Yuli Edelstein — speaker of knesset with roots in the USSR
Yuli Edelstein is an Israeli politician born in Chernivtsi (Ukrainian SSR) who was imprisoned by the KGB for teaching Hebrew as a Zionist refusenik before emigrating to Israel. He became Speaker of the Knesset (2013-2020) — one of the highest offices in Israel.
Tracing the roots — Chernivtsi (Ukr)
Born in Chernivtsi (Ukrainian SSR) in 1958 — the multicultural city that was once the 'Vienna of the East' — Edelstein was jailed by the KGB for teaching Hebrew to Soviet Jews seeking to emigrate. His path from KGB prison to Speaker of the Israeli Knesset is one of the most dramatic personal arcs of any Soviet Jewish immigrant in Israeli politics.
Born in USSR; prisoner of Zion; taught Hebrew secretly in Moscow.
Chernivtsi (Ukr). At the time, this region was one of the fifteen republics of the Soviet Union.