Meir Cohen (politician)

Meir Cohen was born on November 15, 1955, in Essaouira, Morocco.[1] He immigrated to Israel with his parents and five siblings in the early 1960s, first settling in Yeruham before the family moved to Dimona.[2] He grew up and studied in Dimona, where he later built his career in education and municipal politics.[2]

Cohen completed a bachelor's degree in history and Jewish thought at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev and subsequently earned a master's degree in teaching Jewish thought from the same institution.[2] He also served as a paratrooper and fought in the Yom Kippur War before turning to a career in education.[3]

After graduating, Cohen taught school in Dimona and worked his way up to the position of high-school principal.[1][2] He helped revitalize the struggling Lehman Comprehensive High School before returning in 1995 to manage Zinman High School.[2] Under his leadership, enrollment at Zinman grew from 900 to 1,200 students over seven years, and the proportion of students completing matriculation exams rose from 34 percent to 70 percent.[2] He also served on the Jewish Agency's board of directors during this period.[1]

In 2026, Cohen summarized this phase of his career as 25 years in the education system, working as a teacher and school principal before his years in politics.[4]

Cohen entered politics in 2003, running for mayor of Dimona on a platform focused on the city's unemployment, education, and public image.[2] The campaign was marked by difficult conditions — violent incidents, racist and hateful leaflets, and personal attacks — and Cohen, after winning with 42 percent of the vote, proposed an all-party municipal coalition to heal what he described as "deep rifts that are difficult to heal."[1][2]

He was reelected in November 2008 with a commanding 61 percent of the vote, against 25 percent for Nissim Peretz and 14 percent for Benny Biton.[5] Cohen served as mayor of Dimona from 2003 to 2013.[4]

During his tenure, Cohen led campaigns on water prices, fair land distribution between regional councils and towns, and local-authority welfare and education budgets.[6] He expanded the city's jurisdiction to include factories previously belonging to nearby regional councils.[6] He also introduced educational changes and opened new educational institutions in Dimona, with policies that narrowed student achievement gaps and increased matriculation-exam success.[6] His mayoral years were additionally associated with the opening of factories and Dimona's first mall, a decline in unemployment, and the establishment of cultural and youth centers.[1] He chaired the Negev Development Authority from 2012.[7]

In October 2012, Yesh Atid leader Yair Lapid publicly introduced Cohen, then still serving as mayor, as a prospective candidate for the party.[7] Cohen had joined Yesh Atid that same month.[1] He was placed fourth on Yesh Atid's list for the January 2013 election to the 19th Knesset.[8] Yesh Atid won 19 seats in that election, and Cohen entered the Knesset for the first time.[8]

Yesh Atid subsequently joined a coalition government with Likud Yisrael Beiteinu and Habayit Hayehudi; the coalition commanded 67 of the Knesset's 120 seats.[9] The 33rd government was sworn in on March 18, 2013.[9]

Cohen was appointed Minister of Welfare and Social Services in the 33rd government, a post he held from March 18, 2013, to December 3, 2014.[10] His approach centered on addressing the structural causes of poverty rather than simply providing aid, and he established a public committee — the Allalouf Committee — to examine poverty, pursuing gradual implementation of its recommendations.[6]

In 2014, Cohen announced that the welfare ministry had secured an additional NIS 1.7 billion for implementation of the Allalouf Committee's recommendations, compared with the committee's suggested NIS 4 billion, with implementation to begin in 2015.[11] He described the funding as an achievement while arguing that responsibility for combating poverty needed to extend across all government ministries.[11] During a dispute over across-the-board government budget cuts that same year, he declared he would not accept another reduction in the welfare budget, calling the ministry "the last hope for hundreds of thousands of families on the brink of economic and emotional collapse."[12]

Cohen's work in the ministry also encompassed nutrition security, assistance for elderly people and Holocaust survivors, support for at-risk children and youth, and services for people with special needs, alongside structural changes intended to shift the ministry from an aid-oriented to a welfare-oriented model.[6] Changes promoted during his tenure were credited with helping 60,000 children break free from the cycle of poverty.[6]

Cohen was listed third on Yesh Atid's slate for the 2021 election to the 24th Knesset and was elected to the Knesset under that party.[13][14] He served as Minister of Labor, Social Affairs and Social Services in the 36th government from June 13, 2021, to December 28, 2022.[15]

At the outset of the term, Cohen opposed coalition plans to transfer the Employment Administration to the Economy Ministry and responsibility for day-care centers to the Education Ministry, seeking to keep the labor arm unified under his ministry.[16] He also announced a joint initiative with the Communications Ministry to connect welfare-recipient families to fiber-optic internet.[16]

In the 2021–2022 budget process, Cohen secured an additional NIS 1 billion for the welfare ministry — approximately 11 percent of its budget — directed at treating and rehabilitating people affected by the COVID-19 crisis, including through new welfare frameworks and renovations to welfare offices.[17] The food-security budget was set to rise from NIS 50 million to NIS 106 million during this period.[17] He also promoted welfare-services legislation for people with disabilities that was intended to expand individual choice over support services and encourage independent community living over institutionalization. Reporting on the proposal said its implementation required a dedicated budget of NIS 2.2 billion.[18]

Under the Bennett–Lapid government, Cohen additionally led a Ukrainian-refugee relief and subsistence program that assisted 26,000 people and operated with a budget of 40 million shekels.[3]

Following his second ministerial term, Cohen continued to serve in the Knesset as a member of the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee and had previously served as Deputy Speaker.[3] He described himself as right-wing on security issues and said the October 7, 2023, terrorist attack had shattered Israelis' faith in peace with the Palestinians.[3]

In October 2025, Yesh Atid announced that Cohen was expected to become chairman of KKL-JNF and leave the Knesset after twelve consecutive years of service.[19] That appointment was canceled after Yesh Atid withdrew from its agreement on positions in the national institutions, and Cohen remained in the Knesset.[19]

In August 2026, Cohen announced that he would not run on the joint "Beyachad" electoral list and would instead be appointed chairman and president of the Yesh Atid Conference.[4] He framed the decision as making way for a younger generation while emphasizing his continued active role in the party, and he reflected on a career spanning 25 years in education, 23 years in politics, two mayoral terms, and two terms as welfare minister.[4] He remained one of Yesh Atid's veteran founding figures and said he would continue working within the party.[4]

Cohen's public record has combined education, municipal development, and national welfare policy. In Dimona, the educational gains at Zinman preceded a mayoral period associated with new factories, the city's first mall, lower unemployment, and new cultural and youth centers.[1][2]

At the national level, his first welfare term secured funding toward the recommendations of the Allalouf Committee.[11] His second term brought expanded welfare and food-security budgets and legislation intended to increase choice and community living for people with disabilities.[17][18]

In 2026, Cohen stepped aside from the next electoral slate while remaining active in Yesh Atid as chairman and president of its party conference.[4]

In June 2020, Channel 12's Uvda investigative program broadcast allegations that Cohen had sexually harassed several women during his time as mayor of Dimona, including an attempted kiss and allegations of persistent unwanted advances.[20] The program also reported allegations that efforts had been made to suppress reporting and that a police inquiry — initiated on Cohen's own complaint of a conspiracy against him — was halted before investigators questioned the women involved.[20]

Cohen denied ever harassing a woman, stated that he had never been investigated and that no complaint alleging sexual misconduct had been filed against him, and characterized the program's claims as false accusations.[21] The police stated that the complaint had been handled professionally, that the prosecution decided to close the file, and that the file did not raise suspicion of sex offenses; their response did not address the investigator's reported account that the inquiry concluded before the women were questioned.[20] The allegations remained disputed in the cited reporting.[20][21]