October 20, 1952
Dalia Itzik is born in Jerusalem to a family of Iraqi immigrants. Itzik receives a B.A. from Hebrew University, a teacher’s diploma from the Efrata Teacher’s Seminary and a law degree from the Interdisciplinary Center in Herzliya.
After serving for five years at the chairwoman of the Jerusalem Teachers Union, Itzik is elected to the Jerusalem City Council in 1989 with the portfolio of deputy mayor in charge of education. In 1992, as a member of the Labor Party, she is elected to the 13th Knesset. She serves on a wide variety of Knesset committees and becomes the chair of the Education and Culture Committee and the Science and Technology Committee.
In 1999, Prime Minister Ehud Barak appoints her the minister of the environment. She later serves as the minister of trade and labor and the minister of communications under Prime Minister Ariel Sharon. Itzik leaves the Labor Party in 2005 to join Sharon’s new Kadima party. In the 17th Knesset, she becomes the first woman to serve as the speaker of the Knesset.
She retires from politics in 2012.
