Gilad Erdan
Gilad Erdan is an Israeli politician and diplomat who was a prominent figure in the Likud party, serving as a long-time member of the Knesset from 2003 to 2020 and holding numerous senior ministerial portfolios.
Gilad Menashe Erdan was born in Ashkelon. He is of Romanian Jewish and Hungarian Jewish descent. He studied at Netiv-Meir yeshiva high-school in Jerusalem. He attained the rank of captain during his military service in the Adjutant Corps of the IDF. After his military service, he studied law at Bar-Ilan University, gaining an LL.B., and started working as an attorney. Later on, he gained a master's degree in political science from Tel-Aviv University (cum laude). Erdan is married with four children, and when in Israel, he lives in Kiryat Ono.
Erdan began his political activity in opposition to the Oslo Accords, during his legal studies in the early 1990s. In these circumstances he met with then Likud MK Ariel Sharon, and soon started working as Sharon's political advisor. When Likud won the elections in 1996, Erdan was appointed as an advisor to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and as director of the Department for Public Inquiries to the Prime Minister's Office between 1996 and 1998. In February 1998, Erdan was elected by a vast majority as the chairman of "Young Likud", and served in this position for 6 years. During his term as Young Likud chairman, Erdan led many of the party's ideological and field activities in opposition to Ehud Barak's 1999-2001 government.
Member of Knesset
Erdan was first elected to the 16th Knesset in the 2003 elections. During his first term in the Knesset, Erdan was one of the most outspoken opponents of the unilateral Disengagement Plan from the Gaza Strip led by Prime Minister Ariel Sharon from the Likud. In November 2005, Faced with harsh opposition to his plan, Sharon left Likud with several other MKs, and created a new party, Kadima. Erdan remained in Likud and after winning fourth place in the party's primaries, retained his seat in the 17th Knesset in the 2006 elections despite Likud's collapse from 40 to 12 seats in the Knesset. Erdan was re-elected to the 18th Knesset in 2009. Serving as Member of Knesset, Erdan has supported boosting ties between Israel and Evangelical Christians, as well as presenting bills to enforce no-smoking laws, permanently revoking the driving licenses of serial traffic offenders, and allowing the courts to revoke citizenship for citizens visiting enemy countries or acquiring citizenship from such countries. The latter bill was submitted following Israeli Arab MK Azmi Bishara's visit to Syria, an enemy-state to the state of Israel.
In the 32nd government
After the 2009 elections to the Knesset, Erdan was appointed Minister of Environmental Protection, and the Minister in charge of coordinating between the Government and the Knesset in the 32nd Government. Upon the government taking office, he expressed support for Avigdor Lieberman's speech opposing the Annapolis Conference and international pressure. He commented that "Israel does not take orders from Obama" and that "citizens of Israel have decided that they will not become the fifty first US state". As Minister of Environmental Protection, Erdan introduced the most comprehensive River Restoration program to date, legislated and enforced the protection of beaches and the coastline, increased recycling through a bottling and packaging law, and created the Beer Sheva River Park – an ecological park built on a former garbage dump – where thousands of people enjoy bike paths, walking trails, a lake, sports area, and a botanical garden. He initiated a "pollution has no borders" policy which included reducing Israel's Greenhouse Gas Emissions, increasing water desalination, in an effort to make Israel the world leader in water recycling. He also imposed limitations on the import and export of living monkeys for medical purposes, resulting in the closure of the "Mazor Farm", a disputed monkey-breeding farm.
In the 33rd government
Following the 2013 elections to the Knesset, Erdan was appointed the minister of communications and minister of home front defense in the 33rd Government. He was also appointed as a member of the Security Cabinet. On 22 April 2014, after several ongoing disputes with the defense minister, Moshe (Bogi) Yaalon, on matters of authority, Erdan announced his resignation as the minister of home front defense, and called the prime-minister to dissolve the ministry entirely. The ministry was shut down subsequently. In November 2014, Erdan was appointed minister of interior following Gideon Sa'ar's resignation.
In the 34th government
On 24 May 2015, Prime Minister Netanyahu appointed Erdan as Minister of Public Security, Strategic Affairs and Public Diplomacy in the 34th Government. Erdan was again appointed as a member of the Security Cabinet. Erdan's appointment came eleven days after he initially refused to join Netanyahu's cabinet, claiming he wasn't offered enough tools to make a real change as a Minister. As the Minister of Public Security, Erdan was in charge of the Police, Prison Service and the Fire and Rescue Services. As Minister of Strategic Affairs and Public Diplomacy, Erdan received the responsibility to coordinate the national response to the attempts to delegitimize the State of Israel, and spearhead the fight against the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions campaign against Israel.
Permanent Representative to the UN
On 11 May 2020, following the 2020 elections to the Knesset, Prime Minister Netanyahu announced that Erdan would become Israel's next Ambassador to the UN and also become Israel's Ambassador to the United States after the 2020 presidential election. The last person to hold those two positions concurrently was the diplomat and politician, Abba Eban, in the 1950s. On 17 May 2020, Erdan was sworn in as Regional Cooperation Minister of Israel in the 35th Government. However, his appointment was short-lived, as he was made Permanent Representative of Israel to the United Nations and the Israeli ambassador to the United States. The following year, he stepped down as ambassador to the U.S. and was replaced by Mike Herzog, who succeeded him on 15 November 2021.
Unity party
In early May 2026, Erdan confirms that he was considering forming a new party amidst dissatisfaction with Haredi conscription policy. Erdan was reportedly in talks with Yuli Edelstein in late May regarding the potential formation of a new party. On 6 August, Erdan and Edelstein launched a new party in Tel Aviv led by Erdan, which was revealed on 11 August to be named "Unity" (Hebrew: האחדות, romanized: HaAchdut). Erdan stated that the party would form a "broad Zionist government" and would be in favor of military or national service for all Israelis. He also called for more extensive public diplomacy. By early September, Erdan stated in an interview that Unity was considering allying with other parties as it struggled to reach the electoral threshold. However, talks with Benny Gantz of Blue and White regarding an alliance were unsuccessful on 4 September. That day, Erdan announced that Unity would withdraw from the 2026 election citing poor polling, low public support for a unity government, and unfruitful alliance negotiations.
Outside the Knesset, Erdan was elected in 2005 as chairman of Al Sam, a non-governmental non-profit organization dealing with drug issues of youths (he also served on the Knesset's Committee on Drug Abuse), and also established the Lobby for Soldiers Missing in Action. Erdan was also a member of the Israel Broadcasting Authority's General Assembly.
