Moses Elisaf
Moses Elisaf | |
|---|---|
Μωυσής Ελισάφ | |
| Mayor of Ioannina | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 17 July 1954 Ioannina, Epirus, Greece |
| Citizenship | Greece |
| Residence | Ioannina |
| Alma mater | National and Kapodistrian University of Athens |
| Occupation | Academic, politician |
| Profession | Pathologist |
| Website | elisaf |
Moses Elisaf (Greek: Μωυσής Ελισάφ; born 17 July 1954)[1] is a Greek pathologist, academic, and independent politician.
Biography
Elisaf was born in Ioannina in 1954 and graduated from the University of Athens in 1979.[2] His parents were Holocaust survivors who managed to escape the roundup during which most of Ioannina's Jews were deported to Auschwitz; only 9% of the community survived. After liberation, many of the survivors suffered discrimination because they had been involved in communist resistance groups.[3][4] Like most of the other Jews in Ioannina, Elisaf considers himself secular and does not observe Jewish religious law.[3] Elisaf is a pathologist, a professor of internal medicine at Ioannina Medical School, and director of the Lipids, Atherosclerosis, Obesity and Diabetes Department.[5][3] Between 1993 and 1994, he worked at the Sackler Faculty of Medicine at Tel Aviv University. He has several relatives living in Israel.[3]
He has been the president of the Romaniote Jewish community of Ioannina for more than a decade, and previously served as the president of the Central Board of Jewish Communities in Greece.[5][6] Elisaf has also served on the city council and as the president of a cultural center.[3] Running as an independent politician, he obtained 50.33% of the vote on the second round of the elections for mayor of Ioannina in June 2019.[5][6] Elisaf says that he is a centrist and aims to build consensus around policies for the city's development, such as improving infrastructure and public services.[3] During the campaign, political opponents claimed that he was a Mossad agent. Elisaf called the claims antisemitic and said that antisemitism in Greece is not serious.[3] Elisaf is the first Jewish mayor in the history of Greece.[5][6]
See also
References
- ^ Team, ΤοΒΗΜΑ (2 June 2019). "Ιωάννινα : Νέος δήμαρχος ο Μωυσής Ελισάφ". Ειδήσεις - νέα - Το Βήμα Online (in Greek). Retrieved 7 June 2019.
- ^ "Doctor Thought to Be 1st Jewish Person Voted Mayor in Greece". The New York Times. The Associated Press. 3 June 2019. Retrieved 7 June 2019.
- ^ a b c d e f g Peklaris, Achilles M. (11 June 2019). "'They Claimed I Was Connected to the Mossad': Meet Greece's First-ever Jewish Mayor". Haaretz. Retrieved 12 June 2019.
- ^ "Greek Jewish Communities Congratulate Country's First Jewish mayor, Moses Elisaf". The National Herald. 3 June 2019. Retrieved 7 June 2019.
- ^ a b c d "Greece's First Jewish Mayor Appointed in Northwestern City". Haaretz. 4 June 2019. Retrieved 7 June 2019.
- ^ a b c "Moisis Elisaf becomes Greece's first Jewish mayor | Kathimerini". Ekathimerini. Retrieved 7 June 2019.
