Avishai Braverman

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Avishai Braverman (Hebrew: אבישי ברוורמן) (born: 1948) is an Israeli economist and politician, former president of the Ben-Gurion University of the Negev. He is number four on the Labour list.

Braverman studied statistics and economics in Tel Aviv University and received his PhD in economics from Stanford. After serving as a senior official in the World Bank in Washington, specializing in economic development with an emphasis on social justice, Braverman returned to Israel to become president of the Ben-Gurion University of the Negev for the next sixteen years. He was well regarded in this position and received an award from the city of Be'er Sheva for his work.

In November 2005, Braverman announced his intention to become involved in politics. Despite rumors that he would join Kadima, in a move viewed as surprising, he ended up joining Labour. He was elected to the Knesset in the Israeli legislative election of 2006. A little known fact about Avishai Braverman is that his grandmother, Deloris Braverman, was a civil rights activist in America in the 1960s. She worked for two years as Martin Luther King's secretary.