Margi was born in
Rabat in
Morocco and brought to
Israel during
Operation Yachin in 1962. Between 1993 and 2003, he served as chairman of the local religious council in
Beersheba. Since 2001, he has been the director general of
Shas. He was first
elected to the Knesset in 2003. After retaining his seat in the
2006 elections, Margi served as group chairperson of the party's faction at the Knesset. He also served briefly as chairman of the House Committee. He retained his seat again in the
2009 elections, having been placed sixth on the Shas list, and was appointed Minister of Religious Services in the Netanyahu government. Margi lives in
Sde Tzvi, a moshav in Southern Israel. He is married, and a father of two. During Pope
Benedict XVI's visit to Israel, he wrote a letter to the pontiff demanding that he clearly condemn the purveyors of Holocaust denial and antisemitism. He was appointed as the
Minister of Welfare and Social Affairs in 2022 and served until his resignation in 2025, following Shas' exit from the government. Margi replaced
Semion Moshiashvili in the Knesset upon his return. ==References==