Orit Farkash-Hacohen

Farkash-Hacohen was born in Petah Tikva to Michael Farkash and Shoshana Farkash (née Messenberg). She grew up in Ashdod and attended the Amana school in Kfar Saba. She did her IDF national service in the Sha'arei Tzedek Medical Center in Jerusalem and subsequently studied for an LLB at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. After an internship in the district and supreme court with Dalia Dorner, she worked at E.S. Shimron, I. Molho, Persky & Co as a lawyer. After five years at the firm, she left to join the Antitrust Authority, becoming head of the litigation team.

In 2003 Farkash-Hacohen became a legal advisor to the Electricity Authority. Between 2006 and 2007 she attended Harvard University, earning a master's degree in public administration. She was appointed temporary chair of the Electricity Authority in September 2011, and was given the job permanently the following March. She was dismissed by the government in 2015 after speaking out against the country's natural gas monopoly,[1] with the Movement for Quality Government submitting a petition against the move to the High Court. In 2017 she joined Goldfarb Seligman & Co. as head of the Department of Energy, Regulation and Infrastructure.

Farkash-Hacohen joined the new Israel Resilience Party in 2019. After the party joined the Blue and White alliance for the April 2019 Knesset elections, she was given the fifteenth slot on the joint list.[2] She was subsequently elected to the Knesset as the alliance won 35 seats. She was re-elected in September 2019 and March 2020. In May 2020 she was appointed Minister of Strategic Affairs in the new government.[3]

Farkash-Hacohen is married to Oded Hacohen. The couple have four children and live in Jerusalem.

• Orit Farkash-Hacohen on the Knesset website