Matan Kahana

Matan Kahana (; born 29 July 1972) After retiring from the army, he joined the New Right party, which is part of the Yamina alliance. In 2022 he joined the National Unity alliance. He resigned his Knesset seat in September 2025 and joined Yashar.

Biography Kahana was born in Haifa to Elia and Ora Cahana.

When he was three months old, he moved with his family to New York following his father's electrical engineering and business administration studies. When he was three, the family returned to live in Moshav Beit Gamliel. Kahana attended elementary school at Kibbutz Hafetz Haim (grades 1-8), and then at the Netiv Meir Yeshiva. In his youth, he was a counselor in the Bnei Akiva movement, in the branch in Moshav Beit Gamliel.

He graduated with a BA in Law at Bar-Ilan University.

Military career

Kahana was accepted to the Israeli Air Force Flight Academy and to the naval commando (Shayetet 13), but signed a waiver to serve in Sayeret Matkal. He served as a combat soldier for three and a half years, and was in the same team with Naftali Benet and Emmanuel Moreno.

Throughout his service, he participated as a pilot in Cast Lead, Operation Pillar of Defense, and the 2014 Gaza War. He also participated as an F-16 pilot in the Second Lebanon War.

Political career After his release from the IDF in 2018, He placed fourth on the Knesset party list for the April 2019 Knesset elections, but was not elected to the Knesset after his party narrowly failed to pass the election threshold.

Ahead of the September 2019 elections, he was listed seventh on the Yamina joint party list (on behalf of the New Right). The list won seven seats, and he was elected to the 22nd Knesset.

In May 2022, he resigned from his post of the Religious Services Minister and stated he would return to the Knesset to serve as a Yamina MK, replacing MK Yomtob Kalfon. The move was meant to “help strengthen the coalition.” Following his resignation, Kahana was quickly made the Deputy Religious Services Minister while the coalition government attempted to have him appointed back to his former post through a vote in the Knesset. This was however scuttled by rebel Yamina MK Idit Silman, who voted with the opposition.

In August 2022, Kahana decided to leave Yamina for the National Unity alliance. Kahana's term as the Deputy Religious Services Minister came to an end on 16 August, when the legal mandate for Bennett, who was serving as the acting minister of the department, came to an end after three months.

The party announced on 1 July 2025 that Kahana would leave the party and resign his seat in the Knesset. Kahana confirmed the same day that he is "in touch" with Bennett.

He left the Knesset in July 2025 and was replaced by Yael Ron Ben-Moshe.

Kahana joined Gadi Eisenkot's new party, Yashar, in September 2025.