Dani Dayan | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | 29 November 1955 |
| Nationality | Israeli |
| Alma mater | Bar Ilan University Tel Aviv University |
| Occupation | Yad Vashem chairman |
| Relatives | Ilana Dayan (cousin) |
Dani Dayan (Hebrew: דני דיין; born 29 November 1955) is an Argentinean-born Israeli entrepreneur and public servant. He is chairman of Yad Vashem.[1]
Daniel (Dani) Dayan was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina.[2] He and his family immigrated to Israel in 1971, when he was 15,[2] settling in the Tel Aviv neighborhood of Yad Eliyahu.[3] Dayan spent 7.5 years in the Israeli Army.[2]
Dayan holds a B.Sc in Economics and Computer Science from Bar Ilan University, and an M.Sc in Finance from the Tel Aviv University. He is a Major (Res.) in the Israel Defense Forces. Despite being a key figure in the largely religious settlement movement, Dayan is Hiloni, although not an atheist.[2] He lives in Ma'ale Shomron, an Israeli settlement in the West Bank.
Dayan is married to Einat Dayan, a former political activist who works as the director of strategy, marketing, and sales at Ariel University. Their daughter Ofir served in the IDF Spokesperson's Unit, studied at Columbia University and is a research assistant in the Diane and Guilford Glazer Israel-China Policy Center at the Israeli Institute for National Security Studies.[4] His father, Moshe, a second cousin of General Moshe Dayan, was the Israeli ambassador to Guatemala in the early 1980s.[5]
In 1982, Dayan established an information technology firm "Elad Systems", which he headed, first as CEO and later as Chairman, until 2005, when he sold his interests in the company. He continues to invest in high-tech companies and serves as a lecturer at Ariel University.
Dayan was the Secretary-General of the Tehiya political party, and was a candidate to the Knesset on its list in the Israeli legislative elections in 1988 and 1992.
Dayan was a member on the Executive Committee of the Yesha Council for eight years, before being elected as chairman on July 13, 2007.[6] As Chairman he led the settlers' struggle against the Settlement freeze in 2010. Following his election, Dayan began transforming the council into an effective political lobby, modeled on American political lobbies. Dayan resigned in 2013, but at the same time created a new post for himself as the foreign face of the settler movement.[2] Dayan attempted a run for the Knesset on the Jewish Home slate in the March 2015 elections.[2] Ultimately, he was not elected. In the 2021 Israeli legislative election, Dayan was placed on the eleventh spot of the New Hope Party List.[7] Dayan is an advocate for the establishment and maintenance of Israeli settlements in the West Bank. From 2007 to 2013 he was the Chairman of the Yesha Council.[8][2] In 2013, he resigned as Chairman of the Yesha Council to endorse Benjamin Netanyahu for Prime Minister.[2] Dayan was subsequently appointed as Chief Foreign Envoy [9] of the Yesha Council, as the only official representative of the Israeli settlement movement to the international community.[2]
His writing appears in many publications, including The New York Times,[10] The Los Angeles Times,[11] The Boston Globe,[12] USA Today,[13] The Guardian,[14] Breitbart,[15] Haaretz,[16] The Times of Israel[17] and The Jerusalem Post.
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In 2015 Dayan was appointed by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to be the Israeli ambassador to Brazil. The Brazilian government delayed its approval of Dayan's appointment over months, sparking a diplomatic crisis between the countries. His appointment was opposed by leftist sectors of the political coalition governing Brazil, as well as social movements.[18] In January 2016, 40 retired Brazilian ambassadors from all political spheres released a manifesto supporting the Brazilian government.[19]Brazil's reluctance to approve Dayan as Israel's Ambassador developed into a diplomatic rift between the two countries. In December 2015, Israel's acting Foreign Minister MK Tzipi Hotovely announced that steps would be taken to apply more pressure on Brazil to approve the appointment of Dayan to the post.[20] The standoff continued until March 2016, when Israel assigned Dayan as Consul General of Israel in New York instead.[21]
While The New York Times described Dayan as "worldly and pragmatic" [22] and "the most effective leader the settlers have had.[22]," he is perceived by many to be the face of the Israeli settlement movement to the international community. He opposes a two-state solution, and believes that holding onto the West Bank is in Israel's best interest.[2]
As chairman of Yad Vashem, Dayan cited Holocaust distortion promoted by governments around the world as a serious problem: He says these governments admit that the Holocaust happened, but their countrymen did nothing wrong.[23]