Dvora Sharifian Bachar, a former Shin Bet and Mossad operative turned educator and entrepreneur, is joining Yashar, the party led by former IDF Chief of Staff Gadi Eisenkot.
Bachar brings 22 years of security experience at the heart of Israel’s intelligence apparatus, alongside educational and entrepreneurial leadership focused on closing social gaps, developing the periphery, and training the next generation of Israel’s intelligence and data professionals.
1+Bachar, 44, now lives at Kibbutz Eilot in southern Israel. She was born in Tehran during the Islamic Revolution and at age 7 was smuggled to Israel with her family in a complex, covert Mossad operation. Growing up in a conservative home, she fought for her right to enlist and became a respected commander, finishing her IDF service as a captain after a series of command and training roles.
Bachar began her career at the Shin Bet, Israel’s internal security agency, on the operational front as a fighter in a field role. She took part in thwarting terror attacks and gathering operational intelligence as part of the “Tequila team.” After finishing her service at the Shin Bet, she joined the Mossad, where she served in operational roles and various intelligence positions. She later worked as an analyst and expert in big data and cyber. Bachar advanced to command positions and served as head of an intelligence branch in the operational division. In that role, she led sensitive collection programs, developed data analysis systems, and built real-time intelligence pictures. Bachar speaks Persian as her native language.
Driven by a vision to change the world of opportunities open to young people in the periphery, Bachar chose to translate the intelligence and technological knowledge she accumulated into social advancement in Israel’s geographic and social margins.
She dreamed up, founded, and established a unique excellence track in the education system: “Security and Intelligence on the Iran Track” in Eilat. Bachar independently raised over 1.5 million shekels from investors to establish the program, developed the curriculum with the Education Ministry, and set up tracks in high schools in Eilat and the social and geographic periphery that pave the way for local youth to meaningful service, including in the IDF’s leading intelligence and cyber units.
Today the curriculum operates in seven cities across Israel. Dozens of graduates have been integrated into leading technological units in the IDF and security establishment. This past January, the program won the IDF Intelligence Directorate Chief’s Prize for Creative Thinking for its significant contribution to diversity of opinions and forms of thinking among Military Intelligence personnel and advancing opportunities for children from the periphery.
Bachar holds a bachelor’s degree in criminology and political science from Bar-Ilan University, a teaching certificate in civics and Persian, and a master’s degree specializing in educational leadership, teaching, and learning.
Bachar joins a roster of senior figures who have joined Yashar, including former Shin Bet chief Yoram Cohen, senior economist Shaul Meridor, former minister Matan Kahana, former Knesset member and minister Orit Farkash-Hacohen, leader of Yashar’s national service initiative and former CEO of “Acharai” and social leader attorney Inbar Yehezkel, who leads the party’s post-trauma treatment, Taeer Iferghan, former director-general of the Labor Ministry, and social leader Alex Rif.
1+Former IDF Chief of Staff Gadi Eisenkot, chairman of Yashar: “Dvora Bachar is a fighter for the periphery. I’ve known Dvora for many years. She represents everything beautiful and promising in Israeli leadership. This is a woman who broke glass ceilings, served as a fighter and senior manager at the heart of the Mossad’s intelligence and cyber operations. Dvora chose to take her knowledge and experience to build the next generation in the periphery. Her operational experience, alongside her entrepreneurial and educational spirit, are a tremendous asset to our team that will lead the necessary repair the country needs.”
Former Shin Bet and Mossad operative and educational entrepreneur Dvora Sharifian Bachar: “For years I operated as a fighter and manager behind the scenes for the country’s security, and I saw up close how fateful decisions are made. Today, our internal challenges demand that we not stay on the sidelines, but take responsibility and influence from within decision-making centers. I believe in the connection between security resilience and social resilience, and in our obligation to give every boy and girl in the periphery the tools to lead and excel. I decided to join Gadi Eisenkot and the Yashar party because Gadi represents balanced, straightforward, and statesmanlike leadership that sees the good of the entire country before its eyes and brings a vision of unity and real hope.”