Born in
Haifa to a religious
Jewish family, Mualem was one of nine children. Her parents had
immigrated from
Morocco, a couple of months prior to her birth. She grew up in the Neve David neighbourhood, and was a member of the
religious-Zionist youth organization
Bnei Akiva. During her
national service, she worked as a teacher. After her national service, she attended the
Shaare Zedek nursing school, gaining a bachelor's degree, before taking a master's degree course in
industrial engineering at the
Technion. She worked as a nurse at the
Soroka Medical Center in
Beersheba, becoming the hospital's Director of Risk Management. She also lectured at
Ben-Gurion University of the Negev. In 1997, her husband Moshe was one of 73 Israeli soldiers killed in what is known as the "
helicopter disaster". After his death, she served as Deputy and Acting Chairman of the
IDF Widows and Orphans organisation. She also wrote several posthumous letters to her husband, which were published in a book, "My beloved Mualem", which was published in 2001. Having remarried, she was involved in fighting for IDF widows to continue to receive their pensions after remarrying. Prior to the
2009 Knesset elections, Mualem won fourth place on the Jewish Home list. She was placed twelfth on the party's list for the
2013 elections, and was elected to the Knesset, as the party won 12 seats. She was placed ninth on the party's list for the
2015 elections, losing her seat, as the party was reduced to eight seats. However, she returned to the Knesset in October 2015, when party leader
Naftali Bennett resigned his seat under the
Norwegian Law in order to allow Mualem to become an MK again. In December 2018, Mualem was amongst the Jewish Home MKs to leave the party and form the breakaway
New Right party. She was placed fifth on the party's list for the
April 2019 elections, but lost her seat when the party failed to cross the electoral threshold. In September 2020, she left New Right to join
Likud. She is
Orthodox Jewish, married, and has seven children. ==References==