Naomi Tsur received her BA in Archaeology and Classics from the Hebrew University and studied towards an MA in Indo-European Linguistics.

Naomi has led countless green projects within Jerusalem and throughout the country. As director of SPNI Jerusalem, she successfully protected the Jerusalem Hills from unsustainable urban sprawl. Naomi led the campaign to establish Israel’s first nature park, the Gazelle Valley, inaugurated the Railway Park, and established the Sustainable Jerusalem Coalition.

Among her many achievements as Deputy Mayor of Jerusalem (2008 – 2014), Naomi opened up municipal committees to increase public transparency, implemented plans to preserve historical and environmental landmarks, helped design bike lanes in and around the city and promoted dialogue with Palestinians in an effort to treat the sewage flow in the Kidron Basin. Naomi established a new NPO in 2015, the Jerusalem Green Fund, a cooperative philanthropy, as well as the Sustainable Jerusalem Lobby, in which dozens of organizations work together towards a healthier, cleaner and greener Jerusalem.

Since 2014, Naomi has stood at the head of the Israel Urban Forum, working in collaboration with UN-Habitat and the Israeli Government to improve the quality of urban living. In 2021 the IUF hosted the 3rd Akko Convention on Urbanism.

Naomi lectures on urban sustainability around the world. She has received international recognition, including a certificate of appreciation from the Ministry of Education for contributing to building an exemplary society in Israel, in honor of the country’s 70th anniversary. Naomi was married to Haim z”l, a well-known violinist, journalist, and composer, and has four children and fourteen grandchildren.

Naomi Tsur made Aliyah from England in 1966.