Orit Strook

Orit Malka Strook (Hebrew: אורית מלכה סטרוק‎, born 15 March 1960) is an Israeli politician. She served as a member of the Knesset for Tkuma (a faction within the Jewish Home) between 2013 and 2015. Strook is also among the leaders of the Jewish settlement in Hebron, and she established the Israeli non-governmental organization Human Rights Organization of Judea and Samaria, which she headed between 2004 and 2012.[1]

Orit Strook
Faction represented in the Knesset
2013–2015Jewish Home
Personal details
Born (1960-03-15) 15 March 1960
Jerusalem, Israel

Biography

Strook was born to a family of lawyers from Jerusalem. Her middle name Malka was given to her in memory of her grandmother, whom was the prominent Hungarian Jewish poet Mária Kecskeméti. Growing up, Strook studied at the Hebrew University Secondary School. In the late 1970s, while she was in the 11th grade, Strook gradually became more religious, and eventually became a Baalat Teshuvah, embracing Orthodox Judaism. During that period, she began studying at the religious Zionist[2] outreach organization and yeshiva Meir Institute. Shortly thereafter, she married the son of Orthodox Rabbi and politician Rabbi Haim Drukman. The young couple briefly lived together in the Israeli settlement of Yamit in the Sinai Peninsula, but after Sinai was handed over to Egypt in 1982 as part of the terms of the 1979 Egypt–Israel Peace Treaty, and Yamit was evacuated, Strook and her family joined the Jewish settler community in Hebron.

After the Cave of the Patriarchs was closed for Jewish prayer following the Cave of the Patriarchs massacre in 1994, Strook was elected as the head of the "Women's Committee for the Cave" (ועד נשים למען המערה), and worked to convince the political system to re-open the cave for Jewish visitors.[3] Since 2000, she has headed the legal-political department of the organization of Jewish settlers in Hebron.

In 2002, Strook founded the Human Rights Organization of Judea and Samaria, following the Israeli evacuation of Israeli settlers Livnat Ozeri and her five children from Hill 26 near Kiryat Arba,[3] and has since headed the organization voluntarily. As part of her involvement in the organization, she filed various complaints in the Israeli Police Investigations Department (מח"ש), along with various lawsuits against police officers who allegedly attacked protesters during the protests against Israel's unilateral disengagement plan and during the evacuation of Amona. Strook was placed thirteenth on the joint National Union–National Religious Party list for the 2006 elections, but failed to win a seat as the alliance won only nine seats.

In 2007, Strook's son Zvi was convicted of abusing a Palestinian boy and killing a young goat, and as a result was sentenced to 30 months in prison. In response to the ruling, Strook stated that, "Unlike the Court, who preferred to believe the Arab witnesses, we are sure of Zvi's innocence, and are hurting from the success of his haters and would assist him to deal with the difficult sentence imposed on him".[4][5][6]

In the 2013 elections, Strook was elected to the Knesset on the Jewish Home list.[7] She was among the Knesset's most vehement opponents to recognition of non-Orthodox movements of Judaism.[8] She was placed thirteenth on the party's list for the 2015 elections,[9] losing her seat as the party was reduced to eight seats.

As of 2013, Strook is a resident of Avraham Avinu (Hebron), an Israeli settlement in the West Bank. She is married, and has 11 children, and 12 grandchildren.

References
  1. Orit Strook Knesset website
  2. Machon Meir Archived 2011-06-11 at the Wayback Machine. The Hasghama Department. World Zionist Organization
  3. From the Kitchen into the Kitchenette Israel National News (in Hebrew)
  4. עונשו של מתנחל שהתעלל בפלסטיני הוארך בשנה Haaretz (in Hebrew)
  5. ביהמ"ש העליון החמיר בעונשו של צבי סטרוק Israel National News (in Hebrew)
  6. Of Olives, Politics and Palestinians by Naomi Zeveloff, Nov. 16, 2014, The Forward
  7. Sales, Ben (29 January 2013). "The New Faces Of The 19th Knesset". The Jewish Week. JTA. Retrieved 30 November 2014.
  8. Judy Maltz, Among new Knesset faces, some staunch advocates of Jewish pluralism, Haaretz, 25 March 2015
  9. The Jewish Home list Central Elections Committee
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