in Cairo at a ministerial meeting of the East Mediterranean Gas Forum.[19] The agreement envisaged transporting Israeli gas by pipeline to Egyptian Mediterranean LNG terminals for export to Europe and was described as the first arrangement for Israeli LNG exports to Europe.[19] The Jerusalem Post reported that the arrangement would run for an initial three years and could be extended for two more.[19] Elharrar said, “Little Israel is becoming a significant player in the global energy market.”[19]

In December 2022, the ministry published a fourth offshore exploration-license tender, offering four groups of areas; Elharrar said the process would support competition, domestic supply stability, and further export agreements.[18]

The gas-for-neighbors dimension of her tenure extended to Lebanon as well. In 2022 Israel agreed to increase natural-gas exports to Egypt, with some of the gas expected to reach Lebanon. Elharrar told Israel's Army Radio: “There's a big energy crisis in Lebanon,” adding that it was impossible to inspect gas molecules to determine whether they originally came from Israel or Egypt.[20]

Elharrar's tenure was marked by a series of high-profile diplomatic engagements that reflected the expanding energy ties between Israel and its neighbors in the aftermath of the Abraham Accords.

In February 2022, she led Israel's delegation to the Egypt Petroleum Show in Cairo — the first time Israel had participated in the event.[21] Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi went over to greet her personally during a live television broadcast, a gesture that reflected the growing openness in Egypt-Israel relations in the gas sector and el-Sisi's recognition of Israel's role in strengthening Egypt's position as a regional energy hub.[21]

The June 2022 Israel-Egypt-EU gas memorandum reinforced Israel's emergence as a meaningful regional supplier.[19] The agreement, combined with the expanded water cooperation with Jordan and the UAE-brokered renewable-energy arrangement, illustrated the degree to which Elharrar's ministerial period coincided with — and actively advanced — Israel's integration into a regional energy and water network spanning the Gulf, the Levant, and the Eastern Mediterranean.

In November 2021, Elharrar traveled to Glasgow to attend the United Nations COP26 climate conference, where she had scheduled meetings with counterparts to advance joint action on climate change.[22] On her first day at the venue, she was unable to enter the conference area.[22] Her office stated that organizers would not permit her to enter in her vehicle and offered a shuttle bus that was not wheelchair accessible; after approximately two hours waiting, she returned to her hotel in Edinburgh.[22] She said the only alternatives offered were walking nearly a kilometer or taking the inaccessible shuttle, and called the episode scandalous.[22]

The following day, she entered the venue as part of Prime Minister Naftali Bennett's entourage, and British Prime Minister Boris Johnson apologized to her personally.[22] During COP26 she participated in a meeting between Bennett and Bill Gates, at which the two agreed to establish a joint working group on climate change between Israel and the Gates Foundation; Bennett said he wanted Israel to channel its technological capacity toward climate issues and remove barriers to work in the field.[23]

UK Environment Secretary George Eustice offered a somewhat different account of the access failure, describing it as a miscommunication and noting that the particular entrance Elharrar had approached lacked the right arrangements, while most other entrances had wheelchair access.[22] He called the incident regrettable and said it should have been resolved on the spot.

The episode drew wide attention and reinforced Elharrar's public profile as a disability-rights advocate. The Center for Israel Education cited it specifically in its description of her as a “disability-rights champion.”[2]

When the 37th government, led by Benjamin Netanyahu, took office on December 29, 2022, Elharrar was no longer in the cabinet and continued as a Yesh Atid MK in opposition.[24][6] She remained active on issues connected to judicial appointments and disability advocacy.

In June 2023, amid a politically charged dispute over judicial-selection reform and the composition of the Judicial Selection Committee, Elharrar stood as the opposition's candidate for the Knesset's parliamentary seat on the committee.[25] She received 58 votes to 56 in a secret ballot — a result that indicated at least four coalition members had voted for her — while Likud MK Tally Gotliv received only 15 votes in favor and 59 against and was not elected.[25] The outcome left the committee without a second Knesset representative for the time being and became a significant moment in the broader dispute over judicial appointments and reform.[25]

In January 2025, Elharrar joined four other committee members in voting to appoint Yitzhak Amit as permanent president of the Supreme Court.[26] Justice Minister Yariv Levin and two other committee members boycotted the session and disputed the appointment's legitimacy; the vote followed a Supreme Court order issued in September 2024 after Levin had refrained from holding such a vote for more than a year.[26]

Following the Hamas massacre of October 7, 2023, Elharrar focused her legislative work on survivors of the Nova music festival and residents of kibbutzim affected by the attacks.[11] She told JNS in January 2026 that only one initiative she had advanced had passed: a measure simplifying the process for October 7 survivors to receive automatic recognition and benefits.[11]

In September 2026, Elharrar announced that she would not run on the Yesh Atid list for the next Knesset election.[6] She stated that she would remain in the party and contribute to its election campaign.[6] In her announcement, she recalled that Lapid had added her to Yesh Atid's founding list and reflected on a career that spanned coalition and opposition service, committee chairmanships, the energy ministry, and legislation advancing the rights of children, young people at risk, and women.[6]

Elharrar's career bridged two domains that rarely intersect at the ministerial level: hands-on advocacy for people with disabilities and the high-stakes diplomacy of regional energy markets. Her work directing Bar-Ilan's legal clinics — expanding them to cover older people, Holocaust survivors, and people with disabilities — gave her a practical legal foundation before she entered politics.[4][5]

As energy minister, she presided over a period of intensive regional deal-making. Israel expanded water sales to Jordan and joined the UAE-brokered water-for-energy arrangement.[12][14] Her tenure also included Israel's first participation in the Egypt Petroleum Show and the Israel-Egypt-EU gas memorandum.[21][19] Her gas-exploration policy shifted from a one-year pause intended to prioritize renewable energy to renewed exploration amid the European energy crisis.[17][18]

The COP26 episode brought international attention to accessibility at a major climate conference. Elharrar's exclusion and Johnson's apology highlighted the practical barriers faced by delegates who use wheelchairs.[23][27]

The Center for Israel Education identified her as one of 75 notable current Israelis, specifically citing her disability advocacy and her ministerial service.[2] In a career that spanned more than a decade in the Knesset, she demonstrated that a wheelchair user could reach the senior cabinet table in Israel and exercise influence over regional affairs.