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An Israeli-Born Malawi MP
(Algemeiner) Barney Breen-Portnoy - Businessman David Bisnowaty, 50, the Israeli-born son of an eastern European Holocaust survivor, was elected to the Malawi National Assembly in May 2014. "My father worked as a mechanical engineer for a big multinational company, so we used to travel a lot in Africa," Bisnowaty said. "So I basically grew up as a child in Africa." He later returned to Israel for schooling and served in the Israeli military, then moved back to Africa. After getting a contract with a hospital in Malawi, he and his wife "moved there for a year" in 1994 and stayed. In 2013 he decided to join politics and "prove that I can be a peaceful freedom fighter and bring change." "My kids said, 'Dad, you're crazy. You're a Jewish white person in an African country, you will never be elected.'" In the May 2014 elections, Bisnowaty ran as an independent against 11 opponents. He campaigned in English, and a translator helped him communicate with Chichewa speakers in rural villages. "I got a landslide victory," Bisnowaty said. "The people loved me." "Malawians love Jews and Israel. Malawi has always had very strong ties with Israel....Israel was the first country to send doctors and agricultural people to Malawi unconditionally."