Esther Benbassa (born 27 March 1950) is a French-Turkish-Israeli historian and politician. She specializes in the history of Jews and other minorities. Since 2011, Benbassa has served as a French senator, representing Paris from 2017 onwards and Val-de-Marne from 2011 to 2017. Benbassa is an independent. She was previously a member of Europe Ecology – The Greens, but was expelled from its parliamentary group in September 2021 following allegations of psychological workplace bullying by her former parliamentary assistants. This prompted her to leave the party altogether shortly after. Early life and education Esther Benbassa was born on 27 March 1950 in Istanbul, Turkey. She is the descendant of a family of Jews expelled from Spain in 1492, emigrating to the Ottoman Empire. After attending primary school at the Isik School and the Sainte-Pulcherie lycée in Istanbul, Benbassa and her family emigrated to Israel when she was 15. There, she studied at the French-language Saint-Joseph school in Jaffa and received a baccalauréat from the French embassy. Benbassa graduated from Tel Aviv University with a Bachelor of Arts in 1972, supporting her education by working in the tourism industry. She moved to France with a scholarship later that year and obtained a master's degree in modern literature from Paris 8 University Vincennes-Saint-Denis in 1973. In 1974, Benbassa became a French citizen by marriage, making her a triple citizen of France, Israel and Turkey. She received her Certificate of Aptitude for Secondary School Teachers (CAPES) in 1975 and taught in a lycée from 1975 to 1988. This qualification was followed by a diploma in Turkish from the National Institute of Oriental Languages and Civilizations (INALCO) in 1982 and a doctorate in literature and the human and social sciences from Paris 8 in 1987. Benbassa achieved the latter by completing a dissertation titled "Haim Nahum Efendi, Last Great Rabbi of the Ottoman Empire (1908–1920)" with Louis Bazin as her doctoral adviser. She had previously drafted a dissertation about the Paris Commune. Benbassa conducted her postdoctoral studies in the department of Jewish history at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem from 1988 to 1989. Academic career Jewish history research Benbassa served as director of research at the French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS) from 1989 to 2000, in which year she became the director of studies in religious studies at the Practical School of High Studies (EPHE). Benbassa studied the relationship between Jews and the