Oded Forer

Oded Forer was born on May 30, 1977, and resides in Mishmar David. He is married and has three children.[8]

Before entering elected politics, Forer served as a political adviser to Education Minister Limor Livnat and later as director general of the Ministry of Immigrant Absorption.[8] During his tenure as director general, the number of immigrants arriving in Israel reached 27,000 in 2014, compared with 18,000 the preceding year, although the source does not attribute the entire increase to his work.[8] He had previously made an unsuccessful bid for the Likud's Shephelah district slot.[8]

Yisrael Beiteinu's January 2015 candidate list placed Forer eighth for the 20th Knesset and identified him as head of the party's campaign headquarters.[9] He later served in the Knesset; for the September 2019 election to the 22nd Knesset he appeared second on the party's list, a position he held again for the March 2020 election to the 23rd Knesset.[10][11] He was also listed second on the Yisrael Beiteinu slate for the 2021 election, behind Avigdor Liberman and ahead of Evgeni Sova.[12] As of October 2026, he is ranked fourth on the party's list for the election to the 26th Knesset scheduled for October 27, 2026.[13][1]

Forer has chaired several Knesset committees. In 2020 he chaired the provisional Finance Committee during the COVID-19 economic crisis and later chaired the Committee on the Status of Women and Gender Equality.[14][15] By March 2023 he chaired the Committee for Immigration, Absorption and Diaspora Affairs, and an official directory still listed him in that role in February 2024.[16][17] An August 2026 report identified him as chair of the special committee for strengthening and developing the Negev and Galilee.[2]

As provisional Finance Committee chair, Forer oversaw the committee's rejection in 2020 of a Finance Ministry request to expand by a further NIS 6 billion the credit limit of a state-backed loan fund for small and medium-sized businesses during the COVID-19 crisis. The committee approved the associated state-guarantee request subject to conditions requiring data about industries whose businesses were ineligible for state-supported bank credit.[14]

A notable early legislative achievement came in 2017, when Forer and fellow Yisrael Beiteinu MK Yulia Malinovsky co-sponsored legislation eliminating the 12-month waiting period before new immigrants could receive a passport after gaining Israeli citizenship.[18] The bill passed its second and third readings with 28 votes in favor and no abstentions.[18] Forer framed the change as correcting an injustice, stating that the days of treating a new immigrant as "a second-class citizen who isn't entitled to a passport" were over.[18] The proposal had faced opposition from the police, who warned that immediate passports could be exploited by criminals; Forer countered that new citizens were entitled to the basic rights of citizenship.[18]

Forer also represented Israel at the 2017 American Zionist Movement conference in Washington, DC, held November 15–17, where he appeared as a speaker in his capacity as a Member of Knesset.[19]

In Israel's 36th government, which ran from June 13, 2021, to December 28, 2022, Forer held two portfolios: Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development and Minister for Development of the Periphery, Negev, and Galilee.[3][4]

The most contested initiative of his tenure was a five-year agricultural reform plan, announced jointly with Finance Minister Avigdor Liberman in July 2021 and incorporated into the 2021–2022 Economic Arrangements Law.[5] The plan called for gradual tariff reductions on fruits and vegetables, reduced regulation of produce imported from Europe, and more than NIS 2 billion over five years for agricultural investment, research and development, and productivity improvements.[5][20] Direct support to farmers was set at NIS 100 per cultivated dunam, amounting to NIS 420 million annually.[20] The ministers projected annual consumer savings of NIS 2.7 billion, or roughly NIS 840 per household.[5]

Agricultural organizations and regional leaders disputed the plan, arguing that it had been advanced without adequate consultation and that the proposed direct support was insufficient.[20] Negotiations produced a revised agreement setting minimum tariff levels of 50 percent for specified vegetables and 40 percent for specified fruits, increasing direct support to NIS 700 million, and leaving certain plant-protection rules unchanged. Reporting characterized the resulting package as substantially scaled back from the original proposal.[21]

Forer also championed a long-term plan to develop Eilat and the Hevel Eilot region as a national and international center for producing food from the sea and the desert.[6][7] The government approved the plan in May 2022, and an INSS analysis noted its potential for cooperation with Egypt and Jordan.[6] Forer described an investment of NIS 170 million in the project and argued that attracting marine researchers would also require strong local education, health services, and recreational infrastructure.[7] His broader regional-development philosophy held that the Negev and Galilee should be built up as centers in their own right—with metropolitan anchors, research capacity, and regional services—rather than simply connected more tightly to central Israel.[7]

On the international front, in March 2022 Forer signed a memorandum of understanding with UAE Minister Mariam Almheiri focused on sustainable agriculture and food security. An INSS analysis described it as an important step in growing environmental cooperation between Israel and the UAE.[22]

Forer's political record reflects a sustained focus on immigration and Diaspora Jewish affairs, extending from his earlier service as director general of the Ministry of Immigrant Absorption to his legislation on passports for new citizens.[8][18]

In March 2023, while chairing the Knesset Committee for Immigration, Absorption and Diaspora Affairs, Forer argued that the Jewish Agency should be at the forefront of aliyah promotion and should amplify the voices of Jews in the Diaspora.[16] He opposed proposed amendments to the Law of Return, saying that government efforts to change it harmed the Jewish people, Diaspora Judaism, and Israel's role as a country that receives and welcomes new immigrants.[16] An official committee directory continued to list him as chairman in February 2024.[17]

During Forer's 2020 chairmanship of the Committee on the Status of Women and Gender Equality, the Knesset approved legislation providing for the temporary removal of parental guardianship in specified cases involving charges of murdering or attempting to murder a family member, or raping or sodomizing a child. The removal becomes permanent following a conviction. Forer said the measure was intended to protect children rather than punish the accused parent.[15]

Following the Hamas-led terrorist massacre of October 7, 2023, Forer introduced legislation in 2024 proposing prison terms of up to five years for publishing material that denied or downplayed the massacre, or that praised, sympathized with, or identified with Hamas's atrocities.[23] The Knesset passed the law in January 2025.[24] As enacted, the law makes denying the massacre in order to defend or support Hamas or its partners a criminal offense; it exempts statements made incidentally, in good faith, or for legitimate purposes, and requires the attorney general's approval before an indictment can proceed.[24] After the vote, Forer stated: "The horrors of Oct. 7 cannot be denied. The truth is more important than ever. We will not let lies and hatred prevail."[24]

Several aspects of Forer's record have drawn criticism or public debate. His appointment as chair of the Knesset Committee on the Status of Women and Gender Equality in 2020 was criticized by women's organizations and female Knesset members on the grounds that he was a man with no record of engagement with women's-rights issues. Some women, however, expressed support and argued that the struggle for equality was not confined to women.[25]

The proposed October 7 denial legislation attracted concerns from civil-liberties advocates, who warned about its initially broad wording and potential chilling effects on speech and questioned how it would be enforced in practice.[23] The final law included exemptions for incidental, good-faith, and legitimate statements and required attorney-general authorization for prosecutions.[24]

Forer's agricultural reform also generated controversy. Farmers and retail chains disputed his claim that price declines resulted from the reform, pointing instead to seasonal conditions, weather, and supply changes; most products he cited had no imports at the time.[26] Agricultural organizations characterized the reform process as insufficiently consultative, and the revised agreement was described as a substantial retreat from the original proposal.[20][21]