Mickey Gitzin

Gitzin was born to secular Russian-speaking Jewish parents who immigrated to Israel from the Soviet Union in the late 1970s.^[1] They settled in the Dalet neighborhood of Beersheba, but Gitzin was born in Azor, where he was raised in a public housing apartment.^[1][3] His parents and grandmother raised him and his sister with Soviet Russian influences and right-wing politics.^[1]

At age 13, he began keeping kosher fully to fit in with his peers, and as a form of rebellion against his parents.^[1][3]

Gitzin was active in his school's student government, becoming president of the student council.^[1] He also became involved with right-wing politics; during the 1992 elections, he handed out Likud flyers.^[1] However, he soon became involved with left-wing politics as part of a teenage rebellion against his parents.^[1]

Gitzin graduated from Hebrew University, and attended University College London on a scholarship for a master's degree in public policy.^[1][3]

Gitzin served in the Intelligence Directorate for his mandatory service in the Israeli Defense Forces, during which time he continued to develop his left-wing politics.^[1] After his service was completed, he became a Jewish Agency shaliach to an American Jewish community in South Bend, Indiana,^[3] where he was reassured that his secular beliefs were not in conflict with his Jewish worldview.^[1]

Upon returning to Israel after working in the United States, Gitzin was hired to establish Be Free Israel, a coalition of left-wing organizations active in religious and state matters.^[1][4]

In 2012, Gitzin protested draft exemptions for ultra-Orthodox Israelis.^[5]

In 2015 and 2016, Gitzin was a member of the Tel Aviv Municipal Council.^[6][7]

In late 2017, Gitzin became executive director of the New Israel Fund.^[1]

In 2018, Gitzin's criticism of the Israeli government drew scrutiny on social media from Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu.^[8]

In January 2023, Gitzin called the proposed Israeli judicial reforms "an attack on all of democracy".^[9]

In December 2025, Gitzin was named acting CEO of the New Israel Fund.

Gitzin has written for Haaretz^[10] and Ynet.^[11]

While working in the United States, Gitzin began dating a Catholic American woman.^[1] She returned with him to Israel, and they lived together for three years before separating, after which Gitzin came out as gay.^[1] Gitzin has been with his current partner since the early 2010s, with the two living in Tel Aviv.^[1][3]

As of 2016, Gitzin was a member of the Meretz Party.^[7]