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![Hellenic Army - Israel's Ehud Barak Visit [HD]](http://web.archive.org./web/20121120231342im_/http://i.ytimg.com/vi/zKpAlbbBeQE/default.jpg "Israeli Deputy PM Ehud Barak on Greek visit, 10 Jan 2012. Defence Minister Dimitris Avramopoulos met on Tuesday with Israeli Deputy Prime Minister and Defence Minister Ehud Barak, and discussed bilateral cooperation in the defence sector. The talks between the two ministers were held in a")
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Beirut
Coordinates: 33°53′13″N 35°30′47″E / 33.88694°N 35.51306°E / 33.88694; 35.51306
Beirut (Arabic: بيروت Bayrūt, Greek: Βηρυττός, Latin: Berytus, French: Beyrouth, Hebrew: ביירות Beyrut) is the capital and largest city of Lebanon. As there has been no recent population census, the exact population is unknown; estimates in 2007 ranged from slightly less than 1 million to slightly more than 2 million. Located on a peninsula at the midpoint of Lebanon's Mediterranean coast, it serves as the country's largest and main seaport. The Beirut metropolitan area consists of the city and its suburbs. The first mention of this metropolis is found in the ancient Egyptian Tell el Amarna letters, dating from the 15th century BC. The city has been inhabited continuously since then.
Beirut is Lebanon's seat of government and plays a central role in the Lebanese economy, with many banks and corporations based in its city centre, Hamra Street, Rue Verdun and Ashrafieh. The city is the focal point of the region's cultural life, renowned for its press, theatres, cultural activities and nightlife. After the destructive Lebanese Civil War, Beirut underwent major reconstruction, and the redesigned historic city centre, marina, pubs and nightlife districts have once again made it a tourist attraction. Beirut was named the top place to visit by The New York Times in 2009, and as one of the ten liveliest cities in the world by Lonely Planet in the same year.
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Israel
Coordinates: 31°N 35°E / 31°N 35°E / 31; 35
Israel, officially the State of Israel (
/ˈɪzriːəl/ or /ˈɪzreɪəl/; Hebrew: מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, Medīnat Yisrā'el, IPA: [me̞diˈnät jisʁäˈʔe̞l] (
listen); Arabic: دَوْلَة إِسْرَائِيل, Dawlat Isrāʼīl, IPA: [dawlat ʔisraːˈʔiːl]), is a parliamentary republic in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea. It borders Lebanon in the north, Syria in the northeast, Jordan and the West Bank in the east, Egypt and the Gaza Strip on the southwest, and the Gulf of Aqaba in the Red Sea to the south, and it contains geographically diverse features within its relatively small area. Israel is defined as a Jewish and Democratic State in its Basic Laws and is the world's only Jewish-majority state.
Following the adoption of a resolution by the General Assembly of the United Nations on 29 November 1947 recommending the adoption and implementation of the United Nations plan to partition Palestine, on 14 May 1948 David Ben-Gurion, the Executive Head of the World Zionist Organization and president of the Jewish Agency for Palestine, declared the establishment of a Jewish state in Eretz Israel, to be known as the State of Israel, a state independent from the British Mandate for Palestine. Neighboring Arab states invaded the next day in support of the Palestinian Arabs. Israel has since fought several wars with neighboring Arab states, in the course of which it has occupied the West Bank, Sinai Peninsula, Gaza Strip and the Golan Heights. Portions of these territories, including east Jerusalem, have been annexed by Israel, but the border with the neighboring West Bank has not yet been permanently defined.[neutrality is disputed] Israel has signed peace treaties with Egypt and Jordan, but efforts to resolve the Israeli–Palestinian conflict have so far not resulted in peace.
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Knesset
The Knesset (Hebrew: הַכְּנֶסֶת [haˈkneset] ( listen); lit. the gathering or assembly; Arabic: الكنيست) is the unicameral legislature of Israel, located in Givat Ram, Jerusalem.
The legislative branch of the Israeli government, the Knesset passes all laws, elects the President and Prime Minister (although the latter is ceremonially appointed by the President), approves the cabinet, and supervises the work of the government. In addition, it also recommends a candidate for the State Comptroller to the President, who appoints someone to the post. It also has the power to waive the immunity of its members, remove the President and the State Comptroller from office, remove a Prime Minister convicted of an offense involving moral turpitude, and to dissolve itself and call new elections. The Prime Minister may dissolve the Knesset. However, until an election is completed, the Knesset maintains authority in its current composition.
Knesset members annually convene for plenary assemblies, or plenums, for two annual sittings of at least eight months' duration. The two sittings together form a session. The Knesset may be convened at any other time if thirty or more members demand this in writing or if the government requests. As well as approving or rejecting proposed legislation, the plenum also elects the Speaker and one or more Deputy Speakers.
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Lithuania
Lithuania (
i/ˌlɪθuːˈeɪniə/ or /ˌlɪθjuːˈeɪniə/; Lithuanian: Lietuva), officially the Republic of Lithuania (Lithuanian: Lietuvos Respublika) is a country in Northern Europe, the largest of the three Baltic states. It is situated along the southeastern shore of the Baltic Sea, whereby to the west lie Sweden and Denmark. It borders Latvia to the north, Belarus to the east and south, Poland to the south, and a Russian exclave (Kaliningrad Oblast) to the southwest. Lithuania has an estimated population of 3.2 million as of 2011, and its capital and largest city is Vilnius. The Lithuanians are a Baltic people, and the official language, Lithuanian, is one of only two living languages (together with Latvian) in the Baltic branch of the Indo-European language family.
For centuries, the southeastern shore of the Baltic Sea was inhabited by various Baltic tribes. In the 1230s the Lithuanian lands were united by Mindaugas, who was crowned as King of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, the first Lithuanian state, on 6 July 1253. During the 14th century, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania was the largest country in Europe: present-day Belarus, Ukraine, and parts of Poland and Russia were territories of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. With the Lublin Union of 1569, Lithuania and Poland formed a voluntary two-state union, the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. The Commonwealth lasted more than two centuries, until neighboring countries systematically dismantled it from 1772 to 1795, with the Russian Empire annexing most of Lithuania's territory.
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Mishmar HaSharon
Mishmar HaSharon (Hebrew: מִשְׁמַר הַשָּׁרוֹן, lit. Guard of the Sharon) is a kibbutz in central Israel. Located in the Sharon plain, it falls under the jurisdiction of Hefer Valley Regional Council. In 2006 it had a population of 459.
The community was founded in 1924 by 10 Russian immigrants, and was later joined by immigrants from Poland. They initially settled in the Galilee to gain experience of agricultural life. The kibbutz itself was established in 1933, and was later joined by members of Gordonia. It was the birthplace of Prime Minister of Israel Ehud Barak.
The Kibbutz is home to Ulpan Mishmar HaSharon. This is a program run by the Jewish Agency for students aged between 18-28, where students learn Hebrew while working to meet the Kibbutz's needs. The Kibbutz has a long history of Ulpan groups, spanning over 50 years, and the Ulpan students are part of normal life on the Kibbutz.
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Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania (
i/ˌpɛnsɨlˈveɪnjə/), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a US state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States, and the Great Lakes Region. The state borders Delaware to the southeast, Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, Ontario, Canada to the northwest, New York to the north, and New Jersey to the east.
Pennsylvania is the 33rd most extensive, the 6th most populous, and the 9th most densely populated of the 50 United States. The state's four most populous cities are Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Allentown, and Erie. The state capital is Harrisburg. Pennsylvania has 51 miles (82 km) of shoreline along Lake Erie and 57 miles (92 km) of shoreline along the Delaware Estuary.
Pennsylvania is 170 miles (274 km) north to south and 283 miles (455 km) east to west. Of a total 46,055 square miles (119,282 km2), 44,817 square miles (116,075 km2) are land, 490 square miles (1,269 km2) are inland waters, and 749 square miles (1,940 km2) are waters in Lake Erie. It is the 33rd largest state in the United States. Pennsylvania has 51 miles (82 km) of coastline along Lake Erie and 57 miles (92 km) of shoreline along the Delaware Estuary.
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Pušalotas
Pušalotas is a small town in Panevėžys County, in northeastern Lithuania. According to the 2001 census, the town has a population of 885 people.
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Stanford University
Coordinates: 37°26′N 122°10′W / 37.43°N 122.17°W / 37.43; -122.17
The Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University or Stanford, is an American private research university located in Stanford, California on an 8,180-acre (3,310 ha) campus near Palo Alto, California, United States. It is situated in the northwestern Silicon Valley, approximately 20 miles (32 km) northwest of San Jose and 37 miles (60 km) southeast of San Francisco.
Leland Stanford, a Californian railroad tycoon and politician, and his wife Jane Lathrop Stanford founded the university in 1891 in honor of their son, Leland Stanford, Jr., who died of typhoid two months before his 16th birthday. The university was established as a coeducational and nondenominational institution, but struggled financially after the senior Stanford's 1893 death and after much of the campus was damaged by the 1906 San Francisco earthquake. Following World War II, Provost Frederick Terman supported faculty and graduates' entrepreneurialism to build self-sufficient local industry in what would become known as Silicon Valley. By 1970, Stanford was home to a linear accelerator, was one of the original four ARPANET nodes, and had transformed itself into a major research university in computer science, mathematics, natural sciences, and social sciences.
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Uganda
Coordinates: 1°17′N 32°23′E / 1.28°N 32.39°E / 1.28; 32.39
Uganda (
/juːˈɡændə/ yew-GAN-də or /juːˈɡɑːndə/ yew-GAHN-də), officially the Republic of Uganda, is a landlocked country in East Africa. Uganda is bordered on the east by Kenya, on the north by South Sudan, on the west by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, on the southwest by Rwanda, and on the south by Tanzania. The southern part of the country includes a substantial portion of Lake Victoria, which is also shared by Kenya and Tanzania.
Uganda takes its name from the Buganda kingdom, which encompasses a large portion of the south of the country including the capital Kampala.
The people of Uganda were hunter-gatherers until 1,700 to 2,300 years ago, when Bantu-speaking populations migrated to the southern parts of the country. Uganda gained independence from Britain on 9 October 1962.
The official languages are English and Swahili, although multiple other languages are spoken in the country.
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Abba Eban
Abba Eban (Hebrew: אבא אבן, born Abba Solomon Meir; later adopted Aubrey Solomon Eban; 2 February 1915 – 17 November 2002) was an Israeli diplomat and politician.
In his career he was Israeli Foreign Affairs Minister, Education Minister, Deputy Prime Minister, and ambassador to the United States and to the United Nations. He was also Vice President of the United Nations General Assembly and President of the Weizmann Institute of Science.
Born in Cape Town, South Africa, Eban moved to the United Kingdom at an early age. As a child, he recalled being sent to his grandfather's house every weekend to study the Hebrew language and Biblical literature. He lived for a period of time in Belfast.
He was educated at St Olave's Grammar School, then in Southwark, before studying Classics and Oriental languages at Queens' College, Cambridge, where he achieved a triple first. During his time at University and afterwards, Eban was highly involved in the Federation of Zionist Youth and was editor of its ideological journal, The Young Zionist.
wn.com/Abba_Eban -
Abu Jihad
Khalil Ibrahim al-Wazir (Arabic: خليل إبراهيم الوزير), also known by his kunya "Abu Jihad" (أبو جهاد — father of the struggle) (October 10, 1935 – April 16, 1988), was a Palestinian military leader and founder of the secular nationalist party Fatah. As a top aide of Palestine Liberation Organization Chairman, Yasser Arafat, al-Wazir had considerable influence in Fatah's military activities, eventually becoming the commander of Fatah's armed wing al-Assifa. The majority of the Palestinians viewed him as a martyr who died resisting the Israeli occupation or at least sympathized with his cause, while most Israelis considered him to be a high-profile terrorist for planning the killings of Israelis.
Al-Wazir became a refugee when his family was expelled from Ramla during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, and began leading a minor fedayeen force in the Gaza Strip. In the early 1960s, he established connections for Fatah with Communist regimes and prominent third-world leaders. He opened Fatah's first bureau in Algeria. He played an important role in the 1970–71 Black September clashes in Jordan, by supplying surrounded Palestinian fighters with weapons and aid. Following the PLO's defeat by the Jordanian Army, al-Wazir joined the PLO in Lebanon.
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Aharon Abuhatzira
Aharon Abuhatzira (Hebrew: אהרן אבוחצירא, born 28 October 1938) is a former Israeli politician. A former mayor of Ramla, he held several ministerial portfolios in the late 1970s and early 1980s, but resigned from the cabinet after being convicted of larceny, breach of trust and fraud.
Born in the Tafilalt region of Morocco in 1938, Abuhatzira made aliyah to Israel in 1949. He was educated at the Bnei Akiva yeshiva in Kfar Haroeh, before graduating from a Teachers' Seminary in Jerusalem and receiving a BA from Bar-Ilan University. He went on to work as a high school teacher.
He was elected to Ramla city council in 1969 and in 1972 became its mayor. He was elected to the Knesset in 1977 on the National Religious Party's list, and was appointed Minister of Religions in Menachem Begin's government.
In June 1980 Israel Police began investigating claims that Abuhatzira had received 52,500 shekels from religious institutions in 1978 and 1979 for giving funds to non-existent yeshivas. Although he denied the allegations, stating that they were "provocation and a libel", in December 1980 Attorney General Yitzhak Zamir requested that the Knesset lift Abuhatzira's parliamentary immunity so that he could be charged with bribery.
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Aharon Uzan
Aharon Uzan (Hebrew: אהרן אוזן, born 1 November 1924, died 23 January 2007) was an Israeli politician who held several ministerial portfolios between the mid-1960s and mid-1980s.
Uzan was born in Moknine in Tunisia, and was a member of the right-wing Betar movement in his youth. He made aliyah to Israel in 1949 and joined the left-wing Mapai party. He settled in Gilat, serving as the moshav's secretary and treasurer between 1952 and 1959. In 1960 he founded the Negev Moshav Purchasing Company, and managed it until 1968. He also founded the Negev Water and Merhav transport companies.
In 1965 he was elected to the Knesset on the Alignment's list (the Alignment was an Alliance of Mapai and Ahdut HaAvoda), and was appointed Deputy Minister of Agriculture in January 1966, a role he held until he lost his seat in the 1969 elections.
Between 1970 and 1973 he was secretary of the Moshavim Movement. Despite not being a Knesset member, he returned to the cabinet in 1974 when he was appointed Minister of Communications. After Golda Meir resigned and Yitzhak Rabin formed a new government later in the year, he became Minister of Agriculture. In March 1975 he regained the Communications portfolio in addition to the Agriculture post. Following Likud's victory in the 1977 elections he lost his cabinet position.
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Aharon Yadlin
Aharon Yadlin (Hebrew: אהרן ידלין, born 17 April 1926) is a former Israeli educator and politician.
Yadlin was born in moshav Ben Shemen in the British Mandate of Palestine in 1926. He was active in the local scouting movement and served as its national coordinator. In 1946 he participated in the 11 points in the Negev project and was among the founders of kibbutz Be'eri. During the 1948 Arab-Israeli War he joined the Palmah.
From 1950 to 1952 he was a member of the executive committee of the Histadrut. He received an MA in history, economics and sociology from the Hebrew University. After the split in HaKibbutz HaMeuhad he moved to kibbutz Hatzerim. He was one of the founders of Beit Berl where he taught sociology and served as its acting director from 1955 to 1957. From 1964 to 1972 he was chairman of Mapai's public committee for youth movements.
In 1960 he was elected to the fourth Knesset and again to the fifth in 1964, and remained an MK until 1979. He was a member of the Economic Affairs, Education and Culture, Constitution, Law and Justice, Internal Affairs, and the Foreign Affairs & Defense committees. In the ninth Knesset was chairman of the Education committee. From 1964 to 1972 he was Deputy Minister of Education, and from 1972 to 1974 was secretary general of the Labor Party. From 1974 to 1977 he served as Minister of Education. He set in motion a long school day program in development towns and poverty stricken areas.
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Aharon Yariv
Aharon "Aharale" Rabinovich Yariv (Hebrew: אהרן רבינוביץ' יריב, 20 December 1920 – 7 May 1994) was an Israeli politician and soldier.
Born in Moscow in the Soviet Union. When he was 15 he immigrated to Israel and studied at the Pardes Hanna Agricultural High School. Yariv began his military service in the Haganah and later the British Army. He then joined the IDF, first as a field officer, and later as the Israeli military attaché to Washington. From 1964 to 1972, Yariv was the head of Aman, the IDF's military intelligence. After the Munich Massacre in 1972, he served as Prime Minister Golda Meir's Advisor on Counterterrorism, where he directed Operation Wrath of God. During the October War of 1973 he also led the Israeli military delegation at the Kilometer 101 talks with Egypt's General Mohamed Abdel Ghani el-Gamasy which endeavoured to bring about a military disengagement treaty. After leaving the army, he joined the Alignment. He was elected to the Knesset in the 1973 elections, and was appointed Transportation Minister, and then Information Minister. He resigned from the latter post in 1975, and then from the Knesset shortly before the 1977 elections. Yitzhak Rabin, Prime Minister at the time of his death, gave the eulogy at his funeral in 1994.
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Aharon Zisling
Aharon Zisling (Hebrew: אהרון ציזלינג, 26 February 1901 – 16 January 1964) was an Israeli politician and minister and a signatory of Israel's declaration of independence.
Born in Minsk in the Russian Empire (now in Belarus), Zisling emigrated to Palestine in 1904. He was among the founders of Youth Aliyah and as a member of the Haganah command, and participated in the founding of the Palmach; he was a founder of the Ahdut HaAvoda party, a Jewish Agency delegate to the UN and a member of the Zionist Executive Committee.
Following Israel's declaration of independence in 1948, he was appointed Minister of Agriculture in David Ben-Gurion's provisional government. By then Ahdut HaAvoda had evolved into Mapam.
On 17 November 1948 he told the Provisional State Council (the forerunner to the Knesset); "I couldn’t sleep all night. I felt that things that were going on were hurting my soul, the soul of my family and all of us here (...) Now Jews too have behaved like Nazis and my entire being has been shaken."
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Ahmad Tibi
Ahmad Tibi (Arabic: أحمد الطيبي, Hebrew: אחמד טיבי, sometimes spelt Ahmed Tibi, born 19 December 1958) is an Arab-Israeli politician and leader of Ta'al (the Arab Movement for Renewal), an Arab party in Israel. He currently serves as Deputy Speaker of the Knesset. He was elected on a joint ticket with the United Arab List to serve in Israel's parliament, the Knesset. He describes himself as Arab-Palestinian in nationality, and Israeli in citizenship.
Tibi is also a trained physician and graduate of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
Tibi was born in Tayibe, in 1958, at a time when all Arab areas of Israel were under military administration.
Tibi studied medicine at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and graduated with honors in 1983.[unreliable source?] He began an internship as a physician at Hadassah Hospital in 1984, and met PLO leader Yasser Arafat in Tunis that same year.
Tibi served as a political advisor to Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat for several years, representing the Palestinians at the 1998 Wye River negotiations. He's quoted as saying (7/13/94): "The person responsible on behalf of the Palestinians people for everything that was done in the Israel-Palestinian conflict is Yasser Arafat..."[dubious – discuss] He resigned from the post in 1999, upon deciding to run for the Knesset. Tibi described his relationship with Arafat as "close" and "extremely interesting and important to [him]." Tibi later visited Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and urged him to hold firm in refusing to recognize Israel as a Jewish state. Tibi identifies himself as a "Palestinian Patriot".
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Ahron Bregman
Ahron (Ronnie) Bregman (Hebrew: אהרון ברגמן, born 1958 in Israel) is a British-Israeli political scientist, as well as a writer and journalist, specialising on the Arab-Israeli conflict.
He served in the Israel Defense Forces and as an artillery officer participated in the 1978 Litani campaign and the 1982 Lebanon War. After the war he left the army to study international relations and political science at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. He also worked as a parliamentary assistant in the Knesset. After giving an interview in 1988 to the Haaretz newspaper declaring that he would refuse to serve in the Occupied Territories, he left Israel and settled in England. There he joined the Department of War Studies, King's College London, completing his PhD in 1994. Bregman is the writer of several books and articles on the Arab-Israeli conflict and Middle-Eastern Affairs. Since 1994 he has been the Daily Telegraph writer of obituaries, covering the Jewish world and Israel. A teaching fellow at the Department of War Studies and a journalist, Bregman lives in London with his wife Dana and children Daniel, Maya and Adam.
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Akiva Govrin
Akiva Govrin (Hebrew: עקיבא גוברין, born 12 August 1902, died 26 June 1980) was an Israeli politician who served as a government minister between December 1963 and January 1966, and was the country's first Minister of Tourism.
Born in the Podolia region of the Russian Empire (today in Ukraine), Govrin was one of the founders of the HeHalutz movement in Ukraine. He made aliyah to Mandate Palestine in 1922, and worked at Haifa Port and as a construction worker in Jerusalem, where he was one of the founders of the Jerusalem Workers' Council.
In 1925 he became a member of the actions committee of the Histadrut, and headed its unions department between 1943 and 1949. In 1949 he was elected to the Knesset on Mapai's list and was appointed chairman of the Labor committee. He was re-elected in 1951, 1955, 1959 and 1961. On 1 December 1963 he was appointed Minister without Portfolio, and when Levi Eshkol formed a new government in December 1964, Govrin became the country's first Minister of Tourism.
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Ami Ayalon
Amihai "Ami" Ayalon (Hebrew: עמיחי "עמי" איילון, born 27 June 1945) is an Israeli politician and a former member of the Knesset for the Labor Party. He was previously head of the Shin Bet, Israel's secret service, and commander-in-chief of the Navy. He came in second to Ehud Barak in a Labor party leadership election in June 2007, and was appointed a Minister without Portfolio in September 2007.
Ami Ayalon was born in Tiberias and grew up in kibbutz Ma'agan. His parents moved to British Mandate Palestine in the 1930s. His mother came as a young girl to study in Jerusalem; his father, Yitzhak, emigrated illegally from Romania, and was one of the founders of Ma'agan, where he worked until retirement as a carpenter. Ayalon graduated from Bar-Ilan University with a Bachelor of Arts in 1980. In 1992 he received a Master of Public Administration from Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government. In 2010 he received a Master of Studies in Law from Bar-Ilan University. He is married and the father of three.
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Amir Drori
Amir Drori (Hebrew: אמיר דרורי; 1937–2005) was an Israeli general, founder and the first director general of the Israel Antiquities Authority.
Amir Drori was born in Tel Aviv in 1937 and graduated from the IDF's Junior Command Preparatory School in Haifa. He was drafted into the Israel Defence Forces in 1955, where he joined the Golani infantry brigade. During the 1956 Suez Crisis Drori led a demolition team and participated in fighting in Rafah and the Sinai. He was awarded the Medal of Courage for his part in the Israeli raid on the Syrian village of Tawafiq in 1960.
During the 1967 Six Day War Drori served as deputy commander of Golani's 51st Battalion and took part in fighting on the Golan Heights. During the subsequent War of Attrition he commanded Golani's 13th Battlation, participating in fighting on the Golan Heights, Beit She'an Valley, the Jordan Valley and along the Suez Canal. Between 1970 and 1972 he served as the chief operations officer of Israel's Southern Command, under Ariel Sharon.
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Amir Peretz
Amir Peretz (Hebrew: עמיר פרץ, Arabic: عمير بيريتز; born Armand Peretz on 9 March 1952) is an Israeli politician and member of the Knesset for the Labour Party. He is a former Defense Minister of Israel and former leader of the Labour Party, having left those positions in June 2007.
Peretz is the former chairman of the Histadrut trade union federation and defeated Shimon Peres in the primary elections for the Labour leadership on 9 November 2005. He led the Labour Party to a second place showing in the 2006 elections and became Defense Minister on 4 May 2006. He was defeated by Ehud Barak for the Labour leadership on 12 June 2007 and resigned from the cabinet.
Peretz was born as Armand Peretz in the town of Boujad in Morocco. His father was head of the Jewish community in Boujad and owned a petrol station.[citation needed] The family emigrated to Israel when Morocco won independence in 1956. They were settled in the development town of Sderot, where Peretz lived until the age of 18. He went to high school in a nearby kibbutz.
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Amnon Cohen
Amnon Cohen (Hebrew: אמנון כהן, born 1 June 1960) is an Israeli politician and member of the Knesset for Shas.
Born in Samarkand in the Soviet Union (today in Uzbekistan), Cohen made aliyah to Israel in 1973. He gained a BA in business administration at the Center for Academic Studies in Kiryat Ono and took a two-year course at the Institute for Local Government in Bar-Ilan University.
Cohen served as deputy mayor and acting mayor of Ramla, and chaired the city's Organisation for Prisoner Rehabilitation. He has also been a member of the city union on Secondary Education, the Ayalon Sewage Programme, the Ayalon Fire Department and the board of Amal College.
He was first elected to the Knesset on Shas' list in 1999 and chaired the Public Petitions committee. He retained his seat in the 2003 elections, after which he chaired the State Control and Economic Affairs committees. He was re-elected again in 2006, and served as a Deputy Speaker of the Knesset. In 2006 he won the Quality of Government Badge for legislators. He retained his seat in the 2009 elections after being placed fourth on the Shas list.
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Amnon Lipkin-Shahak
Amnon Lipkin-Shahak (Hebrew: אמנון ליפקין-שחק, born 18 March 1944 in Tel Aviv) is a former Chief of Staff of the Israel Defense Forces, Member of the Knesset and Minister of Transportation and Tourism.
Lipkin-Shahak started his military service as a teenager in the military boarding-school in Haifa. He enlisted as a corporal in the paratrooper brigade in 1962, fulfilled various command positions and eventually became brigade commander. During his military service, he was decorated twice with the Medal of Courage for his conduct in Operation Inferno, in Karameh, Jordan 1968 as a captain, and in Operation Spring of Youth, Beirut, Lebanon 1973 as a Lt. Colonel. As deputy Chief of Staff, he was involved in the negotiations with the Palestinians under prime minister Yitzhak Rabin.
Lipkin-Shahak succeeded Ehud Barak as the 15th Chief of the General Staff in 1995. As Chief of staff, he continued to take part in negotiations with the Palestinians and Syrians, in which position he met his Syrian counterpart. Most of his tenure as Chief of Staff was under Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yitzhak Mordechai. His tenure was marked with much public friction between him and his superiors, reportedly due to political differences and personal disrespect (Lipkin-Shahak refused to nominate Mordechai, a Major General, as his deputy when he became Chief of Staff, causing Mordechai to retire from the army and join the political arena, eventually to become Lipkin-Shahak's superior.)
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Amnon Rubinstein
Amnon Rubinstein (Hebrew: אמנון רובינשטיין, born 5 September 1931) is an Israeli law scholar, politician, and columnist. A member of the Knesset between 1977 and 2002, he served in several ministerial positions. He is currently dean of the Interdisciplinary Center (IDC) in Herzliya and a patron of Liberal International.
Rubinstein was born in Tel Aviv during the Mandate Era. After serving as a captain in the IDF, he studied economics, international relations, and law at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and was called to the bar in 1963. He received a PhD in law from the London School of Economics in 1966. Between 1961 and 1975 he worked as a professor of law at Tel Aviv University, serving as faculty dean from 1968 until 1973.
Rubinstein's political career began when he founded Shinui after the Yom Kippur War. Shinui joined Yigael Yadin's Democratic Movement to form Dash. In the 1977 elections, Dash won 15 seats in the Knesset. Dash's victory came at the expense of the Alignment; for the first time in the 29 years since the founding of the modern state of Israel, the right-wing formed the government. However, Rubinstein opposed Dash's participation in Menachem Begin's Likud government coalition, and Shinui broke away from Dash. Rubinstein retained his seat in the 1981 elections, though Shinui was reduced to two seats. After winning three seats in the 1984 elections Shinui were invited into the governing coalition, and Rubinstein was appointed Minister of Communications. Rubinstein was re-elected again in 1988, but Shinui were left out of the government.
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Amos Yadlin
Aluf (Major General, res.) Amos Yadlin (Hebrew: עמוס ידלין, born 1951) is a former Israeli Air Force (IAF) general, Israel Defense Forces military attaché to Washington, D.C. and head of the IDF Military Intelligence Directorate (Aman).
Amos Yadlin was born in Kibbutz Hatzerim and in 1970 enlisted in the IAF. After qualifying as a fighter pilot, Yadlin joined the 102 "Flying Tiger" Squadron, with which he flew the A-4 Skyhawk during the Yom Kippur War. In the early 1980s Yadlin was among the first batch of Israeli pilots to fly the F-16 Fighting Falcon and was among the eight pilots selected to carry out Operation Opera against Iraq's Osirak nuclear reactor in June 1981. A year later, Yadlin participated in Operation Peace for Galilee. In all he had accumulated about 5,000 flight hours and flew more than 250 combat missions. Yadlin commanded two fighter squadrons (116 and 106), two Israeli Air Force bases (Nevatim and Hatzerim) and between 1990 and 1993 headed the IAF's planning department. He then served as Deputy Commander of the IAF.
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Ariel Atias
Ariel Atias (Hebrew: אריאל אטיאס, born 13 November 1970) is an Israeli politician who currently serves as a member of the Knesset for Shas, and as the country's Minister of Housing and Construction. He is also manager of Shas' kosher supervision organization.
Born in Tel Aviv, Atias was first elected to the Knesset on Shas' list in the 2006 elections. In May 2006 he was promoted to the position of Minister of Communications in the current government. In 2007 he tried to get a law passed that would censor violence, sex, and gambling on the internet.
He retained his seat in the 2009 elections, having been placed second on the Shas list, and was appointed Minister of Housing and Construction in the Netanyahu government. On 2 July 2009, it was reported that Atias had called for the segregation of Israel's Arab population from Jewish Israelis, saying that achieving it was "a national duty... populations that should not mix are spreading... I don't think that it is appropriate [for them] to live together".
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Ariel Sharon
Ariel Sharon (Hebrew: אריאל שרון, also known by his diminutive Arik, אַריק, born Ariel Scheinermann, אריאל שיינרמן on 26 February 1928) is an Israeli statesman and retired general, who served as Israel’s 11th Prime Minister. He has been in a permanent vegetative state since suffering a stroke on 4 January 2006.
Sharon was a commander in the Israeli Army since its inception in 1948. As a paratrooper and then officer he participated prominently in the 1948 War of Independence, becoming platoon commander of the Alexandroni Brigade and taking part in many battles, including Operation Ben Nun Alef. He was an instrumental figure in the creation of Unit 101, the Retribution operations, the 1956 Suez War, the Six-Day War of 1967, the War of Attrition and the Yom-Kippur War of 1973. As Minister of Defense, he directed the 1982 Lebanon War. During his military career, he was considered the greatest Field Commander in Israel's history, and one of the country's greatest ever military strategists. After his assault of the Sinai in the Six-Day War and his encirclement of the Egyptian Third Army in the Yom Kippur War, the Israeli public nicknamed him "The King of Israel" and "The Lion of God".
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Aryeh Deri
Aryeh Deri (Hebrew: אריה דרעי; born February 17, 1959 in Meknes, Morocco) is an Israeli politician, and former leader of Israel's Shas Party.
After Deri was convicted of taking $155,000 in bribes while serving as Interior Minister and given a three-year jail sentence in 2000, he was replaced by Eli Yishai. Due to good behavior, Deri was released from Maasiyahu Prison in 2002 after serving 22 months.
In 2005, he was voted the 58th-greatest Israeli of all time, in a poll by the Israeli news website Ynet to determine whom the general public considered the 200 Greatest Israelis.
In June 2011, he announced that he was planning to return to politics.
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Aryeh Eldad
Prof. Aryeh Eldad, M.D. (Hebrew: אריה אלדד, born 1 May 1950) is an Israeli physician and politician, and a member of the Knesset for the National Union parliamentary group, within which he heads the Hatikva party.
Eldad was born in Tel Aviv in 1950. He is married with five children. His father, Israel Eldad, was a well known Israeli public thinker and formerly one of the leaders of the underground group Lehi. He is a resident of the Israeli settlement of Kfar Adumim and is a Brigadier-General (reserves) in the Israel Defense Forces.
Eldad is a professor and head of the plastic surgery and burns unit at the Hadassah Medical Center hospital in Jerusalem. He studied medicine at Tel Aviv University, where he earned his doctorate. He served as the chief medical officer and was the senior commander of the Israeli Defense Forces medical corps for 25 years, and reached a rank of Tat Aluf (Brigadier General). He is renowned worldwide for his treatment of burns and won the Evans Award from the American Burns Treatment Association.
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Aryeh Nehemkin
Aryeh Nehemkin (Hebrew: אריה נחמקין, born 2 November 1925) is a former Israeli politician who served as Minister of Agriculture from 1984 until 1988.
Born in Nahalal during the Mandate Era, Nehemkin was a Haganah member between 1943 and 1948. During the 1948 Arab-Israeli War he served in the IDF, reaching the rank of Lieutenant Colonel.
He was a member of the Economic Committee of the Moshavim Movement in 1959-60, becoming the co-ordinator of its economic section between 1965 and 1967, before serving as the movement's secretary between 1970 and 1981.
In 1981 he was elected to the Knesset on the Alignment's list. He was re-elected in 1984, and was appointed Minister of Agriculture in the national unity government. However, he lost his seat in the 1988 elections.
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Avi Dichter
Avi Dichter (Hebrew: אבי דיכטר, IPA: [ˈävi ˈdiχte̞ʁ] ; born December 4, 1952) is an Israeli politician who currently serves as a member of the Knesset for Kadima. He is a former Minister of Internal Security and Shin Bet director.
Born in Ashkelon, Dichter's parents were Holocaust survivors. As an adolescent, he joined Hashomer Hatzair, the oldest Zionist youth movement still functioning. After graduating high school (where he met his wife Ilana, with whom he has three children), Dichter was selected to serve in the elite unit of the Israel Defense Forces, Sayeret Matkal, under then Commander Ehud Barak. Upon completing his military service, Dichter joined Shin Bet, Israel's internal security service, in 1974 where he advanced to eventually become its Director in 2000.
He began his career in Shin Bet as a sky marshal for El Al. After becoming proficient in Arabic and completing field intelligence courses, he began working in the Shin Bet's Southern District—specifically in the Gaza Strip. In 1986 he gained a BA in Social Science from Bar-Ilan University. In 1992, he was appointed as Director for the region. The targeted killing of Hamas operative Yahya Ayyash—known as "The Engineer"—took place under Dichter's leadership. The assassination of the late Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin in 1995 shed light on Shin Bet's shortcomings. Aiming to improve the Shin Bet's protection capabilities, Dichter was appointed Director of the Security and Protection Division. In 1999, he became Deputy Director of Shin Bet, and gained an Executive MBA from Tel Aviv University. One year later, Prime Minister Ehud Barak promoted Dichter to Director.
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Avigdor Lieberman
Avigdor Lieberman (Hebrew: אביגדור ליברמן, IPA: [aviɡˈdor ˈliberman], (audio) (help·info); born Evet Lvovich Liberman (Russian: Эве́т Льво́вич Ли́берман)) is a Soviet-born Israeli politician. He is currently Member of the Knesset, Israeli Minister of Foreign Affairs and Deputy Prime Minister of Israel. He is the founder and leader of the Yisrael Beiteinu party, whose electoral base are the immigrants from the former Soviet Union.
Lieberman first entered the Knesset in 1999, and has since served in numerous roles in the government, including as Minister of National Infrastructure, Minister of Transportation, Minister of Strategic Affairs, Deputy Prime Minister, and Foreign Affairs Minister.
Lieberman was born on 5 June 1958 in Kishinev, Soviet Union (now Chişinău, Moldova). His father had served in the Red Army and spent seven years in a Siberian Gulag under Joseph Stalin's rule, where he met Evet's mother[citation needed]. After high school, Lieberman applied to study international law at Kiev University, but was, according to an interview, rejected for being Jewish. He then temporarily enrolled at the Chişinău Agriculture Institute with a hydrological land improvement major.
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Avishay Braverman
Avishay Braverman (Hebrew: אבישי ברוורמן, born 15 January 1948) is an Israeli economist and politician. A former president of the Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, he is currently a member of the Knesset for the Labor Party. Between 2009 and 2011 he served as Minister of Minorities.
Braverman studied statistics and economics in Tel Aviv University and received his PhD in economics from Stanford. After serving as a senior official in the World Bank in Washington, specializing in economic development with an emphasis on social justice, Braverman returned to Israel to become president of the Ben-Gurion University of the Negev for the next sixteen years. He was well regarded in this position and received an award from the city of Be'er Sheva for his work.
In November 2005, Braverman announced his intention to become involved in politics. Despite rumors that he would join Kadima, in a move viewed as surprising, he ended up joining Labor. He was elected to the Knesset in the 2006 elections. Within the party, he was inititally associated with Amir Peretz and later with Ami Ayalon.
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Aviv Kochavi
Major General Aviv Kochavi (born 1964) is an Israel Defense Forces officer. He was the commander of the Gaza Division during the unilateral disengagement, and until recently was the head of the Operations division in the Operations Directorate. In November 2010 Kochavi took over as the Military Intelligence Director.
In February 2006, he was due to visit Britain to attend a course at the Royal College of Defence Studies, but pulled out after it was suggested that he might be charged with human rights violations. This took place after Doron Almog fled Britain a few months earlier when he was charged.[citation needed]
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Avraham Hirschson
Avraham Hirchson (Hebrew: אברהם הירשזון, born February 11, 1941) was an Israeli politician. He served as a member of the Knesset for Likud and Kadima between 1981 and 1984, and again from 1992 until 2009. He also held the posts of Minister of Communications, Minister of Finance and Minister of Tourism. He resigned following allegations of corruption, and was ultimately convicted of stealing close to 2 million shekels from the National Workers Labor Federation while he was its chairman.
Hirchson was born in Tel Mond and currently resides in Tel Aviv. From 1970 to 1992, he was secretary-general for the National Youth League (the youth branch of the National Histadrut). He has been the chairman of the National Histadrut since 1995 and chairman of the National Health Fund since 1996 (the revisionist counterparts to the larger General Histadrut and General Health Fund respectively). He helped found the March of the Living programme in 1988, but has not been involved in the organization for a number of years. During his involvement with the March of the Living the organization was accused of handling donations in a non-transparent manner.
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Avraham Katz-Oz
Avraham Katz-Oz (Hebrew: אברהם כ"ץ-עוז, born 7 December 1934) is an Israeli former politician who served as a member of the Knesset from 1977 until 1996, and as Minister of Agriculture from 1988 until 1990.
Born in Tel Aviv during the Mandate era, and graduated from Pardes Hanna Agricultural High School. Katz-Oz studied at the Faculty for Agriculture in Rehovot and the Faculty for Genetics in Jerusalem. He worked as the agricultural co-ordinator and secretary of kibbutz Nahal Oz and was secretary of Ihud HaKvutzot VeHaKibbutzim between 1969 and 1973.
In 1976 he became chairman of the organisational branch of the Labor Party (then part of the Alignment alliance), serving until 1978. He was on the alliance's list for the 1977 elections, but failed to win a seat. However, he entered the Knesset on 18 April the following year as a replacement for Yitzhak Navon, following his election to the post of president.
He was re-elected in 1981 and 1984, and was appointed Deputy Agriculture Minister in the national unity government formed in 1984. Following the 1988 elections he became Minister of Agriculture, serving until the Alignment withdrew from the government in March 1990. He lost his seat in the 1992 election, though he returned to it in July 1995 as a replacement for the deceased Mordechai Gur. However, he resigned his seat in May 1996 and was replaced by Pini Shomer.
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Avraham Michaeli
Avraham Michaeli (Hebrew: אברהם מיכאלי, born 29 March 1957) is an Israeli politician and member of the Knesset for Shas.
Born in Kulashi in the Soviet Union (today in Georgia), Michaeli made aliyah to Israel on 29 June 1971. He studied law at Bar-Ilan University, gaining an LLB in 1984. In 2006 he was elected to the Knesset on Shas' list. He retained his seat in the 2009 elections, having been placed eleventh on the Shas list.
Michaeli currently lives in Or Yehuda.
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Avraham Poraz
Avraham Poraz (Hebrew: אברהם פורז, born 9 August 1945) is an Israeli lawyer and former politician.
Poraz was born in Bucharest, Romania in 1945 and immigrated to Israel in 1950. He served in the Military Police Corps of the Israel Defense Forces and later studied law in the Hebrew University in Jerusalem and was certified as a lawyer.
From 1983 to 1988 he was a member of the Tel Aviv Municipal Council and chairman of the City Auditing Committee. He was chairman of the Shinui Party Secretariat from 1982 to 1983 and again from 1988 to 1990. From 1984 to 1988 he was head of the project for setting up the Israeli Channel 2, the cable TV and the regional radio.
In 1988 he was elected to the Knesset for Shinui. In the following election, he was elected for Meretz, into which Shinui had merged. He served as a member of the House Committee; the Constitution, Law and Justice Committee; the Ethics Committee; the Internal Affairs and Environment Committee and the Finance Committee. He also served as Chairman of the Economics Committee. In February 2003, he was appointed Minister of the Interior by Prime Minister Ariel Sharon.
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Avraham Sharir
Avraham Sharir (Hebrew: אברהם שריר, born December 23, 1932) is a former Israeli politician.
Sharir was born in 1932 in Tel Aviv, where he attended high school. He studied law at the Hebrew University and was certified as a lawyer. From 1954 to 1964 he was secretary of the General Zionist faction in the Knesset. He was the director of the economics department of the Jewish Agency in the United States from 1964 to 1967 and director of the coordinating bureau of the economic organizations of the employers in Israel from 1967 to 1970. He was the economic consul in Atlanta from 1970 to 1972 and then in Western United States until 1974. From 1974 to 1977 he was General Secretary of the Liberal Party and its chairman of the national board.
He was elected to the ninth Knesset in 1977 for the Likud and again in 1981, 1984 and 1988. He was a member of the finance committee in the ninth Knesset and of the foreign affairs & defense committee in the twelfth. He was the Minister of Tourism in the tenth Knesset and also Minister of Justice in the eleventh.
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Ayoob Kara
Ayoob Kara (Hebrew: איוב קרא, Arabic: أيوب قرا also Ayoub or Ayub or Qara; born 12 March 1955) is a Druze Israeli politician. He is currently a member of the Knesset for Likud and Deputy Minister for Development of the Negev and Galilee. He lives in Isfiya, Haifa District.
He is one of the most conservative and outspoken members of the Knesset and a strong supporter of Israel. He opposed the Gaza disengagement, is hawkish on Iran, supports the three-state solution and supports Jewish settlement in the West Bank.
Kara was born in Daliyat al-Karmel, a Druze town near Haifa, in 1955. He went to an agricultural high school in Kfar Galim. He served in the Israel Defense Forces reserve and attained the rank of major before being discharged for posttraumatic stress disorder. Serving alongside Jews before and after the establishment of Israel has been a source of family pride. His uncle was killed during Arab riots in 1939. His father served in the IDF during the 1948 Arab–Israeli War. Another uncle was also killed by Arabs then and two of his brothers were killed in action in the 1982 Lebanon War. Following his national service, Kara studied Business Administration. Today, he lives in Daliyat al-Karmel with his wife and five children.
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Ben-Zion Dinur
Ben-Zion Dinur (Hebrew: בן ציון דינור, born Ben-Zion Dinaburg on 2 January 1884, died 8 July 1973) was a Zionist activist, educator, historian and Israeli politician.
Dinaburg was born in 1884 in Khorol in the Russian Empire (now Poltava Oblast, Ukraine). He received his education in Lithuanian yeshivot. He studied under Shimon Shkop in the Telz Yeshiva, and became interested in the Haskalah through Rosh Yeshiva Eliezer Gordon's polemics. In 1898 he moved to the Slabodka yeshiva and in 1900 he traveled to Vilnius and was certified a Rabbi. He then went to Lyubavichi to witness the Chabad-Lubavitch branch of Hasidic Judaism. Between 1902 and 1911 he was engaged in Zionist activism and teaching, which at some point resulted in a brief arrest. In 1910 he married Bilhah Feingold, a teacher who had worked with him in a girls' trade school in Poltava. In 1911 he left his wife and son for two years to attend the Berlin University, where he studied under Semen Ivanovich Rostovzev and Eugen Täubler. He then spent two more years at the University of Bern, where he began his dissertation under Rostovzev, on the Jews in the Land of Israel under the Roman Empire. The break of World War I forced him to move to the University of Petrograd. However, due to the October Revolution, he did not receive his PhD. He was a lecturer at the University of Odessa from 1920 to 1921.
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Benjamin Ben-Eliezer
Binyamin Fuad Ben-Eliezer Hebrew: בנימין פואד בן אליעזר, Arabic: بنيامين فؤاد بن اليعازر, born 12 February 1936) is an Israeli politician and former military officer of Iraqi origin. He currently serves as a member of the Knesset for the Labor Party, and has held several ministerial posts, including Minister of Industry, Trade and Labour, Minister of Defense, Deputy Prime Minister.
Born in Basra in southern Iraq, as Fuad, Son of Saleh and Farha. Ben-Eliezer made aliyah to Israel in 1950, hebraizing his First name to Binyamin. He entered the Israel Defense Forces in 1954, and became a career soldier. He served as a Commander in the Six-Day War and the Yom Kippur War, and was wounded in the War of Attrition. In 1977, he was appointed First Commanding Officer in Southern Lebanon, serving as the army liaison between the Lebanese Christian militias and Israel. He was Military Governor of Judea and Samaria (1978–81) and was Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories from 1983 until 1984. He completed his military service with the rank of Brigadier General.
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Benjamin Netanyahu
Benjamin "Bibi" Netanyahu (Hebrew: בִּנְיָמִין "בִּיבִּי" נְתַנְיָהוּ (help·info); born 21 October 1949) is the current Prime Minister of Israel. He serves also as the Chairman of the Likud Party, as a Knesset member, as the Health Minister of Israel, as the Pensioner Affairs Minister of Israel and as the Economic Strategy Minister of Israel.
Netanyahu is the first Israeli prime minister born in Israel after the founding of the state. Netanyahu joined the Israeli Defense Forces during the 1967 Six-Day War, and became a team leader in the Sayeret Matkal special forces unit. He took part in many missions, including Operation Gift and Operation Isotope, during which he was shot in the shoulder. He fought on the front lines in the Yom Kippur War in 1973, taking part in special forces raids along the Suez Canal, and then leading a commando assault deep into Syrian territory. He achieved the rank of captain before being discharged. Netanyahu served as the Israeli ambassador to the United Nations from 1984 to 1988, member of the Likud Party, and was Prime Minister from June 1996 to July 1999.
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Benny Begin
Ze'ev Binyamin Begin, (Hebrew: זאב בנימין "בני" בגין, born 1 March 1943) is an Israeli geologist and politician. A member of the Knesset for Likud, he is the son of former Prime Minister of Israel Menachem Begin.
Ze'ev Binyamin (Benny) Begin was born in Jerusalem to Aliza and Menachem Begin. He studied geology at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. After completing his undergraduate and graduate studies, he worked for the Geological Survey of Israel. He completed his doctorate in geology at Colorado State University in 1978.
First elected to the Knesset in 1988 as a Likud MK, Begin ran in the Likud primary in 1993 to succeed Yitzhak Shamir as party leader but was defeated by Benjamin Netanyahu. Under Netanyahu's government (1996–1999), Begin served as Science Minister until 1997 when he resigned in protest against the Hebron Agreement.
He subsequently led hardliners out of the Likud with the hope of reviving the Herut political party founded by his father. With full support from former Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir, Herut – The National Movement departed from the Likud and joined other right-wing parties to form an alliance opposing the Oslo Accords, the National Union. Due to the National Union's poor showing in the 1999 elections, Begin resigned his seat and quit politics. In turn, Begin resumed his career in science and education, and was appointed Director of the Geological Survey of Israel.
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Benny Gantz
Binyamin "Benny" Gantz (Hebrew: בנימין "בני" גנץ, born June 9, 1959 in Kfar Ahim, Israel) is the current Chief of General Staff of the Israel Defense Forces.
Born in Kfar Ahim, Israel in 1959, Gantz was drafted into the IDF in 1977. He volunteered as a paratrooper in the Paratroopers Brigade, and in 1979 became an officer after completing officer's training school. During his career Gantz has served in a number of roles, including: Commander of the Shaldag Unit in the Israeli Air Force, Commander of the Paratrooper Brigade, Commander of the Reserves Division in the Northern Command, Commander of the Lebanon Liaison Unit, Commander of the Judea and Samaria Division in 2000, before becoming the Commander of the Israeli Northern Command in 2001, and as Israel's military attaché in the United States from 2005 until 2009 before becoming the Deputy Chief of the General Staff.
Gantz has received a number of degrees during his military service. He is a graduate of the IDF Command and Headquarters College and the National Security College. He holds a Bachelor's Degree in History from Tel Aviv University, a Master's Degree in Political Science from the University of Haifa, and an additional Master's Degree in National Resources Management from the National Defense University in the United States.
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Binyamin Ben-Eliezer
Binyamin Fuad Ben-Eliezer Hebrew: בנימין פואד בן אליעזר, Arabic: بنيامين فؤاد بن اليعازر, born 12 February 1936) is an Israeli politician and former military officer of Iraqi origin. He currently serves as a member of the Knesset for the Labor Party, and has held several ministerial posts, including Minister of Industry, Trade and Labour, Minister of Defense, Deputy Prime Minister.
Born in Basra in southern Iraq, as Fuad, Son of Saleh and Farha. Ben-Eliezer made aliyah to Israel in 1950, hebraizing his First name to Binyamin. He entered the Israel Defense Forces in 1954, and became a career soldier. He served as a Commander in the Six-Day War and the Yom Kippur War, and was wounded in the War of Attrition. In 1977, he was appointed First Commanding Officer in Southern Lebanon, serving as the army liaison between the Lebanese Christian militias and Israel. He was Military Governor of Judea and Samaria (1978–81) and was Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories from 1983 until 1984. He completed his military service with the rank of Brigadier General.
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Binyamin Gibli
Binyamin Gibli (1919 – August 19, 2008) was the head of Israeli Military Intelligence from June 1950 to March 1955. Gibli was forced to resign in the wake of the Lavon Affair, a failed Israeli operation in Egypt in 1954.
Binyamin Gibli was born in Petah Tikva in 1919. His father, Moshe Granzia of Briansk, Russian Empire, immigrated to Palestine in May 1914. Granzia settled in Kfar Ganim and changed his name to Gibli. His mother was Yehudit. Gibli married Esther Pinhassi in 1940 and moved to her family home in Ein Ganim. In 1941 he joined the "Jewish Settlement Police", and the following year completed an infantry officers' course at the training school for Haganah cadres. In 1946 he became a district officer for the Haganah Intelligence Service (SHAI), based in Petah Tikva, with responsibility for the southern region. One of his duties was safeguarding the water pipelines to Jewish settlements.
In March 1948 he was appointed head of SHAI in Jerusalem. On 20 June 1948 he took part in the field court-martial of Meir Tubiansky at Beit Jiz. Three other SHAI officers were present including SHAI chief Isser Be'eri. Gibli acted as presiding judge, prosecutor, witness and record-keeper. Tubiansky, 45 years old, was found guilty of transmitting information to the enemy and a few hours later executed by a Palmach firing squad. On 3 July 1949 David Ben-Gurion issued a public exoneration of Tubiansky and restitution of his rank and rights. Four days later his body was re-buried on Mount Herzl. In November 1949, after a trial at which Gibli appeared as a witness for the prosecution, Be'eri was found guilty of manslaughter.
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Binyamin Netanyahu
Benjamin "Bibi" Netanyahu (Hebrew: בִּנְיָמִין "בִּיבִּי" נְתַנְיָהוּ (help·info); born 21 October 1949) is the current Prime Minister of Israel. He serves also as the Chairman of the Likud Party, as a Knesset member, as the Health Minister of Israel, as the Pensioner Affairs Minister of Israel and as the Economic Strategy Minister of Israel.
Netanyahu is the first Israeli prime minister born in Israel after the founding of the state. Netanyahu joined the Israeli Defense Forces during the 1967 Six-Day War, and became a team leader in the Sayeret Matkal special forces unit. He took part in many missions, including Operation Gift and Operation Isotope, during which he was shot in the shoulder. He fought on the front lines in the Yom Kippur War in 1973, taking part in special forces raids along the Suez Canal, and then leading a commando assault deep into Syrian territory. He achieved the rank of captain before being discharged. Netanyahu served as the Israeli ambassador to the United Nations from 1984 to 1988, member of the Likud Party, and was Prime Minister from June 1996 to July 1999.
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Chaim Herzog
Chaim Herzog (Hebrew: חיים הרצוג, 17 September 1918 – 17 April 1997) served as the sixth President of Israel (1983–93), following a distinguished career in both the British Army and the Israel Defense Forces (IDF).
Herzog was born at Cliftonpark Avenue in Belfast, the son of notable Rabbi Yitzhak HaLevi Herzog, who was Chief Rabbi of Ireland from 1919 to 1937 (and later, of Palestine and Israel), and Sara (née Hillman).[citation needed] The family home (from 1919) was at 33 Bloomfield Avenue, Portobello in Dublin, Ireland. Herzog studied at Wesley College, Dublin and was involved with the Federation of Zionist Youth during his teenage years.
He immigrated to Palestine in 1935, and served in the Jewish paramilitary group Haganah during the Arab revolt of 1936–39.
He went on to earn a degree in law at University College London, and then qualified as a barrister at Lincoln's Inn.
He joined the British army during World War II, operating primarily in Germany as a tank commander in the Armoured Division. There, he was given his lifelong nickname of "Vivian" because the British could not pronounce the name, "Chaim". A Jewish soldier had volunteered that "Vivian" was the English equivalent of "Chaim." (Living History, p. 47) He was commissioned into the Intelligence Corps in 1943 and participated in the liberation of several concentration camps as well as identifying a captured German soldier as Heinrich Himmler. He left the Army in 1947 with the rank of Major.
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Dalia Itzik
Dalia Itzik (Hebrew: דליה איציק), born 20 October 1952, is an Israeli politician who currently serves as a member of the Knesset for Kadima. She has previously served in several ministerial positions, and on 4 May 2006 became the first female speaker of the Knesset, and has since served as President of Israel in an interim capacity on two occasions.
Itzik was born in Jerusalem to a family of Iraqi Jews. She is married to Danny, an employee of the Israel Electric Corporation. They have three children, Ran, Uri and Adi. The family lives in Jerusalem's Ramat Sharett neighborhood.
Before being elected to the 13th Knesset in 1992, Itzik served as the deputy mayor of Jerusalem.
After being re-elected in 1996 and 1999, she was appointed Minister of the Environment in Ehud Barak's government, serving from 1999 until 2001. In 2001 she became Minister of Industry and Trade, before leaving the cabinet in 2002.
Re-elected in 2003, Itzik served as Minister of Communications in 2005. In 2006 she defected to Ariel Sharon's newly formed party, Kadima.
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Dan Halutz
Dan Halutz (help·info) (Hebrew: דן חלוץ) (born August 7, 1948) is an Israeli Air Force Lt. General and former Chief of Staff of the Israel Defense Forces and commander of the Israeli Air Force. Halutz was appointed as Chief of Staff on June 1, 2005. On January 17, 2007 he announced his resignation. He has a degree in economics. He was born to a Mizrahi Jewish family with origins in Iran and Iraq. He is Chairman of the Etgarim special-needs charity.
Halutz joined the Israeli Air Force (IAF) in 1966 and graduated from combat flight school in 1968. In 1969, he joined the first F-4 Phantom squadron of the IAF. During the War of Attrition, Halutz carried out 40 operational flights.
After the war, he left the IDF in order to study, but returned to active duty when the Yom Kippur War started, in 1973. During the Yom Kippur War, Halutz carried out over 43 operational flights in which he shot down 3 enemy planes in dogfights.
In 1978, he left the IDF again and served as a reserve pilot for four years. He returned to active service in 1982, when he was also trained to pilot the new F-16 jet fighter. In 1984, he commanded a Phantom squadron. In 1986, he was appointed to head the IAI Lavi jet project. After the project was canceled due to American pressure, Halutz was appointed as commander of Hatzor airbase in 1991.
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Dan Harel
Aluf Dan Harel (born 1955) is a general in the Israel Defense Forces and is currently the Deputy Chief of the General Staff of the IDF. Born in Haifa, Harel began his military career in 1974 at the Israeli Air Force flight school, but in 1976 switched to the Israeli Artillery Corps. As he advanced up the chain of command Harel participated in the 1982 Lebanon War as a battalion commander. He left the Artillery Corps in 1993 to become the Head of the Operations Department for the General Staff, but returned in 1995 as its overall commander. He then served successively as Military Assistant to the Minister of Defense in 1998, an Armored Division commander in 2000, and head of the Operations Directorate in 2001. During this time Harel attended the US Advanced Artillery Officers' Course and the IDF Brigade Commanders' Course, and also received a B.A. in Political Science from the University of Haifa.
Harel was later appointed head of the Southern Command, a position he held from 2003 to 2006. In this capacity he not only implemented counterterrorism measures, but was also the commander in charge of Israel's Gaza pull-out in the summer of 2005. The withdrawal was largely non-violent, although there was a last-stand of Israeli protesters at the community of Kfar Darom. While he did not aspire to conduct the operation, Harel carried out the assignment as a self-described "envoy of Israeli democracy". He later credited the mission's success to the nobility of the settlers and the restraint of the IDF troops, stating that now "the unity begins". Yet as rocket and mortar attacks have continued to be launched from the Gaza Strip against Israel, some Israeli papers have begun to criticize him for not planning for this predicted aftermath.
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Dan Meridor
Dan Meridor (Hebrew: דן מרידור, born 23 April 1947) is an Israeli politician and minister. A longtime member of the Likud party, in the late 1990s he became one of the founders of the Centre Party. He rejoined Likud in the early 2000s, and returned to the Knesset following the 2009 elections. Meridor currently serves as Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Intelligence and Atomic Energy in the Israeli Cabinet.
Born in Jerusalem towards the end of the Mandate era, Meridor is the son of Eliyahu Meridor, a longtime political associate of Menachem Begin in the Irgun and Herut (which he represented in the Knesset), and Ra'anana Meridor, an associate professor of Classics at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
He served in the armored corps and then studied law at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, gaining an LL.B. He then worked as an attorney at the Tel Aviv law firm of Haim Zadok & Co..
After serving as Cabinet Secretary between 1982 and 1984 (under Begin and Yitzhak Shamir), Meridor ran for the Knesset in the Likud list for the 1984 election. As a freshman member, he was appointed chairman of two legislative subcommittees. He was re-elected in 1988, and was appointed Minister of Justice in Shamir's unity government of 1988–90 and in the right-wing cabinet of 1990–92. He retained his seat in the 1992 and 1996 elections, and was appointed Minister of Finance by Binyamin Netanyahu in 1996.
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Danny Ayalon
Daniel "Danny" Ayalon (Hebrew: דניאל "דני" אילון, born 17 December 1955) is an Israeli diplomat and politician who currently serves as Deputy Foreign Minister and as a member of the Knesset for Yisrael Beiteinu. Formerly he served as Israeli Ambassador to the United States from 2002 until 2006. He frequently writes in Israeli and international newspapers, notably in the Jerusalem Post and the Wall Street Journal.
Danny Ayalon was born in Tel Aviv in 1955 to Lily Ellon, a Polish Jew who immigrated to Israel in 1937 and Rafael Ayalon, an Algerian Jew. Ayalon was raised and educated in Tel Aviv and was drafted into the Israel Defense Forces where he rose to the rank of Captain in the Armored Corps. He received a BA in economics from Tel Aviv University and an MBA from Bowling Green University in Ohio.
Prior to his career in public service, Ayalon was a partner at Gravitas Ltd., an international consulting group, past president of private investment firm Hod Ayalon Ltd, and a finance manager for Koor Industries.
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Danny Danon
Danny Danon (Hebrew: דני דנון, born 8 May 1971) is an Israeli politician who serves as a member of the Knesset for Likud. He is chairman of World Likud and Chair of the Knesset Committee for Aliya (immigration), Absorption and Diaspora Affairs.
Danon was born in Ramat Gan, Israel, to Joseph and Yoheved Danon. He attended Blikh high school and participated in the Betar youth movement. Danon earned a Bachelor's degree in International Affairs, and Master in Public Policy from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. After his national service in the IDF (1994–1996), Danon was sent by the Jewish Agency to Miami.
In 1996 he was appointed assistant to Likud MK Uzi Landau. Later on he was appointed the Chairman of the World Betar organization for a few years. Prior to the 2006 elections, Danon won 23rd spot on Likud's list in the party primaries. However, the party won only 12 seats, and Danon did not enter the Knesset.
In June 2006, after beating MK Yuval Steinitz, Danon was elected Chairman of the World Likud organization. Danon was active against Prime-Minister Ariel Sharon's disengagement plan during the referendum conducted by the latter in the Likud party's central committee.
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David Azulai
David Azulai (Hebrew: דוד אזולאי, born 5 May 1954) is an Israeli politician and member of the Knesset for Shas.
Azulai was born in Meknes in Morocco, and immigrated to Israel in 1963.
Between the years 1973 to 1993, he worked as a teacher and vice principal. Simultaneously, from 1978 to 1993, he was a member of Acre's local council and served in the municipality's committees. In 1993 he was elected to Nahal Iron Regional Council, serving as deputy mayor of the council and later as its mayor. He resigned following his election to the Knesset in 1996.pie1234
Since his election, he has served as Chairman of the Internal Affairs and Environment Committee (2000–2001) and as Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs (2001–2003). In the latter post he was assigned to head a commission regarding the status of the Falasha.
Azulai lives in Acre, is married and a father of four.
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David Ben-Gurion
David Ben-Gurion (help·info) (Hebrew: דָּוִד בֶּן-גּוּרִיּוֹן, Arabic: دافيد بن غوريون Dafeed Bin Ghuriyyun, born David Grün; 16 October 1886 – 1 December 1973) was the main founder and the first Prime Minister of Israel.
Ben-Gurion's passion for Zionism, which began early in life, led him to become a major Zionist leader and Executive Head of the World Zionist Organization in 1946. As head of the Jewish Agency for Palestine, and later president of the Jewish Agency Executive, he became the de facto leader of the Jewish community in Palestine, and largely led its struggle for an independent Jewish state in Palestine. On 14 May 1948, he formally proclaimed the establishment of the State of Israel, and was the first to sign the Israeli Declaration of Independence, which he had helped to write. Ben-Gurion led the provisional government of Israel during the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, and united the various Jewish militias into the Israel Defense Forces (IDF). Subsequently, he became known as "Israel's founding father".
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David Ivry
David Ivry (born 1934) was the Israeli Ambassador to the United States from 2000 to 2002, and the ninth commander of the Israeli Air Force (IAF). In 1999, he was appointed first director of the Israeli National Security Council.
Ivry was born in Tel Aviv in 1934. In 1952 he was recruited to the Israeli Air Force, where he served as a pilot of a P-51 Mustang. In 1956 he was sent to a special flight-instructors course in the UK, and became the commander of the flight-instruction school at Tel Nof Airbase. During the Sinai Campaign he served as an Ouragan pilot. in 1959 he ejected from his Dassault Super Mystère during an engagement with an Egyptian mig-17. In 1962, he became the commander of the first Israeli squadron of the French Dassault Mirage. In the six day war, Ivry served as a Mirage pilot and the commander of the Mystère squadron.
From October 1977 to December 1982, he served as the ninth commander of the IAF. While he was in command, the IAI bases were moved from Sinai to the Negev, the air force took part in Operation Litani and Operation Opera. He was in command of Operation Mole Cricket 19 in the early stages of the 1982 Lebanon War.
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David Libai
David Libai (Hebrew: דוד ליבאי, born 22 October 1934) is an Israeli jurist and former politician.
Libai was born in Tel Aviv in 1934, where he attended Ironi Alef high school. He studied law at the Hebrew University within the academic reserve program of the IDF. He received his MA from the Institute of Criminology and Criminal Law in Tel Aviv University (where he served as Dean of Students) and his PhD from University of Chicago school of law. He served as deputy chief military prosecutor and was discharged as a major.
He began his professional career in the office of Minister of Justice Pinchas Rosen, in charge of the amnesty department and as spokesman for the Ministry. In 1960 he was certified as a lawyer. He was appointed chief assistant to attorney-general Colin Gillon and chief prosecutor of the state workers' disciplinary court.
In 1964 he opened a private law office. In 1977 he became chairman of the Labour Party's constitution committee. From 1983 to 1985 he was head of the Israeli Bar. He has also been a member of the National inquiry commission on prison conditions, member of the Press Council, and chairman of the Israel-Britain Parliamentary Friendship Association. He is an associate professor at Tel Aviv University and the Herzliya Interdisciplinary Center.
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David Remez
David Remez (Hebrew: דוד רמז, born David Drabkin in 1886, died 19 May 1951) was an Israeli politician, the country's first Minister of Transportation, and a signatory of the Israeli declaration of independence.
Remez was born in the village of Kopys in the Russian Empire (now in Belarus) in 1886 and attended high school there. He studied Law in Turkey before starting work as a teacher. He moved to Ottoman Palestine in 1913, and worked as an agricultural laborer in Ben Shemen, Be'er Tuvia, Karkur and Zikhron Ya'akov.
He became involved in politics and trade unionism soon after the Mandate Era began, serving as Director of the Public Works Office of the Histadrut from 1921 to 1929 as well as on Tel Aviv's city council from 1921 to 1925, and was a founding member of David Ben-Gurion's Mapai party. He became Secretary of the Histadrut in 1930, a position he retained until 1946, and also chaired the Jewish National Council from 1944-1949.
Having signed Israel's declaration of independence, Remez was appointed Minister of Transportation in David Ben-Gurion's provisional government on 14 May 1948, a position he retained after the formation of the first government following the first Knesset elections in 1949. When the first government collapsed in November 1950, Remez became Education Minister taking over from Zalman Shazar. He died in office in May 1951, the first Israeli minister to do so. His Knesset seat was taken by Menachem Cohen.
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David Rotem
David Rotem (Hebrew: דוד רותם, born 11 January 1949) is an Israeli politician and member of the Knesset for Yisrael Beiteinu.
Rotem grew up in Jerusalem, where he was a pupil at the Horev Elementary School and the Horev Yeshiva High School. Between 1967 and 1971 he studied law at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, gaining an LLB.
In 1972 he became an assistant at the Faculty of Law at Bar-Ilan University, a position he held until 1977. Between 1978 and 1980 he worked as a lecturer on legislative law at the same institution. He has also served as a member of the executive committee of Sha'arei Tzedek Medical Center, and deupty chairman of the Central Elections Committee.
Formerly a member of Mafdal, for the 2006 Knesset elections he was placed twelfth on the Yisrael Beiteinu list. Although the party won only eleven seats, Rotem entered the Knesset on 16 January 2007 as a replacement for the deceased Yuri Stern. He retained his seat in the 2009 elections, for which he was placed eighth on the party's list.
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Doron Avital
Dr Doron Shalom Avital (Hebrew: דורון שלום אביטל, born 22 January 1959) is an Israeli politician who currently serves as a member of the Knesset for Kadima.
Born in the Brit Ahim youth village near Bustan HaGalil, Avital moved to the Katamon neighbourhood of Jerusalem as a child. During the 1982 Lebanon War he served as commander of Battalion 202. Between 1992 and 1994 he was commander of Sayeret Matkal. For the 2009 Knesset elections he was placed thirty-second on the Kadima list. Although he failed to win a seat, he entered the Knesset as a replacement for the deceased Ze'ev Boim.
He holds a BA in mathematics and computer science, a master's degree in history and philosophy of science, both from Tel Aviv University, as well as a PhD in logic and philosophy from Columbia University.
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Dov Khenin
Dov Khenin (Hebrew: דב חנין, born 10 January 1958) is an Israeli political-scientist, lawyer, and member of the Knesset for the far left Hadash party. He is a member of the central committee of Maki (the Israeli Communist Party and the largest faction within Hadash), an activist for socio-economic equality and an environmentalist. His father was David Khenin, one of the leaders of Maki.
Dov Khenin was born in 1958 in the city of Petah Tikva, the son of David Khenin, a leader of Maki. His first name, Dov Boris, is after his father’s brother, who was killed in World War II. In his youth, Khenin began to be involved in the Banki Youth Movement and other leftist youth circles that were active in Tel Aviv.
Khenin finished his military service with the rank of sergeant. As a soldier, he refused to serve in the West Bank and Gaza. In 1982 he completed his studies in law at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem.
From 1984 to 2004, Khenin worked as a lawyer in the office of Amnon Zichroni. This professional framework led Khenin take on some of the key cases dealing with human rights violations in Israel and in the Territories. In the mid-eighties, he represented Yitzhak Laor in a petition to the High Court against the banning of his play “Ephraim Returns to the Army,” which was censored by the Israeli Committee on Film and Theatre. Following the case, the Supreme Court annulled the ban and permitted the performance of the play. In 2003, Khenin took on the case, pro-bono, of five left-wing military refusers.
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Dov Yosef
Dov Yosef (Hebrew: דב יוסף, born Bernard Joseph on 27 May 1899, died 7 January 1980) was an Israeli politician and statesman. Yosef served in a variety of ministerial positions during the first two Knessets and was the country's second Minister of Justice, serving twice (1951–52 and 1961–66).
Yosef was born in Montreal, Canada, as Bernard Joseph. He attended McGill University, Université Laval, and the University of London, qualifying as an attorney.
Yosef immigrated to Israel in 1918 with the Canadian Jewish Legion which he helped organize. After the end of World War I, Yosef worked as an attorney in Mandatory Palestine. During Israel's War of Independence he served Military Governor of Jerusalem during the Blockade.
In 1933 Yosef joined David Ben-Gurion's Mapai party. Three years later he became legal adviser to the Political Department of the Jewish Agency. He became a member of the Jewish Agency Executive Committee and a member of the World Zionist Organisation's Political Committee.
In December 1947 the Jewish Agency appointed him head of the Jerusalem Emergency Committee and in August 1948 he became Military Governor of Jerusalem. (see Siege of Jerusalem (1948)). He was elected to the first Knesset in January 1949. He was initially appointed Minister of Rationing and Supply in the first government, a key position during the austerity period. In June 1949 he was also appointed Agriculture Minister.
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Ehud Olmert
Ehud Olmert (Hebrew: אהוד אולמרט, IPA: [eˈhud ˈolmeʁt] ( listen), born 30 September 1945) is an Israeli politician and lawyer. He served as Prime Minister of Israel from 2006 to 2009 and before that as a Cabinet Minister from 1988 to 1992 and from 2003 to 2006. Between his first and second stints as a cabinet member, he served as Mayor of Jerusalem from 1993 to 2003.
In 2003 Olmert was re-elected to the Knesset (he had earlier served eight terms), and became a Cabinet Minister and Acting Prime Minister in the government of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon. On 4 January 2006, after Sharon suffered a severe hemorrhagic stroke, Olmert began exercising the powers of the office of Prime Minister. Olmert led Kadima to a victory in the March 2006 elections (just two months after Sharon had suffered his stroke), and continued on as Acting Prime Minister. On 14 April, two weeks after the election, Sharon was declared permanently incapacitated, allowing Olmert to legally become Interim Prime Minister. Less than a month later, on 4 May, Olmert and his new, post-election government were approved by the Knesset, thus Olmert officially became Prime Minister of Israel.
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Eitan Cabel
Eitan Cabel (Hebrew: איתן כבל, born 23 August 1959) is an Israeli politician, Knesset Member and is a former General Secretary of the Labor Party. He used to be a Sergeant in the IDF.
Born in Rosh HaAyin, Cabel studied at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Whilst at university, he was the President of the Students' Union. Following his graduation he worked as an aide to Agriculture Minister Avraham Katz-Oz, Shimon Peres and Binyamin Ben-Eliezer.
He was first elected to the Knesset in 1996. In the past he has been the chairman of the Subcommittee for the Stock Market, and the Economic Affairs Committee. Currently he is a member of the House Committee, and the Foreign Affairs & Defense Committee. He is the chairman of the Lobby for the Promotion of Culture and Art in Israel. He is also a member of the Lobby for Reserve Soldiers, and Social-Environmental Lobby.
In 2007 he resigned his position as Minister without Portfolio, and told Ehud Olmert to resign as well. He said "I can no longer sit in a government headed by Ehud Olmert." He resigned after the Winograd Commission released a report blamed Olmert and other members of the Israeli government as being responsible for the failures of the Second Lebanon War.
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Eli Aflalo
Eli Aflalo (Hebrew: אלי אפללו, born 8 September 1952) is an Israeli politician who served as a member of the Knesset for Kadima and Likud from 2003 until 2012. Between July 2008 and March 2009 he was the country's Minister of Immigrant Absorption.
Aflalo was born in Casablanca, Morocco in 1952 and made aliyah to Israel in 1962. He completed his army service with the rank of staff sergeant.
He was first elected to the Knesset on the Likud list in 2003, and on 30 March 2005 was appointed as Deputy Minister of Industry, Trade, and Labour.
Towards the end of his first term he defected to the new Kadima party, and was re-elected on its list. On 14 July 2008 he was appointed Minister of Immigrant Absorption. He retained his seat again in the 2009 elections after being placed 14th on the Kadima list. He left the Knesset to become co-chairman of the Jewish National Fund and was replaced by Avi Duan.
He has three children and currently resides in Afula.
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Eli Suissa
Rabbi Eliyahu "Eli" Suissa (Hebrew: אליהו "אלי" סויסה, born 1956) is a former Israeli politician who held several ministerial portfolios during the 1990s and early 2000s.
Born in Morocco in 1956, Suissa's family made aliyah to Israel later in the same year. He studied at a yeshiva and was ordained as a rabbi.
Despite not being a member of the Knesset, he was appointed Minister of Internal Affairs in Binyamin Netanyahu's government in June 1996. On 7 August he became Minister of Religious Affairs in addition to his existing role, but served for only five days, before Netanyahu took the post himself, before giving it to Zevulon Hammer. Following Hammer's death in January 1998, Netanyahu briefly held the portfolio again, before handing it to Yitzhak Levy. In September 1998 Suissa took over as Religious Affairs Minister again; in all the portfolio changed hands six times during the 3-year government.
In the 1999 elections he was voted into the Knesset on Shas' list, and was appointed Minister of National Infrastructure. He left the cabinet when Shas withdrew from the government in July 2000, but returned when Ariel Sharon formed a new government in March 2001, this time as Minister of Jerusalem Affairs. He served until the 2003 elections, aside from a brief period between 23 May and 3 June 2002 when Shas pulled out of the coalition.
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Eli Zeira
Eli Zeira (Hebrew: אלי זעירא) (born 1928) is a former Major General in the Israel Defense Forces. He was director of Aman, Israel's military intelligence, during the 1973 Yom Kippur War. He is most remembered for his ill-conceived prewar assessment that Egypt and Syria would not attack, despite intelligence to the contrary (also known as "The Concept").
The postwar Agranat Commission, set to investigate the reasons for the costly war, found Zeira to be negligent of his duty, and he resigned.
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Eliezer Kaplan
Eliezer Kaplan (Hebrew: אליעזר קפלן, 1891 – 13 July 1952) was a Zionist activist, Israeli politician, one of the signatories of the Israeli declaration of independence and the country's first Minister of Finance and Deputy Prime Minister.
Born in Minsk in the Russian Empire (today in Belarus), Kaplan attended a Heder and high school in Lubitch. He joined the Socialist Zionist Party in 1905, and was one of the founders of the Youth of Zion – Renewal movement in 1908, elected secretary of its Minsk Region branch in 1912. He also helped found the Youth of Zion movement in Russia in 1912 and was a member of its central committee. In 1917 he graduated from a Moscow polytechnic as a building engineer.
In 1919 Kaplan was a member of the Ukrainian delegation to the Versailles Peace Conference. The following year he immigrated to Mandate Palestine, and was involved in merging Youth of Zion with Hapoel Hatzair to form Hitachdut, and following his participation in the Conference of the Zionist Federation in London, was elected to the Zionist Executive Committee. A short while later he was sent to Berlin to run Hitachdut's world office.
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Eliezer Sandberg
Eliezer Sandberg (Hebrew: אליעזר זנדברג, born 21 February 1962) is a former Israeli politician who served as a government minister between 2003 and 2004.
Born in Haifa, Sandberg studied law at Tel Aviv University, gaining an LLB. He joined the Tzomet party, and became a member of its secretariat in 1988. He also served as the party's legal adviser and chairman of its Haifa branch. In 1992 he was elected to the Knesset on Tzomet's list. He was re-elected in 1996 and in November 1998 was appointed Deputy Minister of Education. On 23 February 1999 he left Tzomet to become a founding member of the Israel in the Centre party (later renamed the Centre Party), but on 22 March he left the new party to establish his own faction, HaTzeirim. On 29 March merged HaTzeirim into Shinui.
Sandberg was re-elected on the Shinui list in 1999 and 2003, and in February 2003 was appointed Minister of Science and Technology, a role he held until July 2004 when he became Minister of National Infrastructure. He left the cabinet on 4 December 2004 when Shinui left the coalition government.
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Ezer Weizman
Ezer Weizman (help·info) (Hebrew: עזר ויצמן, 15 June 1924 - 24 April 2005) was the seventh President of Israel, first elected in 1993 and re-elected in 1998. Before the presidency, Weizman was commander of the Israeli Air Force and Minister of Defense.
Weizman was born in Tel Aviv as Ezer Weizmann on 15 June 1924. His father, Yechiel, was an agronomist. He grew up in Haifa, and attended the Hebrew Reali School.
He married Reuma Schwartz, sister of Ruth Dayan, wife of Moshe Dayan, and they had two children, Shaul and Michal. Weizman was a nephew of Israel's first president, Chaim Weizmann. He died of respiratory failure at his home in Caesarea on 24 April 2005, at the age of 80. He is not buried on Mt. Herzl, where Israeli presidents and prime ministers are usually interred, but alongside his son and daughter-in-law in Or Akiva.
Weizman was a combat pilot. He received his training in the British Army in which he enlisted in 1942 in order to fight the Nazis. He served as a truck driver in the Western Desert campaigns in Egypt and Libya. In 1943, he joined the British Royal Air Force (RAF) and attended aviation school in Rhodesia. He served with the RAF in India in early 1944. Weizman ended his service in the RAF as a sergeant pilot.
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Gabi Ashkenazi
Gavriel "Gabi" Ashkenazi (Hebrew: גבי אשכנזי, born February 25, 1954), was the Chief of General Staff (Hebrew: רמטכ"ל Ramatkal) of the Israel Defence Forces from 2007 to 2011.
Ashkenazi was born and grew up in Hagor, a moshav, or cooperative agricultural community in the Sharon region of central Israel. Ashkenazi's father, a Bulgarian Jewish Holocaust survivor, and mother, a Syrian Jew, helped found the community. Ashkenazi completed high school at a military boarding school affiliated with the prestigious Gymnasia Herzliya in Tel Aviv. His roommates included Yigal Schwartz, a major figure in Israeli literature, and Yoav Toker, a Paris-based broadcast journalist.
Drafted into Israel's Golani Brigade in 1972, Ashkenazi first saw action in the Sinai Peninsula during the 1973 Yom Kippur War. In July 1976 Ashkenazi was a platoon commander in the force that carried out Operation Thunderbolt, a mission to rescue hostages held in Uganda, but he did not participate in the battle at Entebbe Airport. Ashkenazi's first of many experiences in Lebanon came in 1978 during Operation Litani. Ashkenazi was wounded in the fighting and left the IDF before being asked to return as a battalion commander two years later. During the 1982 Lebanon War, Ashkenazi served as Deputy Commander of the Golani Brigade and commanded the forces which captured Beaufort Castle, and the towns of Nabatieh and Jabel Baruch. Promoted to Commander of the Golani in 1987, Ashkenazi was reportedly popular with his brigade's combat soldiers during his nearly two-year tenure in that post.
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Gideon Ezra
Gideon Ezra (Hebrew: גדעון עזרא, 30 June 1937 – 17 May 2012) was an Israeli politician. He served as a member of the Knesset for Likud and Kadima between 1996 and 2012, and also held several ministerial portfolios.
Ezra was born in Jerusalem and served in the Israeli Defense Force between 1955 and 1958 in the Nahal. He studied geography and political Science at the University of Haifa. He worked for the Shin Bet from 1962 to 1995, After leaving the service, he became an advisor to then Minister of Internal Security Moshe Shahal.
Ezra was elected to the Knesset in the 1996 elections on the Likud list, and retained his seat in the 1999 and 2003 elections. After Ariel Sharon beat Ehud Barak in the 2001 election for Prime Minister, Ezra was appointed Deputy Minister of Internal Security. He was given his first full ministerial position after the 2003 elections when appointed Minister in the Ministry of the Prime Minister's Office. When Binyamin Elon was sacked as Minister of Tourism in July 2004, Ezra replaced him, initially as Acting Minister (the position was made permanent at the end of August). From September 2004 he also held the position of Acting Minister of Internal Security after Tzachi Hanegbi resigned in the face of corruption allegations. This ministerial post was also made permanent in November, and Ezra oversaw the evacuation of the Amona settlement in February 2006. In November 2005 he was attacked during a rally in Sderot against Israel's unilateral disengagement plan over his support for it.
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Gideon Patt
Gideon Patt (Hebrew: גדעון פת, born 22 February 1933) is a former Israeli politician who served in several ministerial positions between the late 1970s and early 1980s.
Born in Jerusalem during the Mandate era, Patt served in the Nahal brigade and studied economics at New York University, gaining a BA.
For the 1969 elections he was placed 27th on the Gahal list, but missed out on a seat when the alliance won only 26 seats. However, he entered the Knesset on 29 January 1970 as a replacement for the deceased Aryeh Ben-Eliezer. He was re-elected in 1973 and 1977, and was appointed Minister of Housing and Construction in Menachem Begin's government. In January 1979 he switched to the Industry, Trade and Tourism portfolio.
Following the 1981 elections the Tourism and Industry and Trade portfolios were separated, though Patt continued to hold both until August 1981 when he gave up the Tourism post.
After the 1984 elections he became Minister of Science and Development, and reverted back to Minister of Tourism after the 1988 elections. Although he retained his seat in the 1992 elections, the government was formed by Labor, and Patt lost his place in the cabinet. He was not re-elected in 1996.
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Gideon Sa'ar
Gideon Sa'ar (Hebrew: גדעון סער, born 9 December 1966 as Gideon Moses Serchanski) is an Israeli politician who currently serves as a member of the Knesset for Likud, and as the country's Minister of Education.
Born in Tel Aviv as Gideon Moses Serchanski, Sa'ar studied political science at Tel Aviv University after his national service, earning a BA, before gaining an LL.B from the same institution. He worked as an aide to the Attorney General between 1995 and 1997, and then as an aide to the State Attorney until 1998.
He worked as a secretary to the cabinet in 1999 and again from 2001–2 after Likud's Ariel Sharon won a special election for Prime Minister. In the 2003 elections he won a seat in the Knesset on Likud's list, and was appointed Likud Parliamentary Group Chairman. He was opposed to Israel's unilateral disengagement plan, and attempted to pass a bill demanding a referendum on the subject.
After retaining his seat in the 2006 elections he was reappointed Group Chairman and also became a deputy Knesset speaker.
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Gila Gamliel
Gila Gamliel (Hebrew: גילה גמליאל, born February 24, 1974) is an Israeli politician who currently serves as a member of the Knesset for Likud and Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister's Office.
Born to a Yemenite Jewish family in Gedera, Gamliel studied at the Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, where she was awarded a BA in Middle Eastern history and philosophy and an MA in philosophy. During her time as a student, she was chairwoman of the university's student union, and also the first woman chair of the National Students' Association. Later on, she obtained a Bachelor of Laws at the Ono Academic College and a Master of Laws at the Bar-Ilan University.
For the 1999 elections she was placed 25th on the Likud list, but missed out on a place in the Knesset when the party won only 19 seats. In 2003 she surprisingly won 11th place on the Likud list for the elections that year, ahead of several cabinet ministers. She became a Knesset member when the party won 38 seats, but police decided to open an investigation into the suspected transfer of student funds into a private company. She was also accused of blackmailing a fellow student council member in order to retain the chairmanship of the students' association of the Ben-Gurion University of the Negev at the time. Gamliel denied both accusations. In November 2003 the fraud police decided to stop the investigations against her because of lack of enough evidence.
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Gilad Erdan
Gilad Menashe Erdan (Hebrew: גלעד מנשה ארדן, born 30 September 1970) is an Israeli politician who currently serves as a member of the Knesset for Likud and as the country's Minister of Environmental Protection. He is currently the chairman of the Likud Youth.
Born in Ashkelon, Erdan was a Lieutenant in the IDF. After finishing his military service, he studied Law at Bar-Ilan University, gaining an LL.B, and started working as an attorney.
Becoming involved in politics, Erdan worked as an advisor to Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, and was director of the Department for Public Petitions to the Prime Minister's office between 1996 and 1998. He also worked as an advisor to Likud MK Ariel Sharon in the 1990s.
Erdan was first elected to the Knesset in the 2003 elections. He retained his seat in the 2006 elections despite Likud's collapse from 40 to 12 seats, after winning fourth place on the list in the party's primaries). In the party primaries held on 8 December 2008, he won third place on the list, and was subsequently re-elected in 2009. He was appointed Minister of Environmental Protection, and the Minister in charge of coordinating between the Cabinet and the Knesset in the Netanyahu cabinet. Upon the government taking office in 2009, he expressed support for Avigdor Lieberman's speech opposing the Annapolis Conference and international pressure. He commented that "Israel does not take orders from Obama" and that "citizens of Israel have decided that they will not become the fifty first US state".
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Golda Meir
Golda Meir (Hebrew: גּוֹלְדָּה מֵאִיר [ɡolˈda] or [ˈɡolda] [meˈʔiʁ]; earlier Golda Meyerson, born Golda Mabovich (Голда Мабович); May 3, 1898 – December 8, 1978) was a teacher, kibbutznik and politician who became the fourth Prime Minister of Israel.
Meir was elected Prime Minister of Israel on March 17, 1969, after serving as Minister of Labour and Foreign Minister. Israel's first and the world's third woman to hold such an office, she was described as the "Iron Lady" of Israeli politics years before the epithet became associated with British prime minister Margaret Thatcher. Former prime minister David Ben-Gurion used to call Meir "the best man in the government"; she was often portrayed as the "strong-willed, straight-talking, grey-bunned grandmother of the Jewish people."
In 1974, after the conclusion of the Yom Kippur War, Meir resigned as prime minister. She died in 1978.
Golda Mabovitch (Ukrainian: Ґольда Мабович) was born on May 3, 1898, in Kiev, Russian Empire, in present-day Ukraine, to Blume Neiditch (died 1951) and Moshe Mabovitch (died 1944), a carpenter. Meir wrote in her autobiography that her earliest memories were of her father boarding up the front door in response to rumors of an imminent pogrom. She had two sisters, Sheyna and Tzipke, as well as five other siblings who died in childhood. She was especially close to Sheyna.
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Haim Amsalem
Rabbi Emil Haim Amsalem (Hebrew: חיים אמסלם, born 12 October 1959) is an Israeli politician and member of the Knesset. A former member of Shas, in 2011 he established the Whole Nation party.
Born in Oran, French Algeria, Amsalem made aliyah to Israel in 1970. He underwent a rabbinical ordination, and qualified to serve as rabbi of a municipality. He was first elected to the Knesset in 2006, and retained his seat in the 2009 elections, having been placed tenth on the Shas list.
In November 2010 he was expelled from the party after criticising strictures against conversion, rising unemployment and national service evasion among yeshiva students as well as a lack of secular educational opportunities for children, but refused to give up his Knesset seat. The Jerusalem Post's Jonah Mandel describes the root of the break:
Key to Amsalem’s approach, and perhaps what is most problematic to his party’s line, is his call on those who aren’t destined to be great Torah scholars and who have families to work, and not live on “shameful” allotments.
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Haim Bar-Lev
Haim "Kidoni" Bar-Lev (Hebrew: חיים בר-לב, 16 November 1924 – 7 May 1994) was a military officer during Israel's pre-state and early statehood eras and later a government minister.
Born Haim Brotzlewsky in Vienna, Austria in 1924, Bar-Lev made aliyah to Mandate Palestine in 1939. From 1942 through 1948, Bar-Lev served in various Jewish military units, such as the Palmach. He became both a pilot and a parachutist, which would later serve him in developing both of these military branches in the young Israel Defense Forces.
In 1946 Bar-Lev blew up the Allenby Bridge near Jericho to prevent Arab militiamen in Trans-Jordan from entering Jewish towns west of the Jordan River. During the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, Bar-Lev was the commander of the Eighth Battalion (Mechanized) in the Negev Brigade, which fought in the southern part of the country and the Sinai.
During the 1956 Suez Crisis he commanded the 27th Armored Brigade, which captured the Gaza Strip before turning southwest and reaching the Suez Canal. By 1964 he became of Director of Operations within the Israel Defense Forces (IDF).
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Haim Gvati
Haim Gvati (Hebrew: חיים גבתי, born 29 January 1901, died 19 October 1990) was a Zionist activist and Israeli politician. He held several ministerial portfolios, and served as Minister of Agriculture between 1964 and 1974.
Born in Pinsk in the Russian Empire (today in Belarus), Gvati was a member of the Children of Renewal Zionist organisation in his youth. In 1920 he was teaching in a Jewish school in Sevastopol, but later moved to Vilnius (then in Poland) where he was a member of HeHalutz and Tzeiri Zion.
He made aliyah to Mandate Palestine in 1924, and was one of the founders of kibbutz Gvat in 1926, serving as its secretary for several years. He was also a member of the secretariat of HaKibbutz HaMeuhad. Following the split in the kibbutz movement, he moved to Yifat.
Between 1945 and 1949 he was a member of HaMerkaz HaHakla'i. In 1950 he was appointed director general of the Agriculture Ministry, serving until 1958. He was also on the board of Mekorot, the national water company.
Despite not being a member of the Knesset, in 1964 he was appointed Minister of Agriculture by Levi Eshkol. He was elected to the Knesset on the Alignment's list in the 1965 elections and retained his ministerial post, even after he resigned his Knesset seat in January 1966. Despite resigning his seat, he was re-elected in 1969 and continued to serve as Minister of Agriculture. Between December 1969 and July 1970 he also served as Minister of Health, and from 1970 until March 1974 served as Minister of Development.
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Haim Katz
Haim Katz (Hebrew: חיים כץ, born 21 December 1947) is an Israeli politician and member of the Knesset for Likud.
Born in Germany in 1947, he immigrated to Israel in 1949. After finishing school and national service he worked as an electronics technician. He became involved with trade unions when he became a member of the council of Israel Aircraft Industries Workers in 1983, and was also chairman of the representation of technicians and engineers. In 1993 he became secretary of the National Workers Union of Israel Aircraft Industries, and was appointed chairman of the pension funds policy making staff of the Histadrut (Israel's general trade union) in 1996. Katz founded the Oz (Hebrew: עוז, lit Strength) faction within the Histadrut.
Katz was first elected to the Knesset in the 1999 elections as a member of One Nation, a party led by Histadrut chief Amir Peretz.
However, shortly before the 2003 election, he defected to Likud and was re-elected to the Knesset on their list. As a Likud MK he was appointed Chairman of the Labour, Welfare and Health Committee. He also initiated a bill which banned MKs from serving as head of the Histadrut, meaning Peretz had to resign his post in the union.
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Haim Oron
Haim "Jumes" Oron (Hebrew: חיים "ג'ומס" אורון, born 26 March 1940) is an Israeli politician and former Minister of Agriculture. He was head of the political party New Movement-Meretz, for whom he served as a member of the Knesset.
Oron was born in Giv'atayim and grew up in Ramat Gan. His parents emigrated from Poland before World War II. His father was a textile worker and his mother a housewife. His nickname as a boy was "Jamus" (water buffalo) and later, "Jumes" (sycamore fruit).
Oron served in the airborne Nahal. During the army, he and his wife Nili joined kibbutz Lahav, where he taught in the high school and worked in various branches of the kibbutz economy (poultry, field crops, sausage factory, plastics factory). He was a member of the kibbutz committee and served as executive secretary. In 1968, he became secretary of the Hashomer Hatzair movement. He was national secretary of Kibbutz Artzi twice.
Oron had five children - Irit, Uri, Yaniv, Assaf and Oded. Yaniv died in a tractor accident at the age of 4. Oron and his wife continue to live on the kibbutz, and his benefits as an ex-Knesset member and ex-Minister go into the collective treasury.
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Haim Ramon
Haim Ramon (Hebrew: חיים רמון, born 10 April 1950) is an Israeli politician who served as a member of the Knesset between 1983 and 2009, and as both Vice Prime Minister and Minister in the Prime Minister's Office with responsibility for state policy.
Born in Jaffa in 1950, Ramon served in the Israeli Air Force, rising to the rank of Captain, before studying law at Tel Aviv University, earning a BA. He joined the Labor Party (then part of the Alignment alliance as soon as he left the military, and was secretary of its youth wing from 1978 until 1989. He entered the Knesset in May 1983, replacing Daniel Rosolio, and, except for a period between January 2006 and the March 2006 elections, remained a member until 2009. He has been a member of various committees, and chaired the finance committee from 1988 to 1992.
Ramon was appointed Minister of Health in the government of Yitzhak Rabin in 1992 where his major achievement was the promotion of the new National Health Insurance Law (see also: Universal health care in Israel). In February 1994 he resigned his position, over the failure of the Labor Party to support the proposed Health Law, which also required breaking the linkage between the Histadrut Labor Federation and the Clalit Health Fund. In a dramatic speech at a party gathering he compared the party members to beached whales and resigned his position. However, Ramon kept advocating for the law even after his resignation and it was finally passed by the Knesset in the summer of 1994.
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Haim Yosef Zadok
{{Infobox member of the Knesset | image= Haim Yosef Zadok.jpg | birth_date = (1913-10-02)2 October 1913 | birth_place = Rava-Ruska, Austria-Hungary | Year of Aliyah = 1935 | death_date = 15 August 2002(2002-08-15) (aged 88) | death_place = Germany | Knesset(s) = 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 | Party = Alignment (1969-1978) | Former parties = Mapai (1955-1965)
Labor Alignment (1965-1968)
Labor Party (1968-1969) | Gov't roles = Minister of Trade and Industry
Minister of Development
Minister of Justice
[[Religious Servick (Hebrew: חיים יוסף צדוק, born Haim Wilkenfeld on 2 October 1913, died 15 August 2002) was an Israeli jurist and politician.
Zadok was born in 1913 in Rava-Ruska in Eastern Galicia in Austria-Hungary (now Ukraine). He studied philosophy and Jewish studies at the University of Warsaw. He was a member of the Gordonia youth movement in Poland and in the "Poale Zion Federation" Party.
In 1935 he immigrated to the British Mandate of Palestine and joined the Hagana and the Jewish Settlement Police. He studied law at the Hebrew University and was certified as a lawyer. During the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, he joined the IDF as a lawyer in the office of the Chief Military Prosecutor. In 1949 he joined the legislative department of the Ministry of Justice as a deputy of the Attorney-General, a position he held until 1952.
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Haim-Moshe Shapira
Haim-Moshe Shapira (Hebrew: חיים משה שפירא, 26 March 1902 – 16 July 1970) was a key Israeli politician in the early days of the state's existence. A signatory of Israel's declaration of independence, he served continuously as a minister from the country's foundation in 1948 until his death in 1970 apart from a brief spell in the late 1950s.
Born to Zalman Shapira and Rosa Krupnik in the Russian Empire in Grodno in what is today Belarus. Shapira was educated in Cheder and a Yeshiva, where he organised a youth group called Bnei Zion (lit. Sons of Zion). He worked in the Education and Culture department of the National Jewish Council in Kaunas (now in Lithuania), and in 1919 set up the Young Mizrachi, which became a leading player in the religious zionist youth movement in Lithuania. In 1922 he started work as a teacher at an ultra-orthodox school in Vilnius, and also served on the board of the Mizrahi group in the city. Between 1923 and 1924 he was active in the Young Mizrahi group in Warsaw, before attending a Rabbinical Seminary in Berlin between 1924 and 1925.
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Hana Sweid
Dr. Hana Sweid (Arabic: حنا سويد, Hebrew: חנא סוייד, also spelt Hanna Swaid, born 27 March 1955) is an Israeli Arab politician and member of the Knesset for Hadash.
Born to a Christian family in Eilabun (Eilaboun, an Israeli Arab village between the Sea of Galilee and Nazareth), Sweid studied Civil Engineering at the Technion, gaining a BSc and an MSc. Further studies led to him receiving a PhD in Civil Engineering and Urban Planning. After his studies he worked as an engineer and also lectured at the University of Reading in the United Kingdom from 1990 until 1993. He became a member of the National Council for Planning and Construction in 1995, leaving it in 2003, the year in which he became Director General of the Arab Center for Alternative Planning, a position he held until 2006.
Dr. Sweid began his foray into politics as head of Eilabun local council in 1993, a position he held until 2000. He was first elected to the Knesset in the 2006 elections. Since becoming an MK he has led efforts to establish a new Arab city in the north of Israel.
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Ibrahim Sarsur
Sheikh Ibrahim Sarsur (Arabic: ابراهيم صرصور, Hebrew: אברהים צרצור, born 2 February 1959) is an Israeli Arab politician and member of the Knesset for the United Arab List, of which he is the party leader.
Born in Kafr Qasim, Sarsur served on its council between 1989 and 1999. During the 1970s, he studied English literature and English linguistics at Bar-Ilan University. In 1999, he became head of the southern faction of the Islamic Movement (considered more moderate than its northern counterpart). He is one of the heads of the Supreme Committee for the Surveillance of Israeli Arabs (Arabic: لجنة المتابعة العليا للجماهير العربية في إسرائيل), an organization founded in 1982 in order to coordinate the political activities of Israeli Arabs.
He was active in the United Arab List before its merger with Ahmad Tibi's Ta'al, and became leader of the united list. He was voted to the Knesset in the 2006 elections. He retained his seat in the 2009 elections.
He spoke out against a meeting of Arab lesbians in 2007, releasing a statement saying that "all respectable people from all communities and streams to stand up against preaching sexual deviance among our women and girls." He also claimed there were no homosexuals in the Muslim community.
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Ilan Shalgi
Ilan Shalgi (Hebrew: אילן שלגי, born 13 July 1945) is an Israeli lawyer, politician and a former member of the Knesset.
After his national service in the IDF, in which he served as a lieutenant-colonel, Shalgi gained an LLB and an MA in law from Tel Aviv University. He was a member of the Tel Aviv District Disciplinary Court and National Court of Appeals of the Israeli Bar between 1986 and 1995.
Between 1987 and 1990 he was chairman of the Friends of Youth Corps, and in 1993 became Chairman of the National Crude Oil Company directorate, a position he held until 1996.
Shalgi joined the secular-liberal party Shinui, and served as chairman of its secretariat between 1996 and 1999 and again from 2001 to 2003, as well as chairing the party's foreign affairs and defense committee. In the 2003 elections he was elected to the Knesset and chaired the Education, Culture and Sports Committee.
In July 2004 he was appointed Minister of Science and Technology in Ariel Sharon's government as a replacement for Eliezer Sandberg (Sandberg became Minister of National Infrastructure after the Yosef Paritzky affair). In October 2004 he was appointed acting Minister of the Environment when fellow Shinui MK Yehudit Naot was suffering from cancer. Following her death in November, Shalgi's position was made permanent, and he gave up the Science and Technology ministry.
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Isaac Herzog
Yitzhak "Buji" Herzog (Hebrew: יצחק "בוז'י" הרצוג, born 22 September 1960) is an Israeli politician and lawyer. He is currently a member of the Knesset on behalf of the Labor Party, and has previous served as Minister of Welfare & Social Services, Minister of the Diaspora, Society, and the Fight Against Antisemitism, Minister of Housing and Building and Minister of Tourism.
Herzog is the son of Israeli President Chaim Herzog and Aura Herzog, and the grandson of Rabbi Yitzhak HaLevi Herzog. He was born in Tel Aviv and studied law at Tel Aviv University and Cornell University. Herzog is married with three children, and is nicknamed Buji.
Although he did not win a seat in the 1999 elections, Herzog served as government secretary in Ehud Barak's cabinet until 2001 when Barak was defeated by Ariel Sharon in a special election for Prime Minister. In 1999, he was also investigated in the 'Amutot Barak' scandal (a scandal involving allegations that the party funding law was violated), but maintained his silence. The Attorney General, therefore, decided to close the case against him due to lack of evidence. From 2000 until 2003, he served as chairman of the Israel Anti-Drug Authority.
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Israel Rokach
Israel Rokach, Honorary CBE (Hebrew: ישראל רוקח) (December 31, 1886 – September 13, 1959) was an Israeli politician, Knesset member, and mayor of Tel Aviv from November 15, 1936 to April 13, 1953.
Israel Rokach was born in 1886 in Neve Tzedek, then part of Jaffa. His father, Shimon, a journalist, was one of the founders of the neighborhood. His grandfather, Israel Beck, revived the Hebrew printing industry in Palestine. Rokach attended a cheder and then an Alliance Israélite Universelle school. He traveled to Switzerland, where he continued his education at a high school in Lausanne and then studied electrical engineering at the Zürich polytechnic.
In 1920 Rokach moved to the United Kingdom, where he worked as an electrical engineer. In 1922 he returned to Jaffa, where he opened a store for electrical supplies. In 1933, Rokach married Esther Epstein. He called their daughter Iri (Hebrew: עירי), meaning "My City". She became known also as Livia Rokach, the authoress of "Israel's Sacred Terrorism", a study based on Moshe Sharett's personal diary and other documents.
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Isser Be'eri
Isser Be'eri (Hebrew: איסר בארי, born 1901, died January 1958) was the director of the Haganah Intelligence Service in Israel and was responsible for helping to reorganise Israeli intelligence services in 1948, as well as knowingly ordering the execution of an innocent man, Meir Tobianski. He was the founding director of the Israeli Intelligence Department (between 1948 and 1949) which later became the Military Intelligence Directorate.
Born in Będzin in Germany (today in Poland), Be'eri was one of a group of young men known as the "Six from Bedzin", who were later the founders of Migdal. Be'eri made aliyah to Palestine in 1921 and became a member of Kibbutz Artzi. He worked in construction until 1938. Between 1944 and 1945 he managed Israel Military Industries, and from 1946 to 1947 managed the Na'aman factory.
Be'eri joined the Haganah in 1938 and was in its work battalions, before becoming commander of the Kfar Giladi region. In 1947 he joined Shai, and in February 1948 was appointed its head.
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Jamal Zahalka
Dr Jamal Zahalka (Arabic: جمال زحالقة, Hebrew: ג'מאל זחאלקה, born 11 January 1955) is an Israeli Arab who serves as a member of the Knesset representing the democratic Balad party. He is a Balad party leader.
Zahalka studied pharmacy at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, earning a BA, MA and PhD, and then worked as a pharmacist.
He was first elected to the Knesset in 2003 on Balad's list, and was re-elected in 2006.
After Azmi Bishara fled the country, Zahalka became Balad's leader. He headed the party's list in the 2009 elections, and was returned to the Knesset as the party won three seats.
Zahalka is an active member of Knesset, and is a member of the Education, Culture, and Sports Committee; the Committee on Drug Abuse; and the Economic Affairs Committee in the 18th Knesset.
Zahalka lives in Kafr Qara and is married with three children.
Zahalka describes Israel's political discourse about the Palestinians as revolving around the ideas of separation, apartheid, and transfer. He argues that an apartheid system is already in place, with the West Bank and Gaza Strip separated into "cantons," and Palestinians required to carry permits to travel between them.
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Kadish Luz
Kadish Luz (Hebrew: קדיש לוז, born Kadish Luzinski; 10 January 1895 – 4 December 1972) was an Israeli politician who served as Minister of Agriculture between 1955 and 1959 and Speaker of the Knesset from 1959 and 1969.
Luz was born in 1895 in Bobruysk in the Russian Empire (today in Belarus), to parents Zvi Luzinski and Esther Seldovitch. He served in the Russian Army during World War I and was a founder of the Hebrew Soldier Association and the HeHalutz movement. He studied in a polytechnic in Germany, at the Economics Institute in Saint Petersburg, and the Agricultural Institute of Odessa University.
He made aliyah to the Palestine in 1920, and worked as a cottager in Kiryat Anavim and Be'er Tuvia. The following year he joined kibbutz Degania Bet, and eventually became a member of the kibbutz union's secretariat between 1949 and 1951. He was also amongst the leaders of the Histadrut, serving on its comptroller committee between 1935 and 1940. Between 1941 and 1942 he was on the secretariat of Tel Aviv's workers' council.
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Karmel Shama
Karmel Shama-Hacohen (Hebrew: כרמל שאמה הכהן, born 16 August 1973) is an Israeli lawyer and politician who currently serves as a member of the Knesset for Likud.
Born in Ramat Gan, Shama gained a law degree from the Interdisciplinary Center in Herzliya, and is also a certified estate agent.
A former chairman of the Likud youth council, in 2002 Shama became chairman of the party's Ramat Gan branch. The following year was elected onto the city council, where he held the envrironment portfolio. He was also a member of the city's audit commission, where he triggered a police investigation into mayor Zvi Bar over property deals. For the 2009 Knesset elections Shama won twenty-fifth place on the Likud list, the place reserved for youth candidates. He entered the Knesset as the party won 27 seats.
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Lea Nass
Dr Lea Nass-Arden (Hebrew: לאה נס, born 27 December 1961) is an Israeli politician who currently serves a member of the Knesset for Likud and as Deputy Minister of Pensioner Affairs.
Nass studied for her B.A., M.A and a PhD degrees in biochemistry at Bar-Ilan University, completing her doctorate in 1993. Her research topic was sperm motility.
After the completion of her PhD she entered politics and was elected to Giv'at Shmuel local council, and was responsible for city beautification, sanitation, and the environment from 1993 until 2003. In 1998 and from 2002 until 2003, she also served as deputy mayor.
She was placed in 36th place on the Likud list for the 2003 elections. At the time, she described herself as "the only religious woman in the Likud" When Likud won 38 seats, she became a Knesset member and chaired the Science and Technology committee.
For the 2006 elections she won 17th place on the party's list, but lost her seat as the party was reduced to 12 mandates.
In the Likud primaries for the 2009 Knesset elections, held on 8 December 2008, she won tenth spot on the list and was the top female candidate. She returned to the Knesset as Likud won 27 seats in the election, and was appointed Deputy Minister of Pensioner Affairs.
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Lia Shemtov
Lia Shemtov (Hebrew: ליה שמטוב, born 25 May 1958) is an Israeli politician and member of the Knesset for Yisrael Beiteinu.
Born in Chernivtsi in the Ukrainian SSR, Shemtov studied electronics engineering at Chernivtsi University before making aliyah to Israel in 1980. Between 1990 and 2003 she worked for Amidar. In 1998 she was elected onto the Nazareth Illit local council, and in 2003 became its deputy mayor.
For the 2006 Knesset elections she was placed eleventh on the Yisrael Beiteinu list, and became a Knesset member when the party won 11 seats. During her first term she chaired the committee on the status of women. She retained her seat in the 2009 elections after being placed fourteenth on the party's list.
Shemtov currently lives in Nazareth Illit and is married with two children.
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Majalli Wahabi
Majalli Wahabi (Hebrew: מגלי והבה, Arabic: مجلي وهبه, also spelt Majalli Wahbee, born 12 February 1954) is an Israeli Druze politician who currently serves as a member of the Knesset for Kadima. He briefly assumed the position of President due to President Moshe Katzav's leave of absence and Acting President Dalia Itzik's trip abroad in February 2007, making him the first non-Jew to act as Israel's head of state.
Wahabi was born on 12 February 1954 in the Druze village of Beit Jann. He earned a B.A. in the History of Islam from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and an M.A. in the History of the New Middle East from the University of Haifa.
He served in the Israel Defense Forces. Initially assigned as an instructor at the intelligence school, he joined a Druze infantry battalion and became an officer. He served in the 1982 Lebanon War, and subsequently as a deputy brigade commander in the Golan Heights Division and as a senior Northern Command officer. He rose to the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel.
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Manohla Dargis
Manohla Dargis is a chief film critic for The New York Times, along with A.O. Scott. She was formerly a chief film critic for the Los Angeles Times, the film editor at the LA Weekly, and a film critic at The Village Voice. She has written for a variety of publications, including Film Comment and Sight and Sound. She wrote the monograph on Curtis Hanson's film L.A. Confidential for the British Film Institute and is featured in American Movie Critics: An Anthology From the Silents Until Now, edited by Phillip Lopate and published by the Library of America.
Dargis, born in 1961, grew up in Manhattan's East Village, evincing an early love of film through regular attendance at St. Mark's Cinema and Theater 80.
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Marina Solodkin
Dr Marina Solodkin (Hebrew: מרינה סולודקין, born 31 May 1952) is a Russian-Israeli politician and a member of the Knesset for Kadima.
Born in Moscow in the Soviet Union (now Russia), Solodkin studied at Moscow State University, where she gained a PhD in economic and social history, and went on to work as a scientist. She immigrated to Israel in the early 1990s.
Once in Israel, Solodkin joined the Russian-immigrant party, Yisrael BaAliyah led by Soviet dissident Natan Sharansky. She was elected to the Knesset in the 1996 elections on the party's list and chaired the Committee on the Status of Women. After retaining her seat in the 1999 elections, she was appointed Deputy Minister of Immigrant Absorption, a post she regained during the 16th Knesset after Yisrael BaAliyah had merged into Likud.
Shortly before the 2006 elections Solodkin resigned from the Knesset in order to join Kadima. She gained 6th place on the party's list and was re-elected. However, in protest at not being appointed a Minister despite her high position on on Kadima's list, she was absent from the swearing-in ceremony of the new government. Her absence from the cabinet was unpopular with many Russian immigrants.
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Matan Vilnai
Matan Vilnai (Hebrew: מתן וילנאי, born 20 May 1944) is an Israeli politician and a former Major General in the Israel Defense Forces (IDF). A member of the Independence party, he was appointed ambassador to China in 2012 after earlier having served as Minister for Home Front Defense.
Vilnai was born in Jerusalem in 1944. His father was Prof. Zev Vilnay, a pioneer in the sphere of Israeli geography and Land of Israel studies, from whom he inherited a love of nature and hiking. He was drafted into the Israel Defense Forces in 1966, serving in the Paratroopers Brigade and the elite reconnaissance unit Sayeret Matkal. He was deputy commander [1] of the assault force in Operation Thunderbolt, also known as the Entebbe Raid, to free Jewish and Israeli passengers taken hostage by Palestinian and German terrorists after their Air France plane was hijacked to Entebbe, Uganda. Vilanai led the assault team into the airport building, while another team secured the outside. As a major general, Vilnai was the head of the Manpower Directorate, as well as the Deputy Chief of Staff.
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Meir Amit
Meir Amit (Hebrew: מאיר עמית, 17 March 1921 – 17 July 2009) was an Israeli politician and general. He served as Director of the Mossad from 1963 to 1968 before entering politics and holding two ministerial positions.
Amit was born in Tiberias as Meir Slutsky during the Mandate era, cousin of the Russian poet, Boris Slutsky. At a young age, he joined kibbutz Alonim in the lower Galilee and enlisted in the Haganah. He fought for the Haganah during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War. He remained in the military and rose through the ranks to become a major general. During his military career he came to be regarded as a protege of Moshe Dayan. In the late 1950s Amit studied at Columbia Business School in New York, earning a business degree. After returning to Israel, Amit entered the Israeli intelligence community, first as a Major General at the head of IDF Intelligence in 1961, and then as Mossad Director in 1963. He was the only figure in Israel's history to hold the position of Mossad chief and head of military intelligence at the same time.
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Meir Sheetrit
Meir Sheetrit (Hebrew: מאיר שטרית, born 10 October 1948) is a Moroccan-born Israeli politician. He is currently a member of the Knesset for Kadima. He has served as Minister of the Interior, Minister of Housing & Construction, Minister of Finance, Minister of Justice, Minister of Transportation and Minister of Education, Culture & Sport.
Sheetrit was born in Ksar es Souk (now Er Rachidia), Morocco. His family immigrated to Israel in 1957. He earned a BA and an MA in Public Policy from Bar-Ilan University.
Sheetrit began his political career in 1974 as mayor of the city of Yavne, a position he held until 1987.
He was first elected to the Knesset in 1981 on the Likud list. He was re-elected in 1984, but lost his seat in 1988. That year he was elected treasurer of the Jewish Agency and served in this position until 1992, when he returned to the Knesset. In 1998 he was appointed Minister of Finance, serving until the fall of Benjamin Netanyahu's first government in 1999. He returned to the cabinet in 2001 as Minister of Justice. After being re-elected in 2003, he was appointed Minister in the Ministry of Finance, where he worked closely with then Minister of Finance Netanyahu who was spearheading a sweeping privatization reform. He was appointed Minister of Transportation in 2004, and later served as Minister of Education, Culture and Sport until 2006.
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Menachem Begin
Menachem Begin (help·info) (Hebrew: מְנַחֵם בֵּגִין, Polish: Mieczysław Biegun, Arabic: مناحيم بيغن Munahayyim Beeghin, Russian: Менахем Вольфович Бегин Menakhem Vol'fovich Begin, 16 August 1913 – 9 March 1992) was a politician, founder of Likud and the sixth Prime Minister of the State of Israel. Before independence, he was the leader of the Zionist militant group Irgun, the Revisionist breakaway from the larger Jewish paramilitary organization Haganah. He proclaimed a revolt, on 1 February 1944, against the British mandatory government, which was opposed by the Jewish Agency. As head of the Irgun, he targeted the British in Palestine.
Begin was elected to the first Knesset, as head of Herut, the party he founded, and was at first on the political fringe, embodying the opposition to the Mapai-led government and Israeli establishment. He remained in opposition in the eight consecutive elections (except for a national unity government around the Six-Day War), but became more acceptable to the political center. His 1977 electoral victory and premiership ended three decades of Labour Party political dominance. He probably served as Opposition Leader longer than anyone in the history of modern democratic politics.
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Meshulam Nahari
Rabbi Meshulam Nahari (Hebrew: משולם נהרי, born 7 May 1951) is an Israeli politician and member of the Knesset for the ultra-orthodox party Shas. He is a Minister without Portfolio serving in the Finance Ministry in the current government.
Nahari was born in Jerusalem in 1951, and studied in a yeshiva. After his national service he was ordained as a rabbi, and also gained a BA from Lifschitz Teaching College. After graduating he went on to become a headteacher, and also served as a consultant to the Deputy Minister of Education and a member of the Education Ministry directorate, later becoming Director of Department of Haredi Culture in the ministry.
Nahari was first elected to the Knesset in the 1999 elections and served as Deputy Minister of Education under both Ehud Barak and Ariel Sharon.
He retained his seat in both the 2003 and 2006 elections, and was made a Minister without Portfolio in Ehud Olmert's government. In September 2006 he was given a position in the Finance Ministry with responsibilities for education and welfare. After his appointment, he proposed a bill which would require local authorities to fund unrecognised ultra-orthodox schools, which was passed despite opposition from the Attorney General and Education Minister Yuli Tamir. He retained his seat again in the 2009 elections, having been placed fifth on the Shas list.
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Michael Eitan
Michael Eitan (Hebrew: מיכאל איתן, born 3 June 1944) is an Israeli politician, Minister of Improvement of Government Services and member of the Knesset for Likud. He served as Minister of Science & Technology between July 1997 and July 1998. Alongside Binyamin Ben-Eliezer, Eitan is the joint longest-serving MK, and as such was appointed temporary Knesset speaker following the 2009 legislative election. He was succeeded as Knesset Speaker by fellow Likud MK Reuven Rivlin on 30 March 2009. On 1 April 2009 he assumed office as Minister of Improvement of Government Services in the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Born in Tel Aviv during the Mandate era, Eitan took legal studies at Tel Aviv University. He joined the Herut party, and was a chairman of its youth guard, before becoming a member of the party's central committee and chairman of its Ramat Gan branch.
He was elected to the Knesset on the Likud list (within which Herut was a faction until 1988) in 1984, and was re-elected in 1988, 1992 and 1996, becoming coalition chairman after the latter election, having been co-ordinator of the opposition between 1992 and 1996. In July 1997 he was appointed Minister of Science & Technology, but was replaced by Silvan Shalom in July the following year. He then served as a Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister's Office until the 1999 elections. During the Knesset term he chaired its sub-committee on communication and information and helped establish the Knesset's website.
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Michael Harish
Michael Harish (Hebrew: מיכאל חריש, born 28 November 1936) is a former Israeli politician who served as Minister of Industry and Trade between 1992 and 1996. Since 23 January 2011, he has served as the temporary chairman of the Labor Party, following the resignation of Ehud Barak as party chairman.
Born in Timişoara in Romania in 1936, Harish made aliyah in 1950. He served in the Golani Brigade during his national service.
A member of the Labor Party, he was elected to the Knesset on the Alignment list in 1973. He was re-elected in 1977 and became chairman of the subcommittee on energy, a role he retained after retaining his seat in the 1981 elections.
He was re-elected in 1984, 1988 and 1992, and was appointed Minister of Industry and Trade in Yitzhak Rabin's government in July 1992. He lost his seat and cabinet position in the 1996 elections. During his time in the Labor Party he served as its general secretary.
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Miri Regev
Miriam "Miri" Regev (Hebrew: מרים "מירי" רגב, born 26 May 1965) is an Israeli politician and a former Brigadier General in the army. She currently serves as a member of the Knesset for Likud, having previously worked as the IDF Spokeswoman.
Regev was born in Kiryat Gat in 1965. In 1983 she joined the Gadna, where she became a platoon commander, serving in the position until 1986. She then began serving as the IDF Spokesperson's representative in the Israeli Southern Command. Regev continued advancing in the military public relations ranks and was promoted to Deputy IDF Spokesperson in 2002. In 2003, she was appointed coordinator of the national public relations efforts at the Israeli Prime Minister's Office in preparation for the Iraq War. After a short stint (2004–2005) as the Chief Press and Media Censor, she was promoted to the rank of Brigadier General and to the position of IDF Spokesperson in 2005.
She served in this position during Israel's disengagement from Gaza in 2005 and the 2006 Lebanon War. In 2007, she was discharged and was succeeded by Avi Benayahu.
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Mohammad Barakeh
Mohammad Barakeh (Arabic: محمد بركة; Hebrew: מוחמד ברכה, born 29 July 1955) is an Israeli Arab politician and member of the Knesset for Hadash, of which he is the General Secretary.
Born in Shefa-'Amr, Barakeh studied mathematics at Tel Aviv University. He first became politically involved whilst at university in the late 1970s and early 1980s. He was head of the Association of Arab Students in Israel, and among the founders and major activists of "CAMPUS" (the Hebrew - קמפו"ס - acronym of "Student Social and Political Involvement Group"), which united left-wing Jewish and Arab students in a joint struggle against the occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip and for full equality of Israeli Arabs.
In that time, he had formed extensive political partnerships and personal friendships with Jewish fellow students, many of which continue up to the present. The rented apartment where he lived for many years on top of an old building at Rothschild Boulevard in downtown Tel Aviv was a well-known rendezvous for political meetings and also the venue of sometimes boisterous student parties lasting deep into the night. Among numerous other political actions, the first demonstration against the 1982 Lebanon War - held on the war's third day, 7 June 1982, dispersed by police with considerable violence, and still well-remembered by veterans of the Israeli peace camp - was planned at a dramatic meeting held in Barakeh's Tel Aviv apartment.
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Mordechai Maklef
Mordechai (Motke) Maklef (or Makleff) (Hebrew: מרדכי (מותקה) מקלף; 1920–1978) was the third Chief of Staff of the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) and later, director-general of many important public companies in the Israeli economy.
Makleff was born in the village of Motza, near Jerusalem in the British Mandate of Palestine in 1920. His parents were among the founders of this first modern village outside Jerusalem, located along the road to Jaffa. During the 1929 Palestine riots, inhabitants of the neighboring Arab village of Qalunya attacked the Makleff home, which was located along the perimeter of Motza, and killed the entire family, except the young Mordechai, who managed to escape the massacre by jumping from a second story window. The murderers included a shepherd employed by the family and the local policeman, who was the only person in the area to own a gun. The murder shocked the Jewish settlers of Palestine, and was one of the most remembered rioting events. With his immediate family now dead, Mordechai Makleff was raised by relatives in Jerusalem and Haifa.
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Moshe Arens
Moshe Arens (Hebrew: משה ארנס, born 27 December 1925) is an Israeli aeronautical engineer, researcher and former diplomat and politician. A member of the Knesset between 1973 and 1992 and again from 1999 until 2003, he served as Minister of Defense three times and once as Minister of Foreign Affairs. Arens has also served as the Israeli ambassador to the U.S. and was professor at the Technion in Haifa.
Born in Kaunas, Lithuania, Arens immigrated to the United States with his family in 1939 and became an American citizen. As a youth, Arens became a leader in the Betar youth movement. He studied engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and aeronautical engineering at the California Institute of Technology. During World War II, Arens served in the United States Army Corps of Engineers. After Israeli independence in 1948, Arens made aliyah and joined the Irgun. He later became a founding member of the Herut party which grew out of it.
Between 1957 and 1962 Arens worked as a Professor for aeronautics at the Technion. From 1962 until 1971 he was a Deputy Director General at Israel Aircraft Industries, and won the Israel Defense Prize in 1971. After the Yom Kippur War he entered politics and was elected to the Knesset as a member of Likud in the 1973 elections. After being re-elected in 1977, he became chairman of the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee.
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Moshe Dayan
Moshe Dayan (Hebrew: משה דיין; 20 May 1915 – 16 October 1981) was an Israeli military leader and politician. The fourth Chief of Staff of the Israel Defense Forces (1953–58), he became a fighting symbol to the world of the new State of Israel. He went on to become Defense Minister and later Foreign Minister of Israel.
Moshe Dayan was born on Kibbutz Degania Alef near the shores of Lake Kinneret (Sea of Galilee) in pre-Mandate Palestine. His parents were Shmuel and Devorah, Jewish immigrants from Ukraine.
He was the second child to be born on the kibbutz. He was named Moshe after Moshe Barsky, the first member of the kibbutz to be killed in an Arab attack. Soon after, his parents moved to Nahalal, the first moshav (settlement) to be established. Moshe attended the Agricultural School there.
At the age of 14, he joined the newly formed Jewish militia known as the Haganah. In 1938 he joined the Palestine Supernumerary Police and became a motorized patrol ("MAN") commander. One of his military heroes was the British pro-Zionist officer Orde Wingate, under whom he served in several Special Night Squads operations.
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Moshe Gafni
Moshe Gafni (Hebrew: משה גפני, born 5 May 1952) is an Israeli politician and Member of the Knesset for the ultra-orthodox party Degel HaTorah.
Born in Bnei Brak, Gafni was educated in a yeshiva and later worked as head of a Kollel, avoiding national service in the IDF. He was first elected to the Knesset on Degel HaTorah's list in 1988, and was appointed Deputy Minister of Religious Affairs in Yitzhak Shamir's government in 1990. For the 1992 elections the party joined Agudat Israel in forming an alliance called United Torah Judaism, which won four seats. Although he initially lost his seat, Gafni entered the Knesset in 1994 as part of a rotation agreement between the two factions. A similar arrangement operated after the 1996 elections, with Gafni taking the seat for the first half of the session (i.e. until 1998).
Early elections in 1999 meant that Gafni reappeared in the Knesset sooner than expected. This time no rotation agreement was in place, so he served his full term, and was re-elected in both 2003 and 2006. When Degel HaTorah split from Agudat Israel during the latter stages of the 16th Knesset, Gafni was appointed the party's Parliamentary Group Chairman.
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Moshe Kahlon
Moshe Kahlon (Hebrew: משה כחלון, born 19 November 1960) is an Israeli politician who currently serves as a member of the Knesset for Likud and as Minister of Communications and Minister of Welfare & Social Services.
Kahlon was born in the Givat Olga neighbourhood of Hadera, the son of Libyan immigrants and one of seven children. He served in the Israel Defense Forces from 1978 to 1986, in the Ordnance Corps. After completing his army service he started a business of importing appliances for cars. He later studied political science and general studies at the University of Haifa, receiving a BA before going on to gain an LL.B from Netanya Academic College.
Kahlon was first elected to the Knesset in the 2003 elections, and was appointed Deputy Speaker of the Knesset. In the run up to the 2006 elections, he surprisingly won third place on Likud's list in the party's primaries. He retained his seat again in the 2009 elections after being placed sixth on the Likud list, and was appointed Minister of Communications on 31 March.
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Moshe Kaplinsky
Maj. Gen. Moshe Kaplinsky (Hebrew: משה קפלינסקי; born January 20, 1957), is the CEO of Better Place Israel. Most recently, he was Deputy Chief of the General Staff of the Israel Defense Forces. He was previously head of the Israel Defense Force's Central Command, whose area of responsibility includes the West Bank. As Deputy Chief of the General Staff he was second in command of the Israel Defense Forces.
In August 2002, he took over as chief of the Central Command from Major General Yitzhak Eitan. As head of Central Command, Kaplinski was an ex officio member of the IDF general staff; he oversaw, among other things, area commanders for the northern and southern parts of the West Bank (referred to as Samaria and Judea, respectively).
Kaplinski is a veteran of the Golani Brigade. His previous positions include:
Kaplinski has a BA in economics and business management from Bar-Ilan University and an MBA from Tel Aviv University. He is a graduate of the US Army's Advanced Infantry Officers Course (Fort Benning, Georgia).
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Moshe Katsav
Moshe Katsav (Hebrew: משה קצב, born Musa Qasab (Persian: موسی قصاب)) is an Israeli politician. He served as the eighth President of Israel, a leading Likud member of the Israeli Knesset, and a minister in its cabinet.
The end of his presidency was marked by controversy, stemming from allegations of rape of one female subordinate and sexual harassment of others. Katsav resigned the presidency in 2007 as part of a plea bargain. Katsav later rejected the deal with prosecutors and vowed he would prove his innocence in court. In an unprecedented case, on 30 December 2010, Katsav was convicted of two counts of rape,obstruction of justice and other charges. On 22 March 2011, in a landmark ruling, Katsav was sentenced to seven years in prison. Katsav appealed his conviction to the Supreme Court of Israel. On 10 November 2011, the Supreme Court affirmed Katsav's conviction and punishment, rejecting possibly exculpatory evidence.
On 7 December 2011, Katsav arrived at Maasiyahu Prison in Ramla to begin serving his seven-year sentence.
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Moshe Kol
Moshe Kol (Hebrew: משה קול, born Moshe Kolodny on 28 May 1911, died 7 July 1989) was a Zionist activist and Israeli politician and one of the signatories of the Israeli declaration of independence.
Born in Pinsk in the Russian Empire (today in Belarus), Kol studied at a heder and Hebrew high school in his home town, and was one of the founders of HaOved HaTzioni youth movement in Poland.
He immigrated to Mandate Palestine in 1932 and joined the HaMefales kibbutz in Kfar Saba, which was associated with HaOved HaTzioni. He joined the Histadrut trade union, serving as a member of its executive between 1941 and 1946, and also sat on the board of directors of the Jewish Agency, where he headed the Youth Aliyah department.
On 15 May 1948 Kol was one of the people to sign the Israeli declaration of independence, and became a member of the Provisional State Council. He was also one of the founders of the Progressive Party.
In July 1951 he was elected to the Knesset, but resigned six weeks later. He returned to the Knesset following the 1959 elections, and shortly after became a Liberal Party MK when it was formed by a merger of the Progressive Party and the General Zionists. After retaining his seat in the 1961 elections, Kol was part of a group of largely ex-Progressive Party members which broke away from the Liberal Party to form the Independent Liberals in protest at its impending merger with Menachem Begin's Herut.
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Moshe Nissim
Moshe Nissim (Hebrew: משה נסים, born 10 April 1935) is a former Israeli politician, minister and Deputy Prime Minister.
Born in Mandate Palestine, Nissim studied law at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, gaining an MA. He was an Officer of Justice in the IDF during his national service, and went on to work as an attorney. He is the son of Rabbi Isaac Nissim, who served as Sephardi Chief Rabbi of Israel from 1955 to 1973. Moshe Nissim currently practices law at Moshe Nissim, Rinkov, Senderovitch, Advocates, in Ramat Gan, Israel.
Nissim was first elected to the Knesset in 1959 as a member of the General Zionists. However, he lost his seat in the 1961 elections, and did not reappear in the Knesset until 1969, when he was elected on the list of Gahal (a merger of Herut, the General Zionists and the Progressive Party. In 1973 Gahal became Likud, with Nissim serving as the party's parliamentary chairman between 1973 and 1977.
Following Likud's victory in the 1977 election, Nissim was appointed Minister without Portfolio in Menachem Begin's government in January 1978. He became Minister of Justice in August 1980, a role he retained until April 1986 when he became Minister of Finance.
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Moshe Sharett
Moshe Sharett (Hebrew: משה שרת, born Moshe Shertok (Hebrew: משה שרתוק) on 15 October 1894, died 7 July 1965) was the second Prime Minister of Israel (1953–55), serving for a little under two years between David Ben-Gurion's two terms.[citation needed]
Born in Kherson in the Russian Empire (today in Ukraine), Sharett emigrated to Ottoman-controlled Palestine in 1906. In 1910 his family moved to Jaffa, and they became one of the founding families of Tel Aviv.
He graduated from the first class of the Herzliya Hebrew High School, even studying music at the Shulamit Conservatory. He then went off to Istanbul to study law at the university in Constantinople (now Istanbul University), the same university that Yitzhak Ben-Zvi and David Ben-Gurion studied at. However, his time there was cut short due to the outbreak of World War I. He subsequently served as a first lieutenant in the Turkish army, as an interpreter.
After the war, he worked as an Arab affairs and land purchase agent for the Assembly of Representatives of the Yishuv. He also became a member of Ahdut Ha'Avoda, and later of Mapai.
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Moshe Ya'alon
Moshe "Bogie" Ya'alon (born Moshe Smilansky on 24 June 1950) is an Israeli politician and former Chief of Staff of the Israel Defense Forces. He currently serves as a member of the Knesset for Likud, as well as the country's Vice Prime Minister and Minister of Strategic Affairs.
Ya'alon was born as Moshe Smilansky and grew up in Kiryat Haim, a working class suburb of Haifa. He was active in the Labor Zionist youth movement "HaNoar HaOved VeHaLomed" and joined a Nahal group named Ya'alon, a name he later adopted. His military service between 1968 and 1971 was in the nahal, and he later became a member of kibutz Grofit in the Arabah region near Eilat.
Following the Yom Kippur War in 1973, where Ya'alon served as a reservist, he rejoined the IDF and served in the Paratroopers Brigades and Sayeret Matkal.
Ya'alon was appointed a head of Military Intelligence in 1995 and commanding officer of Israel's Central Command, responsible for the West Bank, in 1998. He was in this position when the Second Intifada was launched in September 2000.
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Natan Peled
Natan Peled (Hebrew: נתן פלד, born 3 June 1913, died 8 January 1992) was an Israeli politician who served as Minister of Immigrant Absorption from 1970 until 1974.
Born in Odessa in the Russian Empire (today in Ukraine), Peled moved with his family to the Bessarabian region of Romania when he was 8, where he studied at a Hebrew school in Chişinău. He joined the Hashomer Hatzair movement, and was the secretary to the organisation's leadership in the country. He was also secretary to the central committee of the HeHalutz movement.
He made aliyah to Mandate Palestine in 1933, and joined kvutzat Melet in Nes Tziona, where he was also a member of the local Workers' Council. In 1934 he joined kibbutz Sarid, and in 1936 became a member of the executive committee of Kibbutz Artzi, which was affiliated with Hashomer Hatzair, serving on its secretariat until 1939.
Between 1939 and 1944 he was secretary of the Histadrut's security committee. From 1946 until 1948 he served as an emissary of Hashomer Hatzair and the Histadrut in the United States. After his return to Israel, he served as secretary of Hashomer Hatzair-Kibbutz Artzi from 1950 until 1955.
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Natan Sharansky
Natan Sharansky (born 20 January 1948) (Hebrew: נתן שרנסקי, (Ukrainian: Натан Щаранський, Russian: Натан Щаранский) is a former Soviet refusenik and prisoner, Israeli politician, human rights activist and author.
Anatoly Borisovich Shcharansky (Ukrainian: Анатолій Борисович Щаранський, Russian: Анатолий Борисович Щаранский) (later Natan Sharansky) was born in Stalino, Soviet Union on 20 January 1948 to a Jewish family. He graduated with a degree in applied mathematics from Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology. As a child, he was a chess prodigy. He performed in simultaneous and blindfold displays, usually against adults. At the age of 15, he won the championship in his native Donetsk. When incarcerated in solitary confinement, he claims to have maintained his sanity by playing chess against himself in his mind. Sharansky beat the world chess champion Garry Kasparov in a simultaneous exhibition in Israel in 1996.
Natan Sharansky is married to Avital Sharansky and has two daughters, Rachel and Hannah. In the Soviet Union, his marriage application to Avital was denied by the authorities. They were married in a Moscow synagogue in a ceremony not recognized by the government, as USSR only recognized civil marriage and not church marriage.
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Nino Abesadze
Nino Abesadze (Hebrew: נינו אבסדזה; Georgian: ნინო აბესაძე, born 12 April 1965) is an Israeli politician and journalist who currently serves as a member of the Knesset for Kadima.
Born in Tbilisi in the Soviet Union (today in Georgia), Abesadze graduated from the Film School at the Open University of Georgia, before studying for degrees in Russian literature and linguistics at Tbilisi State University. At the age of 23 she began working for Georgian State Television, becoming the presenter of the evening news two years later.
Her mother and three sisters had immigrated to Israel after her father died in 1980, settling in Rehovot, and later Ashdod. Abesadze remained in Georgia, and in the 1990s began a relationship with Baruch Ben-Neria, the Israeli ambassador to Georgia and Armenia from 1993 until 1996. She made aliyah in 1996 and worked in Israel on Russian language programmes for Channel 33, before joining a Russian language newspaper.
A member of Kadima, she was on the party's list for the 2009 Knesset elections, but was not high enough on the list to win a seat. However, she entered the Knesset on 9 November 2010 as a replacement for Tzachi Hanegbi, who had been convicted of a crime (perjury) deemed to be of moral turpitude, thereby losing his seat.
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Nissim Ze'ev
Nissim Zeev (Hebrew: נסים זאב, born 9 September 1951) is an Israeli politician who has served as a member of Knesset for Shas since 1999.
Nissim Zeev (57) was born and resides in Jerusalem. M.K. Zeev is married and has a large family. He is a graduate of Yeshivat Porat Yoseph and was ordained to the Rabbinate. M.K. Rabbi Nissim Zeev served as a Rabbi, Shochet, Mohel and Chazzan in Israel and abroad.
M.K. Rabbi Nissim Zeev began his Torah activities in his youth when in 1968 he established Torah youth clubs named "Irgun Yeladim Lomdei Torah" (Eilat) ( Association of Children Who Study Torah) in memory of the IDF soldiers who perished in the Eilat submarine. Hundreds of students participated in this club in the afternoon studying "Taamei Hamikra" (Torah incantations), Psalms, Jewish Law and Legend.
In 1970 – he established a unique framework which acted to rehabilitate street gangs and youth and return drop outs to suitable educational institutions.
In 1971 Rabbi Nissim Zeev served as a Rabbi and Shochet in the "Ein Haeemkek" Moshav.
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Nitzan Horowitz
Nitzan Horowitz (Hebrew: ניצן הורוביץ; born 24 February 1965) is an Israeli journalist and politician. He was the Foreign Affairs commentator and head of the International desk at News 10, the news division of Channel 10, before being elected to the Knesset on the New Movement-Meretz list in 2009.
Horowitz was born in Rishon LeZion in 1965. He graduated the Tel Aviv University Law School. In his early journalistic career he served as a Military Affairs reporter during the later phase of the 1982 Lebanon war, as well as the International News editor at Israel Army Radio (1983–1987). In 1987 he began working at "Hadashot" - an Israeli newspaper - as the Foreign Affairs editor. In 1989 he started his career at Haaretz, as the Foreign Affairs Editor. He served as "Haaretz" correspondent in Paris (1993–1998), covering also the European Union, and as Haaretz correspondent in Washington D.C. (1998–2001). Back in Israel, Horowitz was the chief foreign affairs columnist for Haaretz.
When "News 10" began broadcasting on January 2002, Horowitz founded its international desk. His work there included creating major documentary films following the Tsunami disaster in Eastern Asia and the failed manhunt after Osama Bin Laden in Afghanistan, and regular appearances on News 10's current affairs show, London at Kirschenbaum, for which he provided reports and analysis of global news.
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Ophir Pines-Paz
Ophir Pines-Paz (Hebrew: אופיר פינס-פז, born 11 July 1961) is an Israeli former politician who served as Minister of Internal Affairs, Minister of Science, Culture & Sport and as a member of the Knesset for the Labor Party from 1996 until 2010.
Born to a Dutch father in Rishon LeZion, Pines-Paz graduated from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and holds a M.A. in Public Policy from Tel Aviv University. He served as a Staff Sergeant in the Israel Defense Forces from 1979 to 1982. He is currently married with two children, and lives in Ra'anana, Israel. He is a member of the Masorti (Conservative synagogue) congregation in Ramot, Jerusalem.
Pines-Paz was first elected to the Knesset in 1996. He retained his seat in the 1999 elections, and served as chairman of the parliamentary ruling coalition and as the chairman of the One Israel faction between 1999 and 2001. From 2001 to 2003 he served as the General Secretary of Labor Party.
He was re-elected again in 2003, and in 2005 was appointed Internal Affairs Minister, serving in the cabinet until Labor pulled out of the government. After being re-elected in 2006 he was appointed Minister of Science, Culture, and Sport in Ehud Olmert's government. However, he resigned from the cabinet in November 2006] in protest against the nationalist Yisrael Beiteinu being added to the coalition; and was the only Labor Party minister to vote against the party coming into the government, stating in an interview:
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Orit Noked
Orit Noked (Hebrew: אורית נוקד, born 25 October 1952) is an Israeli politician. She currently serves as a member of the Knesset for Independence and as Minister of Agriculture.
Born in Jerusalem in 1952, Noked studied law at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. She became a legal advisor to the Kibbutz Movement in 1986, a job she held until 1992. Between 1996 and 2002 she served as director of the movement's legal department. She has also been a member of the Jewish National Fund's directorate, the Agricultural Association's secretariat, the National Council for Environmental Quality and the board of the Israel Lands Authority.
In the 1999 elections Noked stood as a Labour candidate within the One Israel list. Although she did not win a high enough spot for a Knesset seat in the party primaries, she entered the Knesset in August 2002 as a replacement for former Foreign Minister Shlomo Ben-Ami. She retained her seat in the 2003 elections, and briefly served as Deputy Minister of the Vice Premier under Shimon Peres between January and November 2005. In the run-up to the 2006 elections she won 17th place on Labour's list (a slot reserved for kibbutz members - Noked lives in kibbutz Shefayim). With the party winning 19 seats, she retained her seat and served as a member of the influential Finance Committee.
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Otniel Schneller
Otniel Schneller (Hebrew: עתניאל שנלר, born 28 January 1952) is an Israeli politician and a member of the Knesset for Kadima.
Born in Jerusalem, and raised in Michigan, Schneller took Jewish studies and social science at Bar-Ilan University, finishing his studied in 1978. Between 1983 and 1986 he served as secretary general of the Yesha Council, the body representing Israeli settlers in Gaza and the West Bank. In 1986 he became director general of the National Safety Authority in the Ministry of Transportation, a role he held until 1996. Schneller has attended rallies organized by Im Tirtzu, an Israeli far-right group.
In the run-up to the 2006 elections he was placed twenty-sixth on Kadima's list. With the party winning 29 seats, he entered the Knesset, and was appointed Deputy Speaker of the Knesset. Placed twenty-seventh on the party's list, he retained his seat in the 2009 elections.
Schneller lives in the settlement of Ma'ale Mikhmas in the West Bank.
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Peretz Bernstein
Peretz Bernstein (Hebrew: פרץ ברנשטיין, born Shlomo Fritz Bernstein on 12 June 1890, died 21 March 1971) was a Zionist activist and Israeli politician and one of the signatories of the Israeli declaration of independence.
After being born in the German town of Meiningen, Bernstein was fortunate to decide to leave Germany before the First World War, when as a Jew he was refused entry to the officer reserve after army service. He moved to the Netherlands where he worked in the grain trade. In 1917 he joined the Zionist Organisation, serving as secretary and board member. In 1925 he became editor-in-chief of a Zionist weekly, a role he held until 1935, and between 1930 and 1934 served as the Zionist Organisation's president.
He emigrated to Mandate Palestine in 1936, and became editor of the HaBoker newspaper. He joined the Jewish Agency, and became a board member, serving as director of its economics department between 1946 and 1948.
Bernstein was one of the people to sign Israel's declaration of independence on 14 May 1948, and was appointed Minister of Trade and Industry in the provisional government.
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Peretz Naftali
Peretz Naftali (Hebrew: פרץ נפתלי, born Fritz Naftali, 19 March 1888 – 30 April 1961) was a Zionist activist and Israeli politician who served in several ministerial portfolios in the 1950s.
Born in Berlin in Germany, Naftali joined the Social Democratic Party in 1911. He served in the German Army between 1911 and 1912, after which he started to work as a journalist on economic affairs, returning to the army for a spell in 1917–18 to fight in World War I. In 1921 he became editor of the economics department of the Frankfurter Zeitung, a post he held until 1926, when he became head of the eonomic research department of a trade union. In 1921 he also published a book, How to read the Economic Section of the Newspaper, which was a bestseller.
In 1925 he had joined the Zionism movement, and in 1931 was a delegate to the Zionist Congress. He made aliyah in 1933, initially working as a lecturer at the Technion, before becoming director general of Bank Hapoalim in 1938, a post he held until 1949. Between 1941 and 1948 he served as a member of the Assembly of Representatives.
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Pesah Grupper
Pesah Grupper (Hebrew: פסח גרופר, born 21 August 1924) is a former Israeli politician who served as Minister of Agriculture between October 1983 and September 1984.
Grupper was born in Tel Aviv during the Mandate era. He served as head of Atlit local council between 1959 and 1962 and again from 1969 until 1971.
He was elected to the Knesset on Likud's list in 1973, and retained his seat in elections in 1977 and 1981. In August 1981 he was appointed Deputy Minister of Agriculture, a role he held until 1983, when he became Minister of Agriculture in Yitzhak Shamir's government. Although re-elected in 1984, he lost his place in the cabinet. Following re-election in 1988, in March 1990 Grupper and four other Likud MKs left the party to form the Party for the Advancement of the Zionist Idea (later renamed New Liberal Party). The party ran in the 1992 elections, but failed to cross the electoral threshold, resulting in Grupper losing his seat.
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Pinchas Sapir
Pinchas Sapir (Hebrew: פנחס ספיר, born Pinchas Kozlowski on 15 October 1906, died 12 August 1975) was an Israeli politician during the first three decades following the country's founding.
He held two important ministerial posts, Minister of Finance (1963–68 and 1969–74) and Minister of Trade and Industry (1955–65 and 1970–72) as well as several other high-ranking governmental posts. He is often considered to be 'the father' of the Israeli economy for his unwavering efforts to foster economic development during the country's formative years.
At the time he served, the young state was isolated economically from its neighbors while having to contend with significant defense expenditures and struggling to absorb and provide for the many Jewish immigrants who entered its borders. Sapir worked tirelessly to attract foreign investments to the country, often by personally encouraging and enticing businessmen from around the world to set up factories and businesses in the young nation. He is known for always carrying with him his famous "black notebook" in which he kept his notes and observations pertaining to economic matters as he traveled around the country. It was often said that in those days that the entire economy of the state of Israel was managed from that famous black notebook.
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Pinhas Lavon
Pinhas Lavon (Hebrew: פנחס לבון, 12 July 1904 – 24 January 1976) was an Israeli politician, minister and labor leader, best known for the Lavon Affair.
Lavon was born as Pinhas Lubianiker in Kopychyntsi in what was previously Galicia in Austria-Hungary (now in Ukraine). He studied law at the University of Lviv, where he organized Histadrut organizations in the region. He made aliyah and moved to Mandate Palestine in 1929.
Lavon was elected to the first Knesset in 1949, and served briefly as the leader of the Histadrut in 1949–50. He was appointed Minister of Agriculture in David Ben-Gurion's second government.
He retained his seat in the 1951 elections, and in 1952 was appointed Minister without Portfolio. Following Ben-Gurion's resignation, he was appointed Minister of Defense in 1954. However, he resigned from the cabinet after he was accused of authorizing an Israeli false flag terrorist bombing operation in Egypt, which came to be known as the Lavon Affair.
Nevertheless, he remained an MK following elections in 1955 and 1959 and returned to the leadership of the Histadrut from 1956 to 1961. Lavon was later "absolved" of any involvement in the Egyptian bombings. He retired from public life in 1964 after a long-standing discord with Ben-Gurion and died in Tel Aviv in 1976.
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Rachel Adato
Dr Rachel Adato-Levy (Hebrew: רחל אדטו-לוי, born 21 June 1947) is an Israeli gynaecologist, lawyer and politician who currently serves as a member of the Knesset for Kadima.
Born in Haifa in 1947, Adato attended the Hebrew Reali School. She gained a Doctor of Medicine degree from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, as well as an MBA and a degree in law. She served as a senior doctor at the women's department of Hadassah Medical Center at Mount Scopus, becoming Deputy Director of Hadassah Hospital at Ein Kerem in 1993. In 1995 she became vice-president of Sha'arei Tzedek Medical Center. From 1997 she acted as a consultant to the Minister of Health on the topic of women's health, and since 1999 has chaired the National Women's Health Association.
A former member of the Likud central committee, Adato has served on Mevaseret Zion city council. She won thirty-fifth place on the Kadima list prior to the 2006 Knesset elections, but missed out as the party won only 29 seats. However, for the 2009 elections she was placed twenty-second and entered the Knesset as the party won 28 seats. She currently chairs the lobby for the Promotion of Women's Health.
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Rafael Eitan
Rafael "Raful" Eitan (Hebrew: רפאל "רפול" איתן, born 11 January 1929 – 23 November 2004) was an Israeli general, former Chief of Staff of the Israel Defense Forces and later a politician, a Knesset member government minister. Born in Afula during the Mandate era, Eitan was raised in Tel Adashim, where he spent most of his life.
In 2005, he was voted the 24th-greatest Israeli of all time, in a poll by the Israeli news website Ynet to determine whom the general public considered the 200 Greatest Israelis.
Rafael Eitan was born in Afula, a city in the North District of Israel, in 1929. His father, Eliyahu, was one of the founders of the Jewish defense organization Hashomer. Rafael was raised in the settlement of Tel Adashim. Zvi Nishri (Orloff), a pioneer in modern physical education in Israel, was his uncle.
His father gave Rafael and his brothers and sisters a strict education.
Rafael married Miriam and together they had five children. They later divorced and he married Ofra Meirson.
Eitan was a junior officer in the Palmach, the Haganah's elite strike force and took part in the 1948 Arab-Israeli War. He fought in Jerusalem and received a head wound in the battle for the San Simon Monastery in April 1948. Later he served with the 10th Infantry Battalion in the Lachish-Negev region.
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Raleb Majadele
Ghaleb Majadele (Arabic: غالب مجادلة, Levantine Arabic: [ˈɣaːleb maˈʒaːdele]; Hebrew: ראלב מג'אדלה, [ˈʁäleb mäˈd͡ʒädele]; also spelt Raleb Majadele, born 5 April 1953) is an Israeli Arab politician. A member of the Knesset for the Labor Party, he became the country's first Muslim minister when appointed Minister without Portfolio on 28 January 2007.
Born in Baqa al-Gharbiyye, as a teenager Majadele was a member of HaNoar HaOved VeHaLomed youth movement, becoming its secretary.
A businessman, he became secretary of the Regional Workers Council, and headed the Education and Sport department of the Histadrut trade union.
He joined the Labor Party, and was placed twentieth on the party's list for the 2003 Knesset elections. Although the party won only 19 seats, Majadele entered the Knesset on 28 June 2004 as a replacement for Avraham Burg, who had resigned. He was re-elected in 2006 elections.
On 10 January 2007, Labor leader Amir Peretz announced that Majadle would be appointed Minister of Science, Culture and Sport. On 28 January 2007 the cabinet voted to appoint him Minister without Portfolio. His appointment was confirmed by a vote in which all ministers except the chairman of Yisrael Beiteinu, Avigdor Lieberman, voted in favour. In March 2007 Majadle received the Science, Culture and Sport portfolio.
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Ran Cohen
Ran Cohen (Hebrew: רן כהן, born 20 June 1937) is an Israeli politician and former Knesset member for Meretz-Yachad. He is a resident of Mevaseret Zion and married with four children.
Born in Baghdad, Iraq, Cohen was 13 years old when he immigrated to Israel through Iran. He grew up in kibbutz Gan Shmuel, where he absorbed Socialist and Zionist ideologies. During his military service he rose to the rank of Colonel (Aluf Mishne). After the military he obtained a B.A. in philosophy and Economics at Tel Aviv University.
Presently Mr. Cohen serves as the President of the Israel-Asia Chamber of Commerce.
In 1984 he was first elected to the Knesset as a member of Ratz (headed by Shulamit Aloni) after he headed the Left Camp of Israel peace movement.
Since 1992, he has been a member of Meretz, a dovish left wing party which resulted from the merger of Mapam, Ratz and Shinui. He was Minister of Industry and Trade in Ehud Barak's government. He headed several Knesset committees, including the Security and Foreign Affairs committee.
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Rehavam Ze'evi
Rehavam "Gandhi" Ze'evi (help·info) (Hebrew: רחבעם "גנדי" זאבי, 20 June 1926 - 17 October 2001) was an Israeli general, politician, and historian who founded the right-wing nationalist Moledet party, mainly advocating population transfer.
He was assassinated by Hamdi Quran of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP). This was one of the few assassinations of an Israeli politician as part of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Ze'evi was born in 1926 in Jerusalem. He joined the Palmach in 1942, and served in the Israeli Defence Forces after the creation of the State of Israel.
During his youth, Ze'evi went to school in Givat HaShlosha. One night he shaved his head, wrapped a towel round his waist and entered the food hall. The shaved head and towel around his waist was similar to Mohandas Gandhi earned him Gandhi as his nickname, which stuck with him for the rest of his life. The nickname is also attributed to a long Arab dress he wore during his underground days in Palmach. Ze'evi had five children, Palmach, Sayar, Masada, Tze'ela and Arava. Palmach is also a member of Moledet and competed with Binyamin Elon for the party's leadership.
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Reuven Rivlin
Reuven "Rubi" Rivlin (ראובן ריבלין [ʁeʔuˈven ʁivˈlin] ( listen); born 9 September 1939) is an Israeli lawyer and politician currently serving as speaker of the Knesset. He belongs to the conservative Likud party. A former Chairman of the Knesset, in 2007 he ran in the election for President as the Likud candidate. He withdrew after the first round of voting when it became clear that Kadima MK Shimon Peres had sufficiently broad support to inevitably win in a run-off.
Born in Jerusalem, he received an LL.B. from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and worked as a lawyer. He is a descendant of the students of the Vilna Gaon and a member of the Rivlin family.
He was first elected to the 12th Knesset in 1988, and served as Likud chairman from 1988 to 1993. He lost his seat in the 1992 elections, but returned to the Knesset following the 1996 elections. Re-elected in 1999, he was appointed Minister of Communications in March 2001, serving until February 2003, when he was elected Knesset Speaker following the 2003 elections. During his term as speaker, he was criticized for breaking the tradition of political neutrality of the post; he was one of Ariel Sharon's harshest critics regarding the disengagement plan, and had a public confrontation with Aharon Barak, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, concerning the court's authority to declare legislation illegal.
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Robert Ilatov
Robert Ilatov (Hebrew: רוברט אילטוב, born 12 November 1971) is an Israeli politician and member of the Knesset for Yisrael Beiteinu.
Born in Andijan in the Soviet Union (today in Uzbekistan) to a Bukharian Jewish family, Ilatov made aliyah to Israel on April 10, 1985. Between 2000 and 2006 he worked in public relations for Laniado Hospital in Netanya.
For the 2006 Knesset elections he was placed ninth on the Yisrael Beiteinu list, and became a Knesset member when the party won 11 seats. During his first term he served as the party's Parliamentary Group Chairman. He retained his seat in the 2009 elections after being placed eleventh on the party's list.
Ilatov currently lives in Netanya (where he formerly served as deputy mayor), and is married with one child.
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Robert Tiviaev
Robert Tiviaev (Hebrew: רוברט טיבייב, born 22 June 1961) is an Israeli politician who currently serves as a member of the Knesset for Kadima.
Born in Derbent, Dagestan in the Soviet Union (today in Russia), Tiviaev made aliyah to Israel in 1994 and settled in Ofakim. He became a member of the city council, and held the portfolio responsible for immigrant absorption. In addition, he chairs the Tehiya fund, which helps bring immigrants from the former Soviet Union.
A former member of Yisrael Beiteinu, prior to the 2009 elections he won twentieth place on the Kadima list, and entered the Knesset as the party won 28 seats.
Tiviaev is married with two children and holds a Master's degree in electrical engineering.
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Roni Bar-On
Roni Bar-On (Hebrew: רוני בר-און, born 2 June 1948) is an Israeli politician and lawyer. He currently serves as a member of the Knesset for Kadima and is a former Minister of Finance.
Bar-On was born in Tel Aviv shortly after Israeli independence in 1948. After his national service in which he rose to the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel, he studied law at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Whilst working as a lawyer he became a Justice in the Military Court of Appeals in the West Bank.
In 1997 he was appointed Attorney General, but resigned as a consequence of heavy criticism related to the 'Bar-On Hebron' scandal, which involved allegations against officials that they recommended Bar-On to the position in order to aid organized crime.
Prior to his political career, Bar-On served, among others, as Chairman of the Council for the Organisation of Sport Gambling (1998–2001), member of the Central Committee of the Israel Bar (1995–2003) and the Jerusalem Regional Committee of the Israeli Bar, as well as a member of the Council for the Administrative Courts, the Advisory Commission to the Government Companies Authority and the Public Defenders Commission. In addition, he served as Chairman of Beitar Jerusalem's committee, and also on the committee of the Israel Football Association.
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Ronit Tirosh
Ronit Tirosh (Hebrew: רונית תירוש, born 8 December 1953) is an Israeli politician and a member of the Knesset for Kadima.
Born in Tel Aviv, Tirosh gained a BA in Arabic Literature and General Philosophy from Tel Aviv University after completing her national service. She went on to postgraduate studies in Educational Management and Organization also at Tel Aviv University, and received with an MA in 1986.
She started her teaching career in 1977, first teaching Arabic at Gretz Elementary School in Tel Aviv. In 1979 she became a teacher of Arabic at Tel Aviv's Municipal High School Tet. Later appointed vice-principal, then promoted to the position of Principal in 1988 and in 1992 she won the Outstanding Principal award from the Ministry of Education.
In 1997 she became Head of the Education Administration in the Tel Aviv Municipality, and was made Person of the Year in Education by the Education Ministry in 2000. The following year she was appointed Director General of the Ministry. In 2005 she was listed as both one of the Forbes 50 Strongest Women and one of Globes 50 Most Influential Women.
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Ruhama Avraham
Ruhama Avraham Balila (Hebrew: רוחמה אברהם בלילא, born 29 January 1964) is an Israeli politician. A member of the Knesset for Kadima, she has previously served as Minister of Tourism and Minister without Portfolio responsible for liaison with the Knesset.
Avraham was born in Rishon LeZion in 1964 to a family of Turkish Sephardi Jews. After completing her army service, she received a B.A. in political science from Bar-Ilan University.
She was first elected to the Knesset in 2003, after winning 17th place on the Likud list. During the party primaries she had tried to encourage the voters to vote for her by opening up a hot dog stand. In her first term she served as a member of the Finance and Economics Committees, as well as of the Committees for the Advancement of the Status of Women and for Foreign Workers. In March 2005, she was appointed Deputy Minister of the Interior.
In 2005 she defected to Kadima, and was re-elected on its list in 2006. Later in the year an investigation into bribery began, after Avraham and Eli Aflalo accepted a $6,800 trip (plus $4,388 in expenses) from agricultural export firm Agrexco. Following the trip, despite not being a member, Avraham called a special meeting of the Knesset Interior Committee, which covered the large security expenses Agrexco was paying on its exports. In 2008 she was questioned under caution, but later escaped trial due to a lack of evidence. However, Attorney General Menachem Mazuz commented that "Avraham's conduct was unworthy, improper, in violation of the Knesset's rules of ethics and bordered on the criminal."
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Said Nafa
Said Nafa (Arabic: سعيد نفاع, Hebrew: סעיד נפאע, also Said Naffaa, born 1 April 1953) is a politician and lawyer. A Druze Palestinian Arab citizen of Israel, he is a member of the Knesset for the Arab party, Balad.
Born into a family of the Druze faith in Beit Jann in 1953, Nafa joined the Communist Party Maki at age 14. He studied law at Tel Aviv University, graduating in 1983. In 1989, he was elected to his hometown's local council as a representative of Maki, and also served as mayor and deputy mayor in the 1990s.
Nafa left the Maki party in 1997, and joined the Arab party Balad in 1999, along with a large group consisting of other members of the Druze community in Israel.
In 2001, he announced the "Pact of Free Druze", an initiative aimed at ending the conscription of Druze into the Israeli army and promoting the community's identity as an integral part of the Palestinian Arab population in Israel and the Palestinian people at large. Nafa himself is a conscientious objector who was jailed several times for refusing to carry out his army service and four of his sons have also stood trial for refusing to enlist.
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Shachiv Shnaan
Shachiv Shnaan (Hebrew: שכיב שנאן; Arabic: شكيب شنان, born 20 June 1960) is an Israeli politician. He currently serves as a member of the Knesset for Independence.
Shnaan, a Druze, was born and raised in Hurfeish. In his military service with the Israel Defence Forces, he was a fighter in the Herev Battalion. Afterwards he completed his academic studies in general studies, oriental studies and pre-law studies at Tel Aviv University. Shnaan then returned to his home town, working between 1989-1995 as a teacher and acting principal of the local six-years post-elementary school.
Throughout the years Shnaan was active with the Histadrut. He was appointed as an advisor to Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs Saleh Tarif. Following the elections to the 14th Knesset he was a senior advisor to the Minister responsible for Minorities Affairs within the Prime Minister's Office. He held this position between 1997 and 2001, and was later appointed as the administrator of the northern district for the Ministry of Labor and Welfare. Shnaan was also director of the district's branch of the Ministry of Welfare. In 2005 he was appointed by Minister of Internal Affairs Ophir Pines-Paz as his senior advisor, maintaining the post for one year.
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Shai Hermesh
Shai Hermesh (Hebrew: שי חרמש, born 23 March 1944) is an Israeli politician who currently serves as a member of the Knesset for Kadima.
Born in Tel Aviv in 1944, Hermesh spent his military service in the Nahal and the paratroop brigade. With the conclusion of his military service in 1965, he became a member of kibbutz Kfar Aza, situated on the Gaza Strip border. A year later, in the Six-Day War, Hermesh served as a combat soldier in the paratroop brigade, under the command of colonel Motta Gur in the battle to capture Jerusalem.
From 1967 to 1972 Hermesh studied economics and sociology at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, gaining a BA, and later acquired an MBA from the same university. During his studies, he was community manager in his kibbutz as well as a member of the United Kibbutz Movement secretariat.
In the Yom Kippur War in 1973, Hermesh was a combat soldier in the paratroop force that crossed the Suez Canal under the command of General Ariel Sharon. After the conflict, Hermesh served as the economics manager of Kfar Aza for three years, followed by another five years as the finance director of Kafrit, a company producing raw material for the plastics industry. At the end of his term of office, he embarked on studies towards a doctorate in the history of the Jewish People in the modern era.
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Shalom Simhon
Shalom Simhon (Hebrew: שלום שמחון, born 7 December 1956) is an Israeli politician and member of the Knesset for Independence. He currently serves as the Minister of Industry, Trade and Labour and Minister of Minorities in the Israeli cabinet.
Born in Kfar Saba, after completing his national service, Simhon studied for a BA in social work, and became a social worker. He lives in Even Menachem, a moshav in the western Galilee, and was secretary general of the Moshavim Movement. He has also chaired the Social Department of the Moshavim Movement, the Youth Department of the Moshavim Movement (for which he was also secretary) and was secretary general of HaMerkaz HaHakla'i.
Simhon was first elected to the Knesset in the 1996 elections. He retained his seat in the 1999 elections, and was appointed Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development in Ariel Sharon's national unity government as well as serving as chairman of the Finance Committee. He served in the cabinet again during the 16th Knesset after Labour joined the government, this time as Minister of the Environment. In 2006 there was an investigation into whether he had received personal favours from an airline company, though he denied the claim.
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Shaul Mofaz
Lt. General (Res.) Shaul Mofaz (born Shahram Mofazzakar) (Hebrew: שאול מופז, born 4 November 1948) is an Israeli politician who serves as the Deputy Prime Minister and a Minister without portfolio.
He joined the Israel Defense Forces in 1966 and served in the Paratroopers Brigade. He fought in the Six-Day War, Yom Kippur War, 1982 Lebanon War, and Operation Entebbe with the paratroopers and Sayeret Matkal, an elite special forces unit.
Mofaz became the 16th IDF's Chief of the General Staff, and served as Israel's Minister of Defense, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Transportation and Road Safety. He is the current Chairman of the Kadima Party, which is the largest party by seats in the current Knesset.
His birth name is Shahram Mofazzakar. He was born in Tehran (although his parents came from Isfahan), Mofaz immigrated to Israel with his parents in 1957. Upon graduating from high school he joined the Israel Defense Forces in 1966 and served in the Paratroopers Brigade. He participated in the Six-Day War, Yom Kippur War, 1982 Lebanon War, and Operation Entebbe with the paratroopers and Sayeret Matkal, an elite special forces unit.
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Shelly Yachimovich
Shelly Yachimovich (Hebrew: שלי יחימוביץ׳, born 28 March 1960) is an Israeli journalist and politician. A member of the Knesset since 2006, she is currently leader of the Israeli Labor Party and the Leader of the Opposition.
Yachimovich was born in Kfar Saba. Her parents were Holocaust survivors who immigrated to Israel from Poland. In 1985, Yachimovich graduated from Ben-Gurion University of the Negev with a degree in behavioural science. She lives in south Tel Aviv and has two children, Gal and Rama.
While studying in Beersheba, she worked as a correspondent for the Al HaMishmar newspaper. She went on to become an anchor for the Israel Broadcasting Authority's radio station Reshet Bet, earning a reputation as opinionated and critical of conventional wisdom and the establishment. She has also been described as an assertive, abrasive radio journalist with very pronounced feminist and social-democratic views. As a journalist, she covered women's and social welfare issues. In October 2000, following a work dispute, she left her radio job and joined Channel 2 TV, where she hosted a political talk show and served as a news commentator. She also did a weekly program for Israel Army Radio (Galei Tzahal). She has written two novels, "Eshet Ish" (2001) and "Miskhakei Zuggot" (2003) and recently published a nonfiction book, "Anakhnu" (2011).
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Shimon Peres
Shimon Peres (help·info) GCMG (Hebrew: שמעון פרס, born Szymon Perski; 2 August 1923) is the ninth and current President of the State of Israel. Peres served twice as the Prime Minister of Israel and once as Interim Prime Minister, and has been a member of 12 cabinets in a political career spanning over 66 years. Peres was elected to the Knesset in November 1959 and, except for a three-month-long hiatus in early 2006, served continuously until 2007, when he became President.
He held several diplomatic and military positions during and directly after Israel's War of Independence. His first high-level government position was as Deputy Director-General of Defense in 1952, and Director-General in 1953 through 1959. During his career, he has represented five political parties in the Knesset: Mapai, Rafi, the Alignment, Labor and Kadima, and has led Alignment and Labour. Peres won the 1994 Nobel Peace Prize together with Yitzhak Rabin and Yasser Arafat for the peace talks that he participated in as Israeli Foreign Minister, producing the Oslo Accords.
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Shimon Sheetrit
Prof. Shimon Shetreet (Hebrew: שמעון שטרית, born 1 March 1946) is a former Israeli politician who held several ministerial portfolios between 1992 and 1996.
Born in Erfoud in Morocco, Shetreet's family made aliyah to Israel in 1949. He studied law at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, gaining an LLB and LLM. He then went on to the University of Chicago, where he gained an LLD.
In 1988 he was elected to the Knesset on the Alignment's list. After being re-elected in 1992 (by which time the Alignment had become the Labor Party), Shetreet was appointed Minister of Economics and Planning and Minister of Science and Technology. He lost the latter portfolio in June 1993 when it was given to Shulamit Aloni, but also became Minister of Religious Affairs in February 1992. When Shimon Peres formed a new government following the assassination of Yitzhak Rabin, he remained Minster of Religious Affairs, but lost the Economics and Planning portfolio.
In the 1996 elections Shetreet lost his seat and his place in the cabinet.
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Shlomo Ben-Ami
Shlomo Ben-Ami (Hebrew: שלמה בן עמי, born 17 July 1943) is a former Israeli diplomat, politician and historian.
Ben-Ami was born in Tangiers, Morocco, and immigrated to Israel in 1955. He was educated at Tel Aviv University and St Antony's College, Oxford from which he received a D.Phil. in History.
He was a historian at Tel Aviv University from the mid-1970s, serving as head of the School of History from 1982 to 1986. His initial field of study was Spanish history, and his 1983 biography of the former Spanish Dictator, General Primo de Rivera (1923–1930), is recognized as the most authoritative study on this subject. He later turned his attention to the history of Israel and the Middle East, leaving a legacy of expertise in Spanish inter-war year politics.
From 1987 until 1991, before he entered politics, he was the second Israeli ambassador to Spain. In 1996 he was elected to the Knesset on Labour's list.
When the One Israel-led government of Ehud Barak took office in July 1999, Ben-Ami became the Minister of Internal Security, responsible for the Israel Police. In August 2000, when David Levy resigned as Foreign Minister during talks with Palestinian leaders in the United States, Barak designated Ben-Ami to be the acting Foreign Minister and he was officially appointed to the role in November 2000.
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Shlomo Gazit
Shlomo Gazit (born Shlomo Weinstein, in 1926) is a retired Major General in the Israel Defense Forces and was in the past head of the intelligence service of the Israeli army, 1974–1978.
Gazit was born in 1926 in Istanbul, Turkey, to a family of Ukrainian Jews. He served as the head of the assessment department in IDF intelligence before the Six Day War, but then took leave to study for a Master degree in history. Gazit's studies were interrupted in the summer of 1967, when he was appointed by Defense Minister Moshe Dayan to be in charge of a committee tasked with running the political, security, and later economic affairs in the newly captured territories. This group would later be renamed "The Unit for the Coordination of Operations in the Territories".
After seven years, Gazit was promoted to head of the Military Intelligence Directorate, a position he held from 1974 to 1978.
Upon his retirement from the IDF, he served as President of the Ben Gurion University in Beersheba for two four-year terms. Since 1988 he is a member of the staff of Jaffee Center for Strategic Studies at the Tel Aviv University.
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Shlomo Hillel
Shlomo Hillel (Hebrew: שלמה הלל, born 23 April 1923) is an Iraqi-born Israeli diplomat and politician who served as Speaker of the Knesset, Minister of Police and Minister of Internal Affairs. He was also an ambassador to several countries in Africa.
Born in Baghdad in Iraq, Hillel immigrated to Mandate Palestine with his family in 1934 at the age of eleven. After graduating from the Herzliya Hebrew High School in Tel Aviv, he underwent agricultural training in kibbutz Degania Alef, and later Pardes Hana. Hillel was secretary of a Hebrew Scouts group which later established Kibbutz Ma'agan Michael. In 1945, Hillel and his colleagues worked at a Haganah munitions factory disguised as a laundry facility in the basement of the Ayalon Institute in Rehovot. He studied political science, economics and public administration at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. He marred Temima, with whom he has two children, a son and a daughter, and currently lives in Ramat Denya in Jerusalem.
In 1946, Hillel flew to Baghdad on an Iraqi passport and remained there for one year. He visited Baghdad again in 1950 to negotiate the mass immigration of the Jews of Iraq, 120,000 of whom were airlifted to Israel in Operation Ezra and Nehemiah between 1950 and 1952. On these trips, he disguised himself as either a Frenchman or an Englishman. The airlift was made possible through the cooperation of Iran, which was a close ally of Israel at the time.
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Shlomo Molla
Shlomo Molla (Hebrew: שלמה מולה, born 21 November 1965) is an Israeli politician who has served as a member of the Knesset for Kadima since February 2008.
Molla was born in a small Jewish village of 40 families in Gondar Province in Ethiopia in 1965 into a family of 9 brothers and 2 sisters. Molla attempted to immigrate to Israel in 1984 on foot, after being overlooked by Operation Moses and Operation Joshua. He was rescued by Israeli forces in Sudan; during his journey in Sudan, one of the Ethiopian Jews travelling with him was shot and killed by Sudanese forces. Upon reaching Israel, he was sent to an immigrant absorption centre in Tzfat. Ill with malaria upon arrival to Israel, he learned Hebrew in the hospital. After his national service in the Israel Defense Forces, he studied for a BA in social work at Bar-Ilan University. During his studies he served as co-chairman of the Organisation of Ethiopian Students. He later also gained an LLB from Ono Academic College.
In 1991, he became head of a Jewish Agency immigrant absorption centre in Tiberias, and in 1995 was appointed supervisor of the absorption centres and ulpans in northern kibbutzim. In 1996 he became a member of the Ministry of Health's committee to advise on war conditions, and in 1999 became head of the Jewish Agency's Ethiopian Division. In the same year Molla won eighth place on Yisrael BaAliyah's list for the Knesset elections, but the party won only six seats.
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Shlomo Rosen
Shlomo Rosen (Hebrew: שלמה רוזן, born 21 June 1905, died 7 December 1985) was an Israeli politician and minister.
Born in Moravská Ostrava in Austria-Hungary (today in the Czech Republic), Rosen made aliyah to Mandate Palestine in 1926. He joined kibbutz Sarid the following year. Between 1933 and 1935 he returned to Ostrava to serve as an emissary for Hashomer Hatzair. After returning home, he worked for the Kibbutz Artzi movement, later serving as its secretary.
In the 1965 elections he was voted into the Knesset on Mapam's list. After Mapam merged into the Alignment, he was re-elected in 1969. Following the election, he became Deputy Speaker of the Knesset, and in November 1972 was appointed Deputy Minister of Immigrant Absorption. Although he lost his seat in the 1973 elections, he was appointed Minister of Immigrant Absorption by Golda Meir when she formed the new government. He retained the portfolio when Yitzhak Rabin took over as Prime Minister, and was appointed Minister of Housing in January 1977. He lost both portfolios when Menachem Begin formed the next government in June that year.
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Shulamit Aloni
Shulamit Aloni (Hebrew: שולמית אלוני, born 29 November 1928) is an Israeli politician and left-wing activist. She is a prominent member of the Israeli peace camp, founded the Ratz party and was leader of the Meretz party and served as Minister of Education from 1992 to 1993.
Born Shulamit Adler in Tel Aviv, her mother was a seamstress and her father was a carpenter, both descended from Polish Jewish rabbinical families. She was sent to boarding school during World War II while her parents served in the British Army. As a youth she was a member of the Hashomer Hatzair socialist Zionist youth movement and the Palmach. During the 1948 Israeli War of Independence she was involved in military struggles for the Old City of Jerusalem and was captured by Jordanian forces.
Following the establishment of the state of Israel, Aloni worked with child refugees and helped establish a school for immigrant children. She was a teacher while studying law. In 1952 she married Reuven Aloni and moved to Kfar Shmaryahu.
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Silvan Shalom
Silvan Shalom (Hebrew: ציון סילבן משה שלום (officially Tzion Silvan Moshe Shalom)[citation needed], (born 4 October 1958) is an Israeli politician, member of the Knesset from the Likud party and the country's senior Vice Prime Minister and Minister for Regional Development and the development of the Negev and the Galilie. He previously served as the country's Foreign Minister, Finance Minister, minister of science and deputy defense minister.
Born in Gabès, Tunisia to a family that traced its roots to the Sephardic Beit Shalom dynasty, Shalom's family made aliyah to the city of Beersheba, in Israel's Negev in 1959. On November 3, 1964, while Shalom was six years old, his father, Shimon Shalom, a bank manager and a member of the Beitar movement, was killed during the course of a bungled bank robbery. He was 37 years old at the time. The murder was notoriously known as the first committed in a bank robbery in the history of the young state of Israel.
At the age of 18, he was inducted into the I.D.F Israel Defense Forces and achieved the rank of Sergeant.
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Simha Erlich
Simha Erlich (Hebrew: שמחה ארליך, 1915 – 19 June 1983) was an Israeli politician. He was the leader of the Liberal Party and Minister of Finance under Menachem Begin, and is known for his attempt to liberalize the Israeli economy.
Erlich was born in 1915 in Poland and was a member of the General Zionists youth movement. He immigrated to Mandate Palestine in 1938 and worked as a farmer in Nes Ziona. After the establishment of the State of Israel he found his place in the Liberal Party. In 1955 he was elected to the Tel Aviv city council. He studied optics and founded a lens factory. In 1969 he quit the city council and was elected to the Knesset on Gahal's list (Gahal being a coalition between the Liberal Party and Herut). In 1976 he was elected chairman of the Liberal Party.
After the 1977 elections he was appointed Finance Minister and Deputy Prime Minister. As Minister of Finance he tried to cause an economic upheaval in Israel by abolishing foreign currency regulations and travel tax, as well as cheapening import goods. It soon turned out that Israel's economy was not prepared for such a drastic change, as could be seen by the subsequent deterioration of the balance of payments, the mass increase of goods import and sharp rise of inflation rate. Consequently, Erlich was forced to resign as Minister of Finance, but remained Deputy Prime Minister and was in charge of the development of the Galilee, the Arab sector and re-absorption of emigrants.
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Sofa Landver
Sofa Landver (Hebrew: סופה לנדבר, born 28 October 1949) is an Israeli politician who currently serves as a member of the Knesset for Yisrael Beiteinu and as the country's Minister of Immigrant Absorption.
Radio Voice of Russia claims she was the first former Soviet citizen in the government of Israel.
Born in Leningrad in the Soviet Union (today Saint Petersburg in Russia), Landver made aliyah to Israel in 1979. She served on Ashdod city council, has been director with the Ashdod Development Company, and a member of the Jewish Agency's board of trustees.
In the 1996 elections she was elected to the Knesset on the Labor Party list. She was re-elected in 1999 and served as Deputy Minister of Transportation between 12 August and 2 November 2002. She lost her seat in the 2003 elections, but entered the Knesset on 11 January 2006 as a replacement for Avraham Shochat. However, she resigned on 8 February, and was replaced by Orna Angel.
Prior to the 2006 elections Landver joined Yisrael Beiteinu, and was placed seventh on its list. The party won 11 seats and she retained her place in the Knesset. She was re-elected again in the 2009 elections after winning fifth place on the party's list. On 31 March she was appointed Minister of Immigrant Absorption.
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Stas Misezhnikov
Stas Misezhnikov (Hebrew: סטס מיסז'ניקוב; Russian: Стас Мисежников, born 28 February 1969) is an Israeli politician who currently serves as a member of the Knesset for Yisrael Beiteinu and as the country's Minister of Tourism.
Born in Moscow in the Soviet Union (today in Russia), Misezhnikov made aliyah to Israel on 7 September 1982. In 1992 he gained a BA in social and political sciences from Tel Aviv University. Eight years later he was awarded an MA in business administration and marketing by the same institution. Between 1997 and 1999 he worked as a parliamentary aide in the Knesset, and then from 1999 until 2006 as a marketing manager at Clalit.
In 2003 he became a member of Rishon LeZion city council, on which he served until 2006. For the 2006 Knesset elections he was placed sixth on the Yisrael Beiteinu list, and became a Knesset member when the party won 11 seats. He retained his seat in the 2009 elections, for which he was placed third on the party's list. Following the election he was appointed Minister of Tourism in Binyamin Netanyahu's government.
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Taleb el-Sana
Taleb el-Sana (Arabic: طلب الصانع, Hebrew: טלב אלצאנע, born 25 December 1960, sometimes spelled Talab al-Sana or variations thereof) is an Israeli politician and lawyer, and is currently the longest serving Arab Member of the Knesset.
Born in Tel Arad in the Negev, he is an Israeli Arab of Bedouin origin. el-Sana studied law at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and is a lawyer by profession. He is also active in many charitable organizations in the Negev.
El-Sana was first elected to the 13th Knesset in 1992 on behalf of the Arab Democratic Party. Prior to the 1996 elections the party ran on a joint list with the United Arab List, with El-Sana retaining his seat. The ADP was merged into the United Arab List soon after. In the 15th Knesset, he served as chair of the Committee on Drug Abuse, and remains a member.
After the 2003 elections he became head of the United Arab List's parliamentary faction. When the party ran for the 2006 elections in a joint list with Ahmad Tibi's Ta'al, el-Sana remained head of the overall party. He retained his seat again in the 2009 elections.
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Tzipi Livni
Tzipporah Malkah "Tzipi" Livni (Hebrew: ציפורה מלכה "ציפי" לבני; born 8 July 1958) is an Israeli lawyer and politician. She was the Israeli Opposition Leader from 2009 to 2012 and leader of Kadima, the largest party in the Knesset. Raised an ardent nationalist, Livni has become one of her nation's leading voices for the two-state solution[citation needed]. In Israel she has earned a reputation as an honest politician who sticks to her principles. She is the first woman to be leader of the opposition in Israel. In 2011 Livni was named one of "150 Women Who Shake the World" by Newsweek and The Daily Beast.
Born in Tel Aviv, Livni is the daughter of Eitan Livni (born in Poland) and Sara (Rosenberg), both prominent former Irgun members. Her father served as the chief operations officer of the Irgun.
Tzipi Livni served as a lieutenant in the Israel Defense Forces (IDF). According to an interview in Yediot Aharonot, described in The Sunday Times, she served in the elite Mossad unit responsible for Operation Wrath of God (also known as Bayonet) in the 1980s. She resigned from the IDF in August 1983 to marry and finish her law studies.
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Uri Ariel
Uri Yehuda Ariel (Hebrew: אורי אריאל, born 22 December 1952) is an Israeli politician who current serves as a member of the Knesset for the National Union.
Born in Afula, Ariel served in a combat unit called Palsar 7 in the Israel Defense Forces and retired as a major. He became involved in Israeli settlements, and served as secretary general of both the Amana settlement movement and the Yesha Council, as well as head of Beit El local council. He was also a member of the Jewish National Fund directorate.
For the 1999 Knesset elections he was placed seventh on the National Union list. Although he missed out when the party won only four seats, Ariel entered the Knesset on 17 October 2001 as a replacement for the assassinated Rehavam Ze'evi.
He was placed sixth on the alliance's list for the 2003 elections, and retained his seat when the party won seven mandates. Prior to the scheduled Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza Strip and the northern West Bank in August 2005, Ariel moved to Kfar Darom in solidarity and firmly opposed the plan. Similarly, he also moved to Amona prior to the dismantling of the outpost.
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Uri Maklev
Rabbi Yisrael Meir Uri Maklev (Hebrew: ישראל מאיר אורי מקלב, born 10 January 1957) is an Israeli politician and member of the Knesset for the Haredi party Degel HaTorah, which together with Agudat Yisrael forms the United Torah Judaism list.
Maklev, a graduate of both Kol HaTorah Yeshiva and Ponivezh Yeshiva, served as a member of Jerusalem City Council and as Deputy Mayor of Jerusalem from 1993 to 2008. In this position he was a member of the municipality's executive, holding the education portfolio and sitting on the finance and education committees. He was also a member of the local planning and construction committee and the municipality's representative to Jerusalem's Sewage and Water Corporation.
On 31 July 2008, Maklev entered the Knesset on the basis of an internal party rotation agreement. Upon his entry, Degel HaTorah had three seats for the first time in its history.
He retained his seat in the 2009 elections after being placed fourth on the alliance's list.
He was attacked in Mea Shearim on 24 June 2010 as he emerged from a synagogue. The two United Torah Judaism MKs (Uri Maklev and Moshe Gafni) had paid a visit to the Slonim rabbi, who lives in Mea Shearim and then entered a synagogue to pray. When they emerged they were set upon by young extremists from Neturei Karta who spat at them and assaulted them with stones, blows and a chair.
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Uri Sagi
Uri Sagie (Hebrew: אורי שגיא; born 1943) was an Israeli general (retired) who held several prominent posts including command of the Golani Brigade, of Israel's Northern Command, and the IDF Military Intelligence Directorate.
Uri Sagie was born in Kfar Bialik to a family who had been living in Israel for several generations. He was a commander of a platoon in Battalion 51 during the Six Day War. He climbed the ranks of the IDF and became commander of the Golani Brigade. During the 1982 Lebanon War he was in charge Operations Command within the IDF's General Staff. In 1983 he was promoted to the rank of Aluf and given charge of the Northern Command. In 1986 till 1991 he was in command of GOC Army Headquarters, and in 1991-1995 he was in charge of the Military Intelligence Directorate. He resigned from the IDF in 1995 due to a conflict between him and the Chief of General Staff.
In 1996 he joined the Israeli Labor Party, but during the primaries that year failed to secure a place in the party's list for the upcoming elections. In December 1999, then, Prime Minister of Israel Ehud Barak put him in charge of negotiations with Syria for a peace treaty. The negotiations failed as Syria refused to enter direct negotiations until Israel withdrew from the Golan Heights as a pre-condition. In 2000-2003 Uri Sagi was the CEO of Mekorot, Israel's national water company.
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Uzi Baram
Uzi Baram (Hebrew: עוזי ברעם, born 6 April 1937) is an Israeli former politician, who served as a member of the Knesset between 1977 and 2001, and was Minister of Tourism and Minister of Internal Affairs in the 1990s.
Uzi Baram was born in Jerusalem during the Mandate era. His father, Moshe Baram served as Minister of Labour and Minister of Welfare, and was a Knesset member for Mapai and the Alignment. His mother, Grazia, was born in Aleppo, Syria. Baram grew up in Jerusalem's Nahalat Ahim neighborhood. Baram earned a BA in political science and sociology from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. During his studies, he was chairman of the Students Union.
Baram was elected to the Knesset in 1977 on the Alignment list, an election in which his father lost his seat. Re-elected in 1981, 1984, 1988 and 1992 (by which time the Alignment had become the Labor Party, he was appointed Minister of Tourism in Yitzhak Rabin's government in July 1992. In February 1995 he also became Minister of Internal Affairs, serving until June that year when David Libai was appointed to the post. When Shimon Peres formed a new government following Rabin's assassination, he remained Minister of Tourism.
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Uzi Dayan
Uzi Dayan (Hebrew: עוזי דיין) (born 1948) is an Aluf (res.) in the Israel Defense Forces and an Israeli politician. He is the nephew of General Moshe Dayan.
Nephew of Moshe Dayan, Grandson of Shmuel Dayan and cousin of Assi Dayan, Yael Dayan and Yehonatan Geffen.his own father, Zorik, was killed in the Battle of Ramat Yohanan in April of the year he was born. His mother Mimi remarried in March 1950 after having met Moshe Rabinovitch in Rome the previous summer, and they would go on to have two children of their own, Dan (b. 1951) and Michal (b. 1956). Dayan was raised in HaYogev, joined the army, and spent 15 years in the Sayeret Matkal. He eventually commanded the unit, served as head of Central Command, Deputy Chief of Staff, and headed the Israeli National Security Council (2003-2005) before forming the Tafnit party to run in the 2006 legislative elections. He and his party later joined Likud in mid-2008.
Dayan was an undergraduate at Hebrew University of Jerusalem, where he studied under Robert Aumann and received a B.Sc. in mathematics and physics. He subsequently studied at Stanford University, earning an M.Sc. in operations research. Dayan has a wife Tamar and three children.
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Uzi Landau
Uzi Landau (Hebrew: עוזי לנדאו, born 2 August 1943) is an Israeli politician, member of the Knesset for Yisrael Beiteinu and Minister of National Infrastructure. Previously a Likud MK, he served as Minister of Internal Security between 2001 and 2003.
Uzi Landau was born in Haifa during the Mandate era. He served in the Paratroopers Brigade of the Israel Defence Forces, and reached the rank of Major. He gained a BSc and MSc from the Technion and a PhD from MIT and worked as a systems analyst.
In 1984 he was elected to the Knesset, representing the Likud party. He chaired the subcommittee for Soviet Jewry. He retained his seat in the 1988 election and chaired the subcommittee for the defense budget during the 12th Knesset's term. Re-elected in 1992, 1996, 1999 and 2003, he served as chair of the foreign affairs and defense committee from 1996 until 1999, when he became chairman of the State Control Committee.
In 2001, he was appointed Minister of Internal Security by Ariel Sharon and retained his place in the cabinet after the 2003 election, when he was appointed Minister in the Prime Minister's Office. He resigned his post in October 2004 due to his objections to the disengagement plan.
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Victor Brailovsky
Dr Victor Brailovsky (Hebrew: ויקטור בריילובסקי, born 27 December 1935) is a computer scientist, aliyah activist and a former Israeli politician. He served as Minister of Science and Technology for six days in 2004. In May 1986 Brailovsky was awarded an Honorary Doctorate Degree from the Open University in England.
Brailovsky was born in Moscow in 1935. He was an activist for aliyah and refusenik between 1972 and 1987, and was a Prisoner of Zion between 1981 and 1984. In 1987 he was allowed to immigrate with his family to Israel, where he worked as a professor of mathematics and computer science in Tel-Aviv University.
In the 1999 elections he was voted into the Knesset on Shinui's list, and became a member of the Science and Technology and Immigration, Absorption, and Diaspora Affairs committees.
Following the 2003 elections, in which Brailovsky retained his seat, Shinui joined Ariel Sharon's government. On 5 March 2003 he was appointed Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs. On 29 November 2004 he became Minister of Science and Technology, replacing fellow Shinui member Ilan Shalgi. However, Shinui pulled out of the government less than a week later, and Brailovsky lost his cabinet post.
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Ya'akov Geri
Ya'akov Geri (Hebrew: יעקב גרי, born 1901, died 18 December 1974) was a South Africa-born Israeli lawyer who served as Minister of Trade and Industry between November 1950 and October 1951, although he was never as a Knesset member.
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Ya'akov Margi
Ya'akov Margi (Hebrew: יעקב מרגי, born 18 November 1960) is an Israeli politician who currently serves as a member of the Knesset for Shas and as the country's Minister of Religious Services.
Margi was born in Morocco and brought to Israel during Operation Yakhin 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. 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.
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Ya'akov Tzur
Ya'akov Tzur (Hebrew: יעקב צור, born Ya'akov Steinberg on 4 April 1937) is a former Israeli politician who held several ministerial portfolios in the 1980s and 1990s.
Born in Haifa during the Mandate era, Tzur studied bible and history at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Between 1955 and 1957 he was part of the Yotvata settlement group, and in 1957 became a member of kibbutz Netiv HaLamed-Heh. He worked as a teacher in schools in Givat Brenner and Kfar Menachem, before serving as director of the education department of HaKibbutz HaMeuhad between 1972 and 1974. In 1976 he became the movement's secretary, overseeing its 1979 merger into the United Kibbutz Movement i (of which he served as secretary until 1981).
In 1981 he was elected to the Knesset on the Alignment's list. Re-elected in 1984, he was appointed Minister of Immigrant Absorption. Following the 1988 elections he became Minister of Health, serving until the Alignment withdrew from the government in March 1990.
Although he lost his seat in the 1992 elections, he was appointed Minister of Agriculture in Yitzhak Rabin's government, serving until 1996.
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Yaakov Dori
Yaakov Dori (1899–1973) (Hebrew: יעקב דורי) was the first Chief of Staff of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF).
Born in the present day Ukraine (then part of the Russian Empire) as Yakov Dostrovsky (Russian: Яков Достровский), son of Tzvi and Myriam, his family emigrated to Ottoman Palestine following the anti-Jewish pogrom in Odessa in 1905. Upon completing high school at the Hebrew Reali School in Haifa, he enlisted in the Jewish Legion of the British Army during World War I. Following the war he studied engineering at the University of Ghent. When he returned to Palestine in 1926 he joined the Haganah and adopted the underground name of "Dan". In Haganah he was the commander of the Haganah Forces of Haifa.
In 1939, Dori was appointed Chief of Staff of the Haganah, a position he held until 1946. As CoS Haganah it was Yaakov Dori's duty to take the Haganah from a diffuse self defense organisation to a model army. From 1946 to 1947 he also headed the Palestinian Jewish delegation sent to purchase arms in the United States.
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Yaakov Edri
Ya'akov Edri (Hebrew: יעקב אדרי, also spelt Edery or Edrey, born 25 November 1950) is an Israeli politician and member of the Knesset for Kadima. Formerly Minister of Immigrant Absorption, Minister of Health and a Minister without Portfolio, Edri is the Minister of Negev and Galilee Development in the current government.
Born in Morocco, Edri emigrated to Israel in 1959. He attended the University of Haifa, where he gained a BA in political science and an MA in public administration.
Between 1989 and 2003, he served as mayor of Or Akiva, where he currently resides. In 2003, he was elected to the Knesset on the Likud list. On 10 March 2003, he was appointed Deputy Minister of Internal Security. In late November 2005, he resigned from Likud and joined Kadima. On 18 January 2006 he was appointed Minister of Health and the Minister for the Development of the Negev and the Galilee.
Edri retained his seat in the 2006 elections, and on 27 July was named Minister without Portfolio responsible for Jerusalem Affairs. As part of a cabinet reshuffle in July 2007 he became both Minister of Immigrant Absorption and Minister of Negev and Galilee Development. He lost the former portfolio on 14 July 2008 when Eli Aflalo was appointed to the post.
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Yaakov Litzman
Yaakov Litzman (Hebrew: יעקב ליצמן, born 2 September 1948) is an Israeli politician and Deputy Government Minister. A follower of the Ger Hasidic dynasty, he heads the Agudat Israel part of the United Torah Judaism faction in the Knesset.
Litzman was born in 1948 to Polish survivors of the Holocaust, in a displaced persons camp in Germany. When he was two years old, the family immigrated to the Borough Park section of Brooklyn, where he grew up. At the age of 17 he continued his studies in Israel. His first job was as principal of the Hasidic Beis Yaakov girls' school in Jerusalem.
Litzman has five children and lives in Jerusalem.
He later became active in politics under the guidance of the then Gerrer Rebbe, Rabbi Simcha Binem Alter. Over time he became known as the rebbe's right-hand man, a role he continues under the present Gerrer Rebbe, Rabbi Yaakov Arye Alter.
In 1999 the present rebbe asked Litzman to join the Aguda slate for the legislative election held that year. He has since served as the leader of the Agudat Israel faction in the Knesset, in which role he consults the Gerrer Rebbe on a daily basis.
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Yair Naveh
Yair Naveh (Hebrew: יאיר נוה, born September 5, 1957) is a Major General in the Israel Defense Forces and is the current Deputy Chief of the General Staff. In 1975, he was drafted into the IDF where he served in all positions in the Golani Infantry Brigade from Company Commander to Brigade Commander. He lives in Zikhron Ya'akov.
Naveh was previously the head of Israeli Home Front Command until nominated by former Prime Minister Ariel Sharon to his post as Central Command chief. It is believed by some Israelis that Sharon nominated Naveh because he is the highest ranked religious officer and that as head of Central Command, he would be forced to carry out the evacuation of West Bank settlements in 2005.
Naveh holds a Bachelors degree in History and Political Science, as well as a Masters degree in Political Science and Middle Eastern Studies.
Naveh predicted that King Abdullah would fall and that he would be Jordan's last king, drawing an angry reaction from Jordan, for which Israel had to apologize on Naveh's behalf.
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Yair Tzaban
Yair Tzaban (Hebrew: יאיר צבן, born 23 August 1930) is an Israeli politician, academic and social activist.
Tzaban was born in Jerusalem in 1930. During the 1948 Palestine War he fought in the Palmach. He was among the founders of Kibbutz Tzora, near Jerusalem.
In the 1950s, after moving to Tel Aviv, he studied in Seminar HaKibutzim (a teacher's college) and worked as a teacher and youth educator in the poor suburbs of Tel Aviv. Almost twenty years later he was graduated by Tel Aviv University in general and Jewish Philosophy.
For 45 years Tzaban has been politically active. He was a member of the political bureau of the original Maki from 1965 to 1973 and its chairman in 1972-1973. In 1977 he was a co-founder of the Left Camp of Israel, a peace list which ran for the Knesset and Histadrut elections. In 1981 he was elected to the Knesset, where he served for 16 years as representative of the Alignment, Mapam and Meretz. In 1992 he was invited by the late Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin to serve as the Minister of Immigrant Absorption and as a member of the Security Cabinet (until 1996). As Minister of Immigrant Absorption he strove to establish full co-operation with the leadership of the Jewish Agency. During the years 1996-2002 he served as the head of the Academic Board of the Lavon Institute for Research of the Labor Movement and lectured at Tel Aviv University to graduate students in the Department for Public Policy.
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Yehoshua Saguy
Major General Yehoshua Saguy (Hebrew: יהושע שגיא, born 27 September 1933) is an Israeli former intelligence officer and politician. He served as director of the Military Intelligence Directorate between 1979 and 1983, and as a Knesset member for Likud from 1988 until 1992.
Born in Jerusalem during the Mandate era, Saguy attended a local high school, and later gained a BA in history and international relations from Tel Aviv University.
He entered the Israeli Defense Forces in 1951. From 1953 to 1954 he served in the Southern Command, fulfilling field duties. During the Suez Crisis in 1956, he served as intelligence officer of the Armored Corps and as commander of a reconnaissance unit. Following the 1956 war, he served as an Intelligence Officer with the 7th Brigade, and later assistance intelligence officer. From 1967 until 1970 he was an Intelligence Officer in the Southern Command, and during the Yom Kippur War was a Divisional Intelligence Officer.
In 1974 he became assistance to the Research head at the Military Intelligence Directorate, and from 1978 until 1979 was deputy head of the unit. In February 1979 he was appointed head. However, he was sacked in 1983 following the recommendations of the Kahan Commission, which had determined that he was guilty of indifference during massacres at Palestinian refugee camps in Israeli-occupied Lebanon, and resigned from the army.
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Yekutiel Adam
Yekutiel "Kuti" Adam (Hebrew: יקותיאל "קותי" אדם) (November 3, 1927 – June 10, 1982) was an Israeli general and former Deputy Chief of Staff of the Israeli Defence Forces.
He was born in Tel Aviv, Israel to Yehuda and Elisheva Adam (formerly Adamov). He was named after his grandfather, who was killed in combat in 1919. His family were Mountain Jews from the Caucasus region.
At the age of 15, Yekutiel joined the Haganah. At 20, he became a commander.
On May 1, 1948, he was one of the commanders who captured the Palestinian village Salame, to the south of Tel Aviv. He later joined an elite Haganah unit that conducted raids into enemy territory.
In March, 1950, Adam married and built a house in Tel Aviv. At that time, he became an officer in the IDF, with the rank of lieutenant. Adam rose quickly through the ranks. In 1952, he became a captain in the Givati Brigade. Then he went on to command the Be'er Sheva bloc as a lieutenant colonel.
He went on to study in the war academy in France in 1964-66 and returned to assume the rank of colonel. In the Six-Day War, he served under Ariel Sharon, proving his worth. Following the war, he became commander of the Golani Brigade. The Golani Brigade was responsible for keeping the peace in the north during the War of Attrition. During this time, Adam was promoted to brigadier general and served as the vice commander of the IDF's Northern Command until the end of the Yom Kippur War.
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Yigael Yadin
Yigael Yadin (Hebrew: יִגָּאֵל יָדִין, born Yigael Sukenik (Hebrew: יגאל סוקניק) on 21 March 1917, died 28 June 1984) was an Israeli archeologist, politician, and the second Chief of Staff of the Israel Defense Forces.
Yadin was born in 1917 to noted archeologist Eleazar Sukenik and educationalist and women's rights activist Hasya Feinsod Sukenik. He joined the Haganah at age 15, and served there in a variety of different capacities. In 1946, however, he left the Haganah following an argument with its commander Yitzhak Sadeh over the inclusion of a machine gun as part of standard squad equipment.
He was a university student when, in 1947, shortly before the State of Israel declared its independence, he was called back to active service by David Ben-Gurion. He was Head of Operations during Israel's War of Independence, and was responsible for many of the key decisions made during the course of that war. In June 1948 he threatened to resign during the Generals' Revolt during which he accused Ben-Gurion of attempting "to transform the army as a whole into an army of one political party (Mapai)".
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Yigal Allon
Yigal Allon (Hebrew: יגאל אלון, 10 October 1918 – 29 February 1980) was an Israeli politician, a commander of the Palmach, and a general in the IDF. He served as one of the leaders of Ahdut HaAvoda party and the Israeli Labor party, and acting Prime Minister of Israel, and was a member of the Knesset and government minister from the 10th through the 17th Governments.
Allon was born in Kfar Tavor in the Ottoman Empire. In 1937 he graduated from Kadoorie Agricultural High School, and joined kibbutz Ginosar.
He died in Afula on 29 February 1980 and was buried on the shore of Lake Kinneret (the Sea of Galilee) in the cemetery of Kibbutz Ginosar.
Allon commanded a field unit of the Haganah and then a mobile patrol in northern Palestine during the Arab riots of 1936–39. During this period he participated in several operations of the Special Night Squads (SNS), under the command of Orde Charles Wingate and H.E.N. Bredin. In 1941 he became one of the founding members of the Palmach. That same year he took part in the British invasion of Lebanon and Syria. In 1943 he became the Deputy Commander of the organization, and served in this post until 1945, when he became Commander in Chief.
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Yigal Hurvitz
Yigal Hurvitz (Hebrew: יִגָּאֵל הורביץ, born 1918, died 10 January 1994) was an Israeli politician who served as a government minister in the late 1970s and 1980s.
Hurvitz was born in Nahlat Yehuda (today part of Rishon LeZion) in 1918. Between 1938 and 1941 he was a member of the secretariat of HaNoar HaOved VeHaLomed, and served in the Jewish Brigade during World War II. In 1961 he joined Mapai and became a member of the party's central committee. He also served as a member of the Moshavim Movement's secretariat between 1961 and 1965.
In 1965 he joined David Ben-Gurion's new Rafi party, and followed Ben-Gurion to the new National List in 1969. In that year he was elected to the Knesset on the party's list. Following its merger into the new Likud alliance in 1973, Hurvitz was re-elected on Likud's list. He was re-elected in 1977, and was appointed Minister of Industry & Tourism, a role he held until October 1978. In November 1979 he was appointed Minister of Finance, but left the cabinet again on 13 January 1981. On 26 January he and two other Likud MKs broke away from the Likud to form Rafi – National List. On 19 May he left the new faction to join Moshe Dayan's Telem.
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Yisrael Bar-Yehuda
Yisrael Bar-Yehuda (Hebrew: ישראל בר-יהודה, 15 November 1895 – 15 November 1965) was a Zionist activist and Israeli politician.
Born Yisrael Idelson in Konotop in the Russian Empire (now Sumy Oblast, Ukraine) in 1895, Bar-Yehuda attended an Academic High School and the Mine Engineering Institute in Ekaterinoslav. In 1909 joined Tze'irei Zion (later to be merged into Hashomer Hatzair) and was made a member of its central committee in Russia in 1917. He was Secretary of the Central Committee of the “Socialist Zionists”, where he met and married Beba Idelson (whom he would later divorce). In 1922 they were arrested by the Soviet authorities and exiled to Siberia. In 1924, thanks to an intercession by Maxim Gorki's wife, their banishment was converted to deportation to Mandate Palestine. They traveled to Lithuania and from there to Berlin by way of Danzig. For the next two years in Berlin they were active in establishing the World Union of Socialist Zionists and became the Movement's Secretary.
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Yisrael Eichler
Yisrael Eichler (Hebrew: ישראל אייכלר, born 27 March 1955) is an Israeli politician who currently serves as a member of the Knesset for United Torah Judaism.
Born in Jerusalem, Eichler worked as an author and journalist. He became editor of HaMahane HaHaredi in 1980, and in 1996 became chairman of the Centre for Jewish Publicity.
A member of Agudat Yisrael, in 2003 he was elected to the Knesset on the United Torah Judaism list (UTJ being an alliance of Agudat Yisrael and Degel HaTorah). The alliance split in January 2005. He resigned from the Knesset on 23 February that year and was replaced by Shmuel Halpert.
As part of a seat rotation agreement within United Torah Judaism, he returned to the Knesset on 6 February 2011 as a replacement for Meir Porush.
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Yisrael Hasson
Yisrael Hasson (Hebrew: ישראל חסון, born 27 April 1955) is an Israeli politician and former Deputy Director of Shin Bet. He is currently a member of the Knesset for Kadima.
Hasson was born in Damascus in Syria, and made aliyah to Israel at the age of seven. He has served in Shin Bet for twenty-three years, and is considered a celebrated agents' recruiter and operations leader. He was involved in the negotiations behind the Wye River, Taba, and Hebron agreements, as well as Ehud Barak's negotiations in Camp David. He has also been Israel's envoy to Arab countries on numerous occasions. During his last position in the Shabak, he was nominated as its Deputy Director, under Ami Ayalon.
In 2000, after Avi Dichter was preferred over him as Shabak Director, Hasson resigned from the organization and entered business. He founded the Hasson Energy company which delivers fuel to factories and gas stations in Israel's north, and also traded with the Palestinian National Authority. He was voted into the seventeenth Knesset in the 2006 elections.
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Yitzhak Aharonovich
Yitzhak Aharonovich (Hebrew: יצחק אהרונוביץ', born 22 August 1950) is an Israeli politician who currently serves as a member of the Knesset for Yisrael Beiteinu, and as the country's Minister of Internal Security.
Born in Jerusalem in 1950, Aharonovich studied history at the University of Haifa. In the 1980s Aharonovich headed the northern command of the Israel Border Police and led rescue operations during the two Tyre catastrophes. Between 2002 and 2004 he was deputy Police Commissioner, before serving as director general of the Dan Bus Company between 2004 and 2005.
In 2006 he was elected to the Knesset on Yisrael Beiteinu's list. In March 2007 he was appointed Minister of Tourism, but left the cabinet in January 2008 when the party left the coalition. He retained his seat in the 2009 elections, for which he was placed fourth on the party's list. Upon the formation of the Netanyahu government on 31 March, he was appointed Minister of Public Security. On 16 June 2009, Aharonovich told an undercover police detective, who apologized for being untidy while meeting the minister in Tel Aviv's central bus station, that he looked as dirty as an “Araboosh” a Hebrew slur roughly meaning “little Arab”. He was denounced by several members of the Knesset as a racist following that, and subsequently apologized.
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Yitzhak Cohen
Rabbi Yitzhak Cohen (Hebrew: יצחק כהן, born 2 December 1951) is an Israeli politician who has served as a member of the Knesset for Shas since 1996, and is the current Deputy Minister of Finance.
Born in Ashkelon, Cohen served on the city's council and was its former deputy mayor.
He served as Secretary-General of Shas' educational institution (El HaMa'ayan). He was first elected to Knesset in 1996. In his time in Knesset he has served on the Finance Committee, Labor and Welfare Committee, Committee on Foreign Workers, Foreign Affairs & Defense Committee, Joint Committee for the Defense Budget, Special Committee for Discussion of the Security Service Law Substitute Member, Constitution, Law and Justice Committee, and the House Committee. He has also been a member of the Knesset Forum on the Middle East lobby, and is currently a member of the Lobby for Ethiopian Immigrants.
He became the Minister of Religious Affairs in July 1999, and resigned a year later. He served as the Deputy Minister of Finance from 2001–2003. In 2006 he was appointed the Minister without Portfolio, and is in charge of religious councils, a role converted to Religious Services Minister in January 2008.
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Yitzhak Gruenbaum
Yitzhak Gruenbaum (Polish: Izaak Grünbaum, Hebrew and Yiddish: יצחק גרינבוים, born 1879 died 1970) was a noted leader of the Zionist movement among Polish Jewry between the two world wars and of the Yishuv in Mandatory Palestine, and the first Interior Minister of Israel.
Gruenbaum was born in Warsaw, Poland. While a student of jurisprudence, he began activities on behalf of the Zionist movement and engaged in journalism. He served as editor of several periodicals widely circulated among Polish Jewry, including the Hebrew Ha-Zefirah and the Hebrew weekly Ha-Olam. Under his editorship, the Yiddish daily, Haynt, took on a pro-Zionist slant.
On the political scene in Poland, Gruenbaum headed the Al Hamishmar radical Zionist faction. In 1919 he was elected to the Sejm (Polish parliament), where, together with Apolinary Hartglas, he organized a "Jewish bloc" that united most of the Jewish parties. He was the moving force in forming a collaboration with other minority parties represented in the Sejm, including Germans, Ukrainians, and others, to form a Bloc of National Minorities alliance in 1922, that acted to protect the rights of minority populations in Poland. His efforts brought about an increase of Jewish representation in the Sejm, which was accompanied by a rise in antisemitism. Gruenbaum was known for his courageous and militant stance against antisemitism and on behalf of minorities' rights, while equally critical of the ultra-orthodox party Agudat Israel and Jewish lobbying.
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Yitzhak Levy
Rabbi Yitzhak Levy (Hebrew: יצחק לוי, born 6 July 1947) is an Israeli rabbi and politician who served as a member of the Knesset for the National Religious Party (NRP) and the Ahi faction of the National Union between 1988 and 2009. Between 1998 and 2002 he was NRP leader, and also held several ministerial portfolios.
Levy was born in Casablanca in Morocco in 1947, the son of Daniel-Yitzhak Levy, who later served as a member of the Knesset for the National Religious Party. The family immigrated to Israel in 1957. He studied at Yeshivat Kerem B'Yavneh and Yeshivat Hakotel, where he received rabbinical ordination. He served as an officer in the IDF, achieving the rank of major. He was a member of the Bnei Akiva Executive and World Secretariat, and Secretary-General of the National Religious Movement from 1986 to 1995. He was the Rabbi of the Bnei Akiva Talmudic College in Kfar Maimon and was among the initiators of the establishment of the Jewish quarter in Jerusalem, and one of the founders of the Israeli settlement of Elon Moreh in the West Bank.
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Yitzhak Navon
Yitzhak Navon (Hebrew: יצחק נבון, born 9 April 1921) is an Israeli politician, diplomat, and author. He served as the fifth President of Israel between 1978 and 1982 as a member of the center-left Alignment party. He was the first Israeli president to be born in Jerusalem, then within the British Mandate for Palestine, and the first not to have been born in and made aliyah from the Russian Empire.
In 2005, he was voted the 108th-greatest Israeli of all time, in a poll by the Israeli news website Ynet to determine whom the general public considered the 200 Greatest Israelis.
Born in Jerusalem, Navon is a descendant of a Sephardi family of rabbis. On his father's side, he is descended from Spanish Jews who settled in Turkey after the expulsion of the Jews from Spain in 1492. The family (Baruch Mizrahi family or Al Mashraki) moved to Jerusalem in 1670. On his mother's side, he is descended from the renowned kabbalist Haim Ben Attar. The Ben-Atar family came from Morocco to Jerusalem in 1884.
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Yitzhak Rabin
Yitzhak Rabin (help·info) (Hebrew: יִצְחָק רַבִּין IPA: [jitsˈχak ʁaˈbin]; March 1, 1922 – November 4, 1995) was an Israeli politician, statesman and general. He was the fifth Prime Minister of Israel, serving two terms in office, 1974–77 and 1992 until his assassination in 1995.
In 1994, Rabin won the Nobel Peace Prize together with Shimon Peres and Yasser Arafat. He was assassinated by right-wing Israeli radical Yigal Amir, who was opposed to Rabin's signing of the Oslo Accords. Rabin was the first native-born prime minister of Israel, the only prime minister to be assassinated and the second to die in office after Levi Eshkol.
Rabin was born in Jerusalem, British Mandate of Palestine to Nehemiah and Rosa (née Cohen), two immigrants of the Third Aliyah, the third wave of Jewish immigration to Israel from Europe. Nehemiah Rubitzov was born in the Ukrainian village Sydorovychi near Ivankiv in 1886. His father died when he was a child, and he worked to support his family from a young age. At the age of 18, he emigrated to the United States, where he joined the Poale Zion party and changed his surname to Rabin. In 1917, Nehemiah went to the British Mandate of Palestine with a group of volunteers from the Jewish Legion.
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Yitzhak Vaknin
Yitzhak Vaknin (Hebrew: יצחק וקנין, born 12 May 1958) is an Israeli politician and member of the Knesset for Shas.
Between 1982 and 1987 Vaknin served as secretary of the Gornot HaGalil communal settlement. In 1988 he became chairman of the committee of Ya'ara, a position he held until 1996. Between 1988 and 1993 he also served as secretary of Ma'ale Yosef Regional Council, and from 1993 until 1996 as the head of its religious council.
He was first elected to the Knesset in 1996. He retained his seat in the 1999 elections, and was appointed Deputy Minister of Communications on 5 August 1999, a role he held until 11 July 2000, when Shas resigned from the government. After Ariel Sharon formed a new government, Vaknin was appointed Deputy Minister of Labor and Social Welfare on 2 May 2001. He left the position on 20 May 2002, but returned to it on 3 June.
He retained his seat again in the 2003, 2006 and 2009 elections.
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Yoel Hasson
Yoel Hasson (Hebrew: יואל חסון, born 4 April 1972) is an Israeli politician and a member of the Knesset for Kadima.
Born in Tel Aviv, Hasson studied for a BA in government and public policy at the Interdisciplinary Center in Herzliya. He joined the Betar movement, and was head of the national leadership of its youth movement between 1998 and 2001. In 2001 he became chairman of the Council of Israeli Youth Movements, a position he held until 2003. Between 2001 and 2005 he also served as an adviser to Prime Minister Ariel Sharon. In 2004 he became chairman of the Likud youth, but left in 2005 to join Sharon's new party, Kadima.
Hasson was placed 29th on Kadima's list for the 2006 elections, and with Kadima winning 29 seats, he was elected to the Knesset. During his first term he served as chairman of the Lobby for the Advancement of Young People in Israel and the Lobby for the Protection of Animals, as well as being named chairman of the coalition, Kadima's Parliamentary Group Chairman and the party's whip.
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Yohanan Plesner
Yohanan Plesner (Hebrew: יוחנן פלסנר, born 17 January 1972) is an Israeli politician and a member of the Knesset for Kadima.
Born in England, Plesner grew up in Jerusalem and served as an officer with the Sayeret Matkal elite unit during his national service in the IDF between 1989 and 1994. He went on to study at the Prestigious Amirim Program of Excellence at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, where he gained a BA with distinction in economics. Mr. Plesner then spent several years in the business world, first as a consultant to major financial corporations in the UK, and then as co-founder and manager of an international software company. He moved on to the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, where he gained an MA in political economics and security studies, and spoke regularly on behalf of Israel. Upon his return to Israel, Mr. Plesner assumed the position of Head of Special Projects in the Prime Minister's Office under then PM Ariel Sharon. When the Kadima Party was founded in early 2006, Mr. Plesner was appointed the first Secretary-General of the nascent party, and led the formation of its organizational infrastructure. A Member of Knesset since 2007, Mr. Plesner is currently Deputy Chairman of the Kadima Faction. He is a member of both the Constitution, Law and Justice Committee and of the Defense and Foreign Relations Committee. Mr. Plesner founded the European Forum of the Knesset, a parliamentary group dedicated to improving relations between the Knesset and European legislators, and chairs the Knesset's permanent delegation to the Council of Europe. During his time in the Knesset, Mr. Plesner has spoken out on issues ranging from national security and electoral reform to preservation of the environment and excellence in education. He lives in Hod Hasharon with his wife Shimrit and his two daughters, Michaela and Ayala.
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Yosef Burg
Yosef Shlomo Burg (Hebrew: יוסף שלמה בורג, born 31 January 1909, died 15 October 1999) was an Israeli politician. In 1949, he was elected to the first Knesset, and served in many ministerial positions for the next 40 years. He was one of the founders of the National Religious Party.
Yosef Shlomo Burg was born in Dresden, Germany. He attended the Rabbinical Seminary in Berlin and the University of Berlin from 1928 to 1931. He received a Doctorate in mathematics and logic from the University of Leipzig in 1933. He continued to study at the Rabbinical Seminary in Berlin and was ordained as a rabbi in 1938.
While at the University of Leipzig, he joined the Young Mizrahi religious Zionist movement. He arranged Jewish prayer services in private homes after German synagogues were burned, and worked underground to help Jews escape to England and the Netherlands. His mother and grandmother died in Nazi concentration camps.
In 1939, he immigrated to Mandate Palestine. He worked as teacher at the Herzliya Hebrew Gymnasium in Tel Aviv before moving to Jerusalem. There he become a research fellow at Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Burg lived in the Rehavia neighborhood of Jerusalem. His son, Avraham Burg, was speaker of the fifteenth Knesset.
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Yosef Sapir
Yosef Sapir (Hebrew: יוסף ספיר; January 27, 1902 – February 26, 1972) was an Israeli politician and Knesset member of the 1st to 7th Knessets. He served as head of the General Zionists and was a founding member of the Gahal party.
Sapir was born in Jaffa in 1902, during Ottoman period. Between 1940 and 1951, he served as the mayor of Petah Tikva, where a major street (part of Road 481) has been named after him. Shortly after his tenure, Sapir joined the national government at the end of 1952 as the Health Minister and went on to become the Minister of Transportation in 1953 until 1955.
In Levi Eshkol's emergency government formed on the eve of the Six-Day War, Sapir served as a Minister without Portfolio and assumed the post of Minister of Trade and Industry in Golda Meir's government, until Gahal left the coalition on August 6, 1970.
Karmei Yosef, a communal settlement founded in 1984 between Ramle and Beit Shemesh, was named in his honor.
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Yossi Peled
Yossi Peled (Hebrew: יוסי פלד, born 18 January 1941) is an Israeli general and politician, the former Aluf of the Northern Command in the Israel Defense Forces. He currently serves as a member of the Knesset for Likud.
Yossi Peled was born Jozef (Jefke) Mendelevich in Poland. ("Jefke," or Little Joe, is the diminutive form of the Flemish nickname for Jozef/Joseph). During World War II, his family fled to Belgium, and his father entrusted him and his sister to a Catholic family. All of his family except his mother died in Auschwitz concentration camp during the Holocaust. After the war, his mother reclaimed him, and they made aliyah to what became Israel with the assistance of the Jewish Brigade.
Peled studied history at Tel Aviv University, gaining a BA, and later settled in kibbutz Negba.
Peled served in the Israel Defense Forces for 30 years. During the Six-Day War, Peled was a company commander in the 9th Battalion of the 7th Armored Brigade of the 84th Armored Division, under General Israel Tal. In the War of Attrition, he served as a battalion commander on the Suez Canal.
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Yossi Sarid
Yossi Sarid (Hebrew: יוסי שריד, born 24 October 1940) is a left-wing Israeli news commentator and former politician. He served as a member of the Knesset for the Alignment, Ratz and Meretz between 1974 and 2006. A former Minister of Education and Minister of the Environment, he led Meretz between 1996 and 2003.
Born in Rehovot, Sarid served in the Artillery Corps and as a Military Correspondent during his national service in the IDF. He went on to work as a media aide to Prime Minister Levi Eshkol.
He was first elected to the Knesset in 1973 on the Alignment list. He was re-elected in 1977, 1981 and 1984. After the Alignment agreed to join a national unity government with Likud in 1984, Sarid left the party on 22 October to join Shulamit Aloni's Ratz. He was re-elected on the Ratz list in 1988.
In 1992, Ratz merged with Shinui and Mapam to form Meretz. The new party won 12 seats in the elections that year and joined Yitzhak Rabin's coalition. Sarid was appointed Minister of the Environment, a position he kept when Shimon Peres formed a new government after Rabin's assassination in 1995.
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Yuli Tamir
Yael "Yuli" Tamir (Hebrew: יולי תמיר, born 26 February 1954) is an Israeli academic and former politician who served as a member of the Knesset for the Labor Party between 2003 and 2010, and as Minister of Immigrant Absorption and Education.
Born in Tel Aviv (some sources state Ramat Gan), Tamir served in Aman's 848 Unit during her national service, and during the Yom Kippur War, she served as an officer in an outpost on the Sinai. She received a BA in Biology and an MA in Political Science from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. She received a PhD in Political Philosophy from Oxford. Between 1989 and 1999, she was a philosophy lecturer in Tel Aviv University and a research fellow at the Shalom Hartman Institute of Jerusalem, Princeton and Harvard universities.
Tamir was one of the founders of Peace Now in 1978, and between 1980 and 1985, she was an activist for Ratz. From 1998 until 1999, she was chairwoman of the Israeli Association for Civil Rights. From 1995, she became active in the Labour Party. Although Tamir failed to win election to the Knesset in the 1999 election, she was appointed Minister of Immigrant Absorption by Ehud Barak. She was elected to the Knesset in the following 2003 election, and served on the finance, constitutional, law and order, public input, and culture and sport committees. She also served on the investigatory parliamentary committee into government corruption.
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Yuli-Yoel Edelstein
Yuli-Yoel Edelstein (Hebrew: יולי-יואל אדלשטיין, Russian: Юлий Эдельштейн, Ukrainian: Юрiй Едельштейн, born 5 August 1958) is an Israeli politician who currently serves as a member of the Knesset for Likud and as the country's Minister of Information and Diaspora.
Born in Chernivtsi in the Soviet Union (today in Ukraine), Edelstein was an activist for Hebrew language learning. In 1984 he was arrested for drugs possession. He spent three and a half years in a labour camp in difficult conditions, and was seriously maimed. In 1987 he was released and allowed to immigrate to Israel.
After arriving in Israel he started to participate in political life. Initially a member of the National Religious Party and a vice-president of Zionist Forum, he founded the Yisrael BaAliyah party together with fellow Soviet dissident Nathan Sharansky. He was elected to the Knesset in 1996, and was appointed Minister of Immigrant Absorption in Binyamin Netanyahu's Likud-led government. He was re-elected in 1999, and was appointed Deputy Immigrant Absorption Minister by Ariel Sharon in 2001.
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Yuval Steinitz
Yuval Steinitz (Hebrew: יובל שטייניץ, born 10 April 1958), is an Israeli politician and Knesset member for Likud since 1999. He is the Finance Minister of Israel.
Yuval Steinitz was born and raised on moshav Ramot HaShavim. He studied in the biology track at Katznelson High School in Kfar Sava. He was expelled for refusing to sign a letter promising to stop his argumentative behavior in class, and completed his bagrut (baccalaureate high school degree) externally. He did his army service as an infantry soldier in the Golani Brigade of the Israeli Defense Forces. As a reservist in the Alexandroni Brigade, he was wounded during the Lebanon War. His higher education began at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, where he obtained a BA and an MA in Philosophy.
Steinitz is married to Gila Canfy-Steinitz, a judge on the Jerusalem District Court. They have three children and live in Mevaseret Zion.
His doctoral thesis, entitled From A Rational Point of View was completed at the Cohn Institute for the History and Philosophy of Science and Ideas at Tel Aviv University. Steinitz was awarded the Alon Scholarship for his work. He continued his research at the University of Haifa, were he worked as a senior lecturer until entering the Knesset in 1999. While at Haifa University, Steinitz published articles on military strategy and tactics in various periodicals, including the IDF journal Marachot. At the age of 29, he published his book Invitation to Philosophy, which became the best-selling philosophy text in Israel and was reprinted 40 times.
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Zahava Gal-On
Zahava Gal-On (Hebrew: זהבה גלאון, born 4 January 1956 in Vilnius, Lithuania) is an Israeli politician. She is a member of Knesset for Meretz, and is well-known for her outspokenness, opposition to Meretz's election strategy, and very liberal and pluralist views. On February 7,2012, she was elected chairperson of the Meretz Party.
Gal-On was born in 1956 in Vilnius in the Soviet Union (today Lithuania) and immigrated to Israel in 1960. She is married with two children and lives in Petah Tikva. She is an MA student at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
She served as general secretary of the paper Politika, of the Human Rights organization B'Tselem, and of the Ratz party. She is a member of the general directorate of Meretz. Among her main activities: the struggle for human and civil rights, women's rights and the fight for social justice. In regards to IDF refuseniks, she has said that "Meretz should not go with the wind of refusal, but should not try to oppose it. We are a party that believes in ideological pluralism and should not bury our heads in the sand. Meretz must show empathy towards the refuseniks and must bring the matter up for public discussion and reveal the reasons why the officers are refusing to serve."
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Zalman Aran
Zalman Aran (Hebrew: זלמן ארן, 1 March 1899 – 6 September 1970) was a Zionist activist, educator and Israeli politician.
Aran was born Zalman Aharonowitz in 1899 in Yuzovka in the Russian Empire (now Donetsk, Ukraine), and received a religious education in a heder. He later studied agriculture in Kharkov. In his youth, he was active in Tze'irei Zion, and in 1917 became a member of the "Self-Defense Organization Committee" of the movement. He worked as a teacher and a statistician from 1918 to 1923. In 1920, after the party split, he joined the Zionist Socialists and was a member of its secret Central Committee from 1924 to 1925.
In 1926, he immigrated to Mandate Palestine, where he joined the Ahdut HaAvoda Party. He worked in building and road construction. In 1930, after Ahdut HaAvoda merged into Mapai, he was appointed the new party's General Secretary in Tel Aviv. From 1936 to 1947 he worked in the Histadrut Executive Committee as Treasurer and Director of the Information Department, and was one of the founders of the School for Histadrut Activists. He also became a member of the Zionist Executive Committee in 1946 and a member of its Presidium in 1948.
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Zalman Shazar
Zalman Shazar (Hebrew: זלמן שז"ר) (November 24, 1889 – October 5, 1974) was an Israeli politician, author. and poet. Shazar served as the third President of Israel from 1963 to 1973.
Shazar (Shneur Zalman Rubashov) was born to a Hasidic family of the Chabad-Lubavitch denomination in Mir, near Minsk, in the Russian Empire (today in Hrodna Voblast, Belarus), he received a religious education as a youth. In his teenage years he became involved in the Poale Zion Movement. Shazar immigrated to Mandate Palestine in 1924, and became a member of the secretariat of the Histadrut.
Shazar died on October 5, 1974. He is buried on Mount Herzl in Jerusalem.
Shazar served as the editor-in-chief of the Israeli newspaper Davar from 1944 to 1949.
He was elected to the first Knesset in 1949 as a member of Mapai, and was appointed Minister of Education in David Ben-Gurion's first government. He was not a member of Ben-Gurion's second cabinet, but retained his seat in the 1951 and 1955 elections. He also became a member of the Jewish Agency Executive in 1952. He resigned from the Knesset in 1956, and from 1956 to 1960 was acting chairman of the Jewish Agency's Jerusalem Executive.
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Ze'ev Bielski
Ze'ev Bielski (Hebrew: זאב בילסקי, born 13 March 1949) is an Israeli politician who currently serves as a member of the Knesset for Kadima. He previously chaired the Jewish Agency and the World Zionist Organization. as well as working as a Jewish Agency emissary in South Africa, a player in the Israeli national basketball league, a founder of the Israel Forum, and the mayor of Ra'anana.
Bielski was born and raised in Jerusalem. Between 1967 and 1970 he was a member of the IDF, and he reached the level of Major. He got his BA in Economics at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
Between 1977 and 1980 he was the leading Jewish Agency emissary in South Africa. In 1989 he became the Mayor of Ra'anana, which he would be until 2005, and he became the Chairman of the Absorption Committee, Union of Local Authorities, which he would be until 1993. He also was the Deputy Chairman of the Union of Local Authorities in Israel from 1996 to 1999, and the National Chairman of the Al-Sam Organization from 1994 to 1996.
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Ze'ev Boim
Ze'ev Boim (Hebrew: זאב בוים, 30 April 1943 – 18 March 2011) was an Israeli politician. He was the mayor of Kiryat Gat before becoming a Knesset member for Likud and later Kadima. Boim was Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Minister of Housing and Construction and Minister of Immigrant Absorption.
Ze'ev Boim was born in Jerusalem during the British Mandate era. He served as a company commander in the Israel Defense Forces Armored Corps. He earned a BA in History and Hebrew literature from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
Boim was the principal of the Rogozin comprehensive High School in Kiryat Gat.
He served as mayor of Kiryat Gat, as well as Chairman of the Municipal Environmental Quality Association of Ashkelon District; Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Economic Company of Kiryat Gat; and Chairman of the Directorate of the Inter Regional Industrial Park of Kiryat Gat and Hevel Lakhish.
Boim was married with four children. His son Amir died while serving the IDF. He died of cancer in March 2011 at Froedtert Hospital in Milwaukee.
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Ze'ev Elkin
Ze'ev Elkin (Hebrew: זאב אלקין, born 3 April 1971) is an Israeli politician and member of the Knesset for Likud.
Born in Kharkiv in the Soviet Union (today Ukraine), Elkin was active in the Bnei Akiva movement, becoming its general secretary of the Soviet Union branch in 1990. In December that year he immigrated to Israel.
He studied at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, gaining a BA in history and mathematics in 1994 and an MA in history in the same year. Later Ze'ev Elkin was involved in academic Jewish and medieval studies, in particular, studied the works of Saadia Gaon, and was involved in Jewish education in the countries of former Soviet Union.
Elkin was elected to the 17th Knesset in 2006 as a member of Kadima and chaired the subcommittee on the absorption of immigrant children and youth. In November 2008 he decided to quit Kadima, as he considered it to have become a left-wing party. He subsequently joined Likud, and won twentieth place on its list for the 2009 elections. He retained his seat as Likud won 27 mandates.
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Ze'ev Sherf
Ze'ev Sherf (Hebrew: זאב שרף, born 21 April 1904 – 18 April 1984) was an Israeli politician who held several ministerial portfolios in the 1960s and 1970s.
Born in Czernowitz in Austria-Hungary (today Chernivtsi, Ukraine), Sherf made aliyah in 1925. He was a member of Poale Zion's youth movement, and was a founder of the "Socialist Youth" movement.
During World War II he was a member of the Haganah command, and following the war, worked for the Jewish Agency for two years.
In 1947 he was appointed secretary of the Situation Committee, which helped create the administrative apparatus of the new state. Following independence, he served as secretary of the government until 1957.
In the 1965 elections he was voted into the Knesset on the Alignment's list. In November 1966 he was appointed Minister of Trade and Industry, and in August 1968 also became Minister of Finance. He held both posts until after the 1969 elections, when he became Minister of Housing. He was not re-elected in the 1973 elections and lost his place in the cabinet the following year when Golda Meir stepped down from the Prime Ministership.
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Zevulun Hammer
Zevulun Hammer (Hebrew: זבולון המר, 31 May 1936 – 20 January 1998) was an Israeli politician, minister and Deputy Prime Minister.
Hammer was born in Haifa during the British Mandate of Palestine. He was an active member of the Bnei Akiva youth movement (which he led), and served in the Israeli Armored Corps in a Nahal programme. He graduated from Bar-Ilan University with a BA in Judaism and Bible, as well as a teaching certificate and worked as a teacher. At the university, he headed the Student Union and was a member of the Presidium of the Israeli Students Association and the World Union of Jewish Students.
Hammer was first elected to the Knesset in 1969 as a member of the National Religious Party. He became Deputy Minister of Education and Culture in January 1973. In November 1975 he was appointed Minister of Welfare, but in December 1976 his party resigned from the cabinet
After the 1977 elections he was appointed Minister of Education, a role he retained until September 1984. For a brief period during the 10th Knesset, Hammer and Yehuda Ben-Meir broke away from the NRP and formed a new faction, Gesher – Zionist Religious Centre; however, they returned to the NRP after two weeks.
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Zevulun Orlev
Zevulun Orlev (Hebrew: זבולון אורלב, born 9 November 1945) is an Israeli politician and a former leader of the National Religious Party. He was Minister of Welfare & Social Services (March 2003 - November 2004), and is currently a Member of the Knesset for the The Jewish Home party. Orlev is a decorated war hero who received the Medal of Distinguished Service in the Yom Kippur War.
Born in Rehovot, Orlev studied humanities and social sciences at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, before training to be a teacher at Moreshet Yaakov College. During his national service he became a Sergeant, and was awarded a Medal of Distinguished Service for valour during the Yom Kippur War. He later worked as Director General of the Ministry of Religious Affairs, and Director General of the Ministry of Education and Culture. Orlev lives in Jerusalem's Givat Mordechai neighborhood with his wife, Nira. They have four children.
He was first elected to the Knesset in the 1999 elections on the National Religious Party list. After being re-elected in the 2003 elections, Orlev was appointed Minister of Welfare and Social Services in Ariel Sharon's government. During the crisis in the party over the Gaza disengagement plan, Orlev led the camp which believed staying in the government, rather than leaving the coalition, was the best option. In response, NRP leader Effi Eitam called Orlev a "Meimadnik". When Eitam and Yitzhak Levy quit the government in 2004, Orlev and many NRP members refused to leave the coalition. Orlev then succeeded in taking control of the party, resulting in Eitam and Levy leaving to form the Renewed Religious National Zionist Party (since renamed Ahi), which would later join the National Union.
wn.com/Zevulun_Orlev
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Ehud Barak Israeli Defense Minister Interview with Wolf Blitzer Jerusalem Israel (July 30, 2012)
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 13:18
- Updated: 06 Nov 2012
Wolf Blitzer interviews Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak from Jerusalem. Monday, July 30, 2012.
http://wn.com/Ehud_Barak_Israeli_Defense_Minister_Interview_with_Wolf_Blitzer_Jerusalem_Israel_July_30,_2012
Ehud Barak on Iran and a nuclear threat
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 3:02
- Updated: 19 Nov 2012
Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak shares his stance on keeping Iran from becoming a nuclear threat
http://wn.com/Ehud_Barak_on_Iran_and_a_nuclear_threat
Hellenic Army - Israel's Ehud Barak Visit [HD]
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 8:14
- Updated: 18 Nov 2012
Israeli Deputy PM Ehud Barak on Greek visit, 10 Jan 2012. Defence Minister Dimitris Avramopoulos met on Tuesday with Israeli Deputy Prime Minister and Defence Minister Ehud Barak, and discussed bilateral cooperation in the defence sector. The talks between the two ministers were held in a "good climate", and the political framework was set out for further cooperation between Greece and Israel in the defence sector. In statements to the press afterwards, Avramopoulos described Barak's visit to Athens as "important", as it reaffirmed the strengthening of relations between the two eastern Mediterranean relations in the backdrop of a fastly changing region. "Our choice and commitment is a deepening of cooperation," Avramopoulos said, noting that the consolidation of bilateral relations had been late in coming. www.athensnews.gr
http://wn.com/Hellenic_Army_Israel's_Ehud_Barak_Visit_HD_
Ehud BARAK
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 7:03
- Updated: 10 May 2012
Ehud BARAK, Israel's Defence Minister for the World policy Conference December 2011
http://wn.com/Ehud_BARAK
Ehud Barak sings praises of Obama administration
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 2:07
- Updated: 10 Nov 2012
CNN's Wolf Blitzer asks Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak about Israel's relationship with the US For more CNN videos, check out our YouTube channel at www.youtube.com Or visit our site at www.cnn.com
http://wn.com/Ehud_Barak_sings_praises_of_Obama_administration
Ehud Barak Zionist Minister Of Defense Nov. 4, 2011
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 9:05
- Updated: 07 Mar 2012
Ehud's all squirrely like he's making peanut butter in his depends or something. Conveniently in London, to distract us from the hostages they just took from the Canadian ship, Tahrir (Freedom), and the Irish ship, Saoirse (Freedom); trying to break the Gaza blockade of course! Sorry for the damage; not my fault.
http://wn.com/Ehud_Barak_Zionist_Minister_Of_Defense_Nov_4,_2011
Ehud Barak at Berlin Holocaust Memorial: Israel's Defence Minister and Wife at Gleis 17 Memorial
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 2:23
- Updated: 16 Nov 2012
Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak, along with his wife Nili Priel-Barak, visited the Gleis 17 Memorial in Berlin to honour the more than 50000 Jews who were deported through Berlin-Grunewald Station and sent to concentration and extermination camps such as Auschwitz during the Holocaust. Barak laid a wreath at the Holocaust memorial and afterward lit a candle on the platform.
http://wn.com/Ehud_Barak_at_Berlin_Holocaust_Memorial_Israel's_Defence_Minister_and_Wife_at_Gleis_17_Memorial
EHUD BARAK INTERVIEW - BBC WORLD NEWS
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 5:52
- Updated: 31 Oct 2012
The Israeli Defence Minister, Ehud Barak, is in London for talks with British senior defence officials and Foreign Secretary William Hague. Talks are likely to centre on Iran's nuclear ambitions. Israeli President Shimon Peres met the US military chief Martin Dempsey on Monday and said international sanctions on Iran are beginning to show some results.
http://wn.com/EHUD_BARAK_INTERVIEW_BBC_WORLD_NEWS
Combat cam: IDF blasts Gaza, shows precision PR footage
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 0:32
- Updated: 19 Nov 2012
The Israeli military released footage showing what it said was its air force targeting Hamas Fajr missile infrastructure in the Gaza Strip in an airstrike. A day earlier Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak told reporters that most of Hamas' Fajr missiles were destroyed in the first hour of the Israeli army's assault on the Gaza Strip. RT LIVE rt.com Subscribe to RT! www.youtube.com Like us on Facebook www.facebook.com Follow us on Twitter twitter.com Follow us on Google+ plus.google.com RT (Russia Today) is a global news network broadcasting from Moscow and Washington studios. RT is the first news channel to break the 500 million YouTube views benchmark.
http://wn.com/Combat_cam_IDF_blasts_Gaza,_shows_precision_PR_footage
Ehud Barak approves settlement expansion in Palestinian lands
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 2:33
- Updated: 19 Nov 2012
The Israeli Minister for military affairs Ehud Barak approved a plan to construct an additional 538 new housing units in the illegal Itamar settlement. An Israeli paper obtained information that Barak decided to go ahead with the expansion without any prior agreement from the Israeli Planning and Construction Committee. Barak had previously "legalized" 138 housing units in this area without construction permits, although under international law, settlements remain illegal in a country under occupation. Nel Burden, Press TV, Nablus Follow our Facebook on: www.facebook.com Follow our Twitter on: twitter.com Follow our Tumblr on: presstvchannel.tumblr.com
http://wn.com/Ehud_Barak_approves_settlement_expansion_in_Palestinian_lands
Greeks voice anger at Ehud Barak visit
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 3:15
- Updated: 15 Apr 2012
Ehud Barak is the fourth Israeli official to visit Athens since former US Federal Reserve banker Loukas Papademos was appointed prime minister of Greece two months ago. Press TV's Constantine Venizelos reports from Athens.
http://wn.com/Greeks_voice_anger_at_Ehud_Barak_visit
9/11 September 12 BBC News HardTalk With Ehud Barak Part 1 of 2
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 12:29
- Updated: 23 Aug 2012
9/12/2001
http://wn.com/9_11_September_12_BBC_News_HardTalk_With_Ehud_Barak_Part_1_of_2
Ehud Barak Meeting UN SG Ban Ki Moon
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 2:09
- Updated: 05 Jun 2012
Ehud Barak Meeting UN SG Ban Ki Moon talks about Iran, Syria, Lebanon
http://wn.com/Ehud_Barak_Meeting_UN_SG_Ban_Ki_Moon
Charlie Rose - Ehud Barak (11/15/11)
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 2:32
- Updated: 16 Nov 2012
Ehud Barak, Israeli Defense Minister www.CharlieRose.com
http://wn.com/Charlie_Rose_Ehud_Barak_11_15_11
Ehud Barak and Shimon Peres Discuss President Obama's Record
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 0:53
- Updated: 10 Nov 2012
Share this: OFA.BO Tweet this: OFA.BO Ehud Barak and Shimon Peres discuss President Obama's record on Israel.
http://wn.com/Ehud_Barak_and_Shimon_Peres_Discuss_President_Obama's_Record
Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak on settlements
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 1:51
- Updated: 10 Nov 2012
Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak, speaking exclusively to CNN's Fareed Zakaria on settlements in Israel.
http://wn.com/Israeli_Defense_Minister_Ehud_Barak_on_settlements
Entrevista a Ehud Barak 19/04/12
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 46:57
- Updated: 25 Sep 2012
Entrevista al Ministro de Defensa de Israel, Ehud Barak, emitida el pasado 19 de Abril de 2012 por el canal NTN24
http://wn.com/Entrevista_a_Ehud_Barak_19_04_12
Full Conversation
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 34:33
- Updated: 16 Oct 2012
In Conversation with Ehud Barak with Tom Friedman
http://wn.com/Full_Conversation
New Egypt Defense Minister Phones Ehud Barak: Abdel-Fattah Al-Sisi Calls Israeli Minister
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 2:19
- Updated: 02 Oct 2012
According to reports by the pan-Arabic daily newspaper Al-Hayat, Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak received a phone call from the newly appointed Egyptian Defense minister Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi, in order to discuss the ties between the two countries, which share borders and a peace treaty. This would be the first time the two ministers speak to each other ever since the current Egyptian government has been formed, following the toppling of Hosni Mubarak's former Egyptian regime in the Arab Spring of 2011. The Egyptian minister apparently reassured his Israeli counterpart of Egypt's commitment to the peace treaty between the two states. This conversation comes following the terrorist attack which took place a few weeks ago, in which extremists shot dead several Egyptian patrol guards and barged Egypt's border with Israel. Since then, Egyptian authorities deployed forces into the Sinai Peninsula, potentially causing tension with Israel, seeing as according to the 1979 peace treaty, the region of Sinai must remain demilitarized. With political changes on the ground in Egypt, with the Muslim Brotherhood leader Mohamed Morsi voted into government, many feared that the delicate peace between Israel and Egypt would not last for long. And for this exact reason, it was reported that the conversation between the two defense ministers took place. Additionally, three weeks after it was closed down due to the deliberate violence in the region, the Rafah Crossing between Egypt and the ...
http://wn.com/New_Egypt_Defense_Minister_Phones_Ehud_Barak_Abdel-Fattah_Al-Sisi_Calls_Israeli_Minister
Ehud Barak interview, BBC, 11:29, 9/11
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 8:24
- Updated: 01 Nov 2012
Ehud Barak interview, BBC, 11:29, 9/11
http://wn.com/Ehud_Barak_interview,_BBC,_1129,_9_11
Israel's Netanyahu and Ehud Barak Are Pushing For Iran Strike Before US Election!
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 31:39
- Updated: 20 Nov 2012
Prepare for Multiple Fronts. Psalm 83. Stand Strong On God's Word. Trust Him!
http://wn.com/Israel's_Netanyahu_and_Ehud_Barak_Are_Pushing_For_Iran_Strike_Before_US_Election!
Ehud Barak Says Nuclear Iran Is Worse Than Striking Their Nuclear Facilities.
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 30:21
- Updated: 27 Sep 2012
Al-Qaeda Says They Will 'Kill In The Name of God'. Jesus Told Us About These People.
http://wn.com/Ehud_Barak_Says_Nuclear_Iran_Is_Worse_Than_Striking_Their_Nuclear_Facilities
Ehud Barak on The Leon Charney Report
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 10:37
- Updated: 19 Nov 2012
Ehud Barak - Former Prime Minister of Israel (Charney Classic - 01/19/2003) www.charneyreport.com like Leon Charney on Facebook https follow Leon Charney on Twitter twitter.com
http://wn.com/Ehud_Barak_on_The_Leon_Charney_Report
Photo: AP / Hatem Moussa
18 Nov 2012
Israeli air strikes killed 16 Palestinians in Gaza on Saturday, prompting the Arab League to announce a visit to the battered enclave and a review of its Middle East peace policy. Egypt’s President...
Photo: AP / Hatem Moussa
19 Nov 2012
Gaza/Jerusalem - Israel bombed dozens of targets in the Gaza Strip on Monday and said that while it was prepared to step up its offensive by sending in troops, it preferred a diplomatic solution that...
Photo: EC / EC
19 Nov 2012
BRUSSELS/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The shadow banking system - blamed for aggravating the financial crisis - grew to a new high of $67 trillion globally last year, a top regulatory group said, calling...
Photo: UN / UN
17 Nov 2012
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) — Israel's new offensive against the Gaza Strip has turned into a political bonanza for the territory's Hamas rulers, while sidelining Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas,...
Photo: AP / Pablo Martinez Monsivais
19 Nov 2012
Yangon, November 19: Newly re-elected US President Barack Obama arrived here Monday to kick off his visit to Myanmar, becoming the first sitting US president to visit the Southeast Asian nation. As...
Push for Israel-Hamas cease-fire gains momentum
20 Nov 2012
Stars and Stripes
JERUSALEM — A diplomatic push to end Israel's nearly weeklong offensive in the Gaza Strip gained momentum Tuesday, with Egypt's president predicting that airstrikes would soon end, the U.S. secretary of state racing to the region and Israel's prime minister saying his country would be a...(size: 10.1Kb)
The Associated Press
JERUSALEM (AP) -- U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton says the United States is pushing for a `'durable outcome" promoting stability following Israel's offensive in the Gaza Strip. Clinton spoke alongside Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu Tuesday after she rushed to the region to...(size: 10.7Kb)
>Push for Israel-Hamas cease-fire gains momentum
20 Nov 2012
Seattle Post
JERUSALEM (AP) — A diplomatic push to end Israel's nearly weeklong offensive in the Gaza Strip gained momentum Tuesday, with Egypt's president predicting that airstrikes would soon end, the U.S. Secretary of State racing to the region and Israel's prime minister saying his country would be a...(size: 9.8Kb)
Clinton arrives in Israel for cease-fire talk
20 Nov 2012
The Associated Press
JERUSALEM (AP) -- U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton has arrived in Israel on an emergency visit to help end a week of fighting between Israel and Hamas militants. Clinton touched down late Tuesday and was headed to Jerusalem for talks with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu amid...(size: 10.5Kb)
Huffington Post
JERUSALEM -- A diplomatic push to end Israel's nearly weeklong offensive in the Gaza Strip gained momentum Tuesday, with Egypt's president predicting that airstrikes would end within hours and Israel's prime minister saying his country would be a "willing partner" to a cease-fire with the Islamic...(size: 46.9Kb)
Israel intensifies attacks, despite truce talk
20 Nov 2012
Chicago Sun-Times
Updated: November 20, 2012 2:30PM JERUSALEM — A diplomatic push to end Israel’s nearly weeklong offensive in the Gaza Strip gained momentum Tuesday, with Egypt’s president predicting that airstrikes would end within hours and Israel’s prime minister saying his country would be a “willing partner” to...(size: 9.9Kb)
Egypt and IMF reach deal on $4.8b loan
20 Nov 2012
CNTV
JERUSALEM, Nov. 20 (Xinhua) -- UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon on Tuesday urged Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to "act with restraint" amid the operation in Gaza and urged him not to order a military invasion of the strip. Both Ban and Netanyahu made statements to the press prior to...(size: 9.5Kb)
CounterPunch
Israeli elections are coming up in January so it is Palestinian hunting season again. Israeli cynics call it a time “for mowing the grass.” Out comes the well-worn playbook by Israel’s militaristic government that has worked to silence Israeli politicians and citizens who want a two-state solution....(size: 7.4Kb)
Yahoo Daily News
JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israel sees its Iron Dome anti-rocket system as a noted success of its Gaza assault. The only problem is keeping up with demand for the interceptor missiles, their makers said on Tuesday. "We've been working in non-stop shifts," said an official with Rafael Advanced Defence...(size: 17.8Kb)
The Inquisitr
Posted: November 20, 2012 A Hamas official told the media that Egypt has successfully negotiated a cease fire between Hamas and Israel which will go into effect at midnight local time. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that talk of a deal was premature. Hamas official Ayman Taha told...(size: 9.7Kb)
| Ehud Barak |
|
|---|---|
 |
|
| Minister of Defense | |
| Incumbent | |
| Assumed office March 28, 2007 |
|
| Prime Minister | Ehud Olmert Benjamin Netanyahu |
| Preceded by | Amir Peretz |
| Prime Minister of Israel | |
| In office 6 July 1999 – 7 March 2001 |
|
| President | Ezer Weizman Moshe Katsav |
| Preceded by | Benjamin Netanyahu |
| Succeeded by | Ariel Sharon |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Ehud Brog (1942-02-12) 12 February 1942 (age 70) Mishmar HaSharon, British Mandate of Palestine |
| Political party | Labor Party (until 2011) Independence (from 2011) |
| Spouse(s) | Nava Cohen (divorced) Nili Priel |
| Children | 3 |
| Alma mater | Hebrew University Stanford University |
| Profession | Military officer |
| Religion | Judaism |
| Signature |  |
| Military service | |
| Service/branch | Israeli Army |
| Years of service | 1959 - 1995 |
| Rank | Lieutenant General |
| Battles/wars | Yom Kippur War Operation Entebbe |
Ehud Barak (Hebrew: אהוד ברק (help·info); born Ehud Brog on 12 February 1942) is an Israeli politician who served as Prime Minister from 1999 to 2001. He was leader of the Labor Party until January 2011[1] and holds the posts of Minister of Defense and Deputy Prime Minister in Binyamin Netanyahu's government.
He is a graduate in physics, mathematics, and economics from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and Stanford University. He served as an officer in the Israel Defense Forces. Following a highly decorated career, he was appointed Chief of General Staff in 1991, serving until 1995.
Contents |
Personal life[link]
He was born on 12 February 1942 in kibbutz Mishmar HaSharon in Israel.[2] He is the eldest of four sons of Esther (née Godin) (b. 1913) and Yisrael Mendel Brog (1910-2002).
His paternal grandparents, Frieda and Reuven Brog, were murdered in Pušalotas (Pushelat) in the northern Lithuania (then ruled by Russian Empire) in 1912, leaving his father orphaned at the age of two. Barak's maternal grandparents, Elka and Shmuel Godin, died at the Treblinka extermination camp during the Holocaust.
Ehud hebraized his family name from "Brog" to "Barak" in 1972. It was during his military service that he met his future wife, Nava (née Cohen). They had three daughters together. Barak divorced Nava in August 2003. On 30 July 2007 Barak married Nili Priel in a small ceremony in his private residence. In his spare time, Barak enjoys reading works by writers such as Johann Wolfgang von Goethe.[3]
In 2005, he was voted the 61st-greatest Israeli of all time, in a poll by the Israeli news website Ynet to determine whom the general public considered the 200 Greatest Israelis.[4]
Education[link]
Barak earned his bachelor's degree in physics and mathematics from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem in 1968, and his master's degree in engineering-economic systems in 1978 from Stanford University, in California.
Military service[link]
Barak joined the Israel Defense Forces (I.D.F.) in 1959. He served in the IDF for 35 years, rising to the position of Chief of the General Staff and the rank of Rav Aluf (Lieutenant-General), the highest in the Israeli military. During the Yom Kippur War, Barak commanded an improvised regiment of tanks which among other things, helped rescue paratrooper battalion 890 commanded by Yitzhak Mordechai who were suffering heavy losses in the Battle of the Chinese Farm.
During his service as a commando in the elite Sayeret Matkal, Barak led several highly acclaimed operations, such as: "Operation Isotope", the rescue mission to free the hostages onboard Sabena Flight 571 at Lod Airport in 1972; the 1973 covert mission Operation Spring of Youth in Beirut, in which he was disguised as a woman in order to assassinate members of the Palestine Liberation Organization; Barak was also a key architect of the June 1976 Operation Entebbe, another rescue mission to free the hostages of the Air France aircraft hijacked by terrorists and forced to land at the Entebbe Airport in Uganda. These highly acclaimed operations, along with Operation Bayonet led to the dismantling of Palestinian terrorist cell Black September. It has been alluded that Barak also masterminded the Tunis Raid on 16 April 1988, in which PLO leader Abu Jihad was assassinated.[5]
Later he served as head of Aman, the Military Intelligence Directorate (1983–85), head of Central Command (1986–87) and Deputy Chief of the General Staff (1987–91). He served as Chief of the General Staff between 1 April 1991 and 1 January 1995. During this period he implemented the first Oslo Accords and participated in the negotiations towards the Israel-Jordan Treaty of Peace.
Barak was awarded the Medal of Distinguished Service and four Chief of Staff citations (Tzalash HaRamatkal) for courage and operational excellence. These five decorations make him the most decorated soldier in Israeli history (jointly with close friend Nechemya Cohen).[6] In 1992 he was also awarded the Legion of Merit (Commander) by the United States.[7]
Political career[link]
On 7 July 1995 Barak was appointed Minister of Internal Affairs by Yitzhak Rabin. When Shimon Peres formed a new government following Rabin's assassination in November 1995, Barak was made Minister of Foreign Affairs (1995–96). He was elected to the Knesset on the Labor Party list in 1996, and served as a member of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee. Following internal elections after Peres' defeat in the election for Prime Minister in 1996, Barak became the leader of the Labor Party.
Prime Minister of Israel[link]
In the 1999 Prime Ministerial election, Barak beat Binyamin Netanyahu by a wide margin. However, he sparked controversy by deciding to form a coalition with the ultra-Orthodox party Shas, who had won an unprecedented 17 seats in the 120-seat Knesset. Shas grudgingly agreed to Barak's terms that they eject their leader Aryeh Deri, a convicted felon, and enact reform to "clean up" in-party corruption. Consequentially, the left wing Meretz party quit the coalition after they failed to agree on the powers to be given to a Shas deputy minister in the Ministry of Education.
In 1999 Barak gave a campaign promise to end Israel's 22-year long occupation of Southern Lebanon within a year. On 24 May 2000 Israel withdrew from Southern Lebanon. On 7 October, three Israeli soldiers were killed in a border raid by Hezbollah and their bodies were subsequently captured. The bodies of these soldiers, along with the living Elhanan Tenenbaum, were eventually exchanged for Lebanese captives in 2004.
The Barak government resumed peace negotiations with the PLO, stating that “Every attempt [by the State of Israel] to keep hold of this area [the West Bank and Gaza] as one political entity leads, necessarily, to either a nondemocratic or a non-Jewish state. Because if the Palestinians vote, then it is a binational state, and if they don’t vote it is an apartheid state.”[8] As part of these negotiations, Barak took part in the Camp David 2000 Summit which was meant finally to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict but failed. Barak also allowed Foreign Minister Shlomo Ben-Ami to attend the Taba Summit with the leadership of the Palestinian Authority, after his government had fallen.
Domestic issues[link]
In August 1999, Barak appointed the Tal committee which dealt with the controversial issue of ultra-Orthodox Jews' exemption from military service. Riots in October 2000 led to the killing of twelve Israeli-Arabs and one Palestinian by Israel Police and one Jewish civilian by Israeli Arabs.
Resignation[link]
In 2001 Barak called a special election for Prime Minister. In the contest, he was defeated by Likud leader Ariel Sharon, and subsequently resigned as Labor leader and from the Knesset. He left Israel to work as a senior advisor with United States-based Electronic Data Systems. He also partnered with a private equity company focused on "security-related" work.
Return to politics[link]
In 2005, Barak announced his return to Israeli politics, and ran for leadership of the Labor Party in November. However, in light of his weak poll showings, Barak dropped out of the race early and declared his support for veteran statesman Shimon Peres. Following his failed attempt to maintain leadership of the Labor party, Barak became a partner of the investment company SCP Private Equity Partners, Pennsylvania. He also established a company "Ehud Barak Limited" which is thought to have made over NIS 30 million.[9]
After Peres lost the race to Amir Peretz and left the Labor party, Barak announced he would stay at the party, despite his shaky relationship with its newly elected leader. He declared, however, that he would not run for a spot on the Labor party's Knesset list for the March 2006 elections. Barak's attempt to return to a prominent role in Israel politics seemed to have failed. However, Peretz's hold on the Labor leadership proved unexpectedly shaky as he was badly damaged by negative views of his performance as Defense Minister during the 2006 Lebanon War, which was seen as something less than a success in Israel.[10]
In January 2007 Barak launched a bid to recapture the leadership of the Labor party in a letter acknowledging "mistakes" and "inexperience" during his tenure as Prime Minister.[11] In early March 2007, a poll of Labor Party primary voters put Barak ahead of all other opponents, including Peretz.[12] In the first round of voting, on 28 May 2007, he gained 39% of the votes, more than his two closest rivals, but not enough to win the election.[13]
As a result, Barak faced a runoff against the second-place finisher, Ami Ayalon, on 12 June 2007, which he won by a narrow margin.[14]
Barak has been critical of what he sees as racist sentiments that have recently been expressed by some Israeli rabbis and rebbetzins; he views such statements as a threat to Israeli unity and that they may lead Israeli society into a "dark and dangerous place".[15]
Defense Minister[link]
As head of the Labor Party[link]
After winning back the leadership of the Labor party, Barak was sworn in as Minister of Defense on 18 June 2007, as part of Prime Minister Olmert's cabinet reshuffle. However on 1 July 2007, Barak led a successful effort in the Labor central committee to stipulate that Labor would leave the government coalition if Olmert did not resign by September or October 2007. At that time the Winograd Commission would publish its final report on the performance of the Israel Defense Forces and its civilian leadership. The preliminary Winograd report released earlier this year laid most of the blame on Olmert for poorly planning, executing, and reviewing war strategies in the 2006 conflict against Hezbollah.[citation needed]
During December 2008 through January 2009, Barak led (as defense minister) Operation Cast Lead.
Labor won only 13 out of the 120 Knesset seats in the 2009 elections, making them the fourth largest party. Barak and other Labor officials initially stated they would not take part in the next government. However, over the objections of some in the Labor party, Barak later[when?] reached an agreement under which Labor joined the governing coalition. Barak retained his position as Defense Minister.
Leaving the Labor Party[link]
In January 2011, Labor Party leader Barak formed a breakaway party, Independence, which enabled him to maintain his loyal Labor's MK faction within Netanyahu's government, and prevented the departure of Labor party as a whole from Netanyahu's coalition-government. Labor previously threatened to force Barak to do so. After Barak's move, Netanyahu was able to maintain a majority of 66 MK (out of 120 in the Knesset), previously having 74 MKs within his majority coalition.
In February 2011, Barak attended a ceremony at the UN for the International Day of Commemoration in memory of the victims of the Holocaust. Barak told the UN General Assembly: “an independent, strong, thriving and peaceful State of Israel is the vengeance of the dead. On this day, when we remember the six million victims, let us also remember two lessons: first, ‘the Holocaust – never again.’ And second – an independent, strong, thriving and peaceful State of Israel is the vengeance of the dead.”[16]
Barak stated during an American television interview that he would "probably" strive for nuclear weapons if he were in Iran’s position, adding "I don’t delude myself that they are doing it just because of Israel".[17] This comment has been criticized and compared to Barak's comment in 1998 during a television interview when he said that if he were a Palestinian he would probably have joined one of the terror organizations.[17]
References in popular culture[link]
- The film Munich includes a scene reflecting the real Barak's experience leading his Sayeret Matkal unit in the commando raid Operation Spring of Youth; he is mentioned by name, and appears disguised as a woman in high heels while firing on presumed PLO Leaders.[18]
See also[link]
References[link]
 |
Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Ehud Barak |
 |
Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Ehud Barak |
- ^ http://www.jpost.com/DiplomacyAndPolitics/Article.aspx?id=203937
- ^ Biography and Video Interview of Ehud Barak at Academy of Achievement.
- ^ 'All my rivals are gone' By Gidi Weitz, Published 10:54 09.05.11
- ^ גיא בניוביץ' (20 June 1995). "הישראלי מספר 1: יצחק רבין – תרבות ובידור". Ynet. http://www.ynet.co.il/articles/0,7340,L-3083171,00.html. Retrieved 10 July 2011.
- ^ Long history of Israel's 'covert killing' BBC News
- ^ Offer Drori, גיבורי ישראל מרובי העיטורים – צדק היסטורי, 04.02.2009 (Hebrew)
- ^ An image of Barak receiving the award on 14 January 1993 in the Pentagon. Note that according to IDF regulations foreign medals are not worn on the uniform.
- ^ New York Times, 12 April 2012, "Don't Give Up on Middle East Peace," http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/13/opinion/dont-give-up-on-mideast-peace.html
- ^ Ehud Barak Ltd Haaretz
- ^ http://www.kuwaittimes.net/read_news.php?newsid=MTA3OTE5NjI0NA==
- ^ Former Israeli PM Barak in New Leadership Bid Reuters, 7 January 2007
- ^ "Poll: Barak, Ayalon lead Peretz in the Labor leadership primaries" Haaretz, 3 March 2007
- ^ "Peretz loses Israeli party vote". BBC News. 3 January 2010. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/default.stm. Retrieved 30 May 2007.
- ^ "Barak wins Labor Party primary election: party officials" International Herald Tribune, 12 June 2007
- ^ Mualem, Mazal (29 December 2010). "Barak: Anti-Arab letters by rabbis and rabbis’ wives leading Israel into dark place". Ha'aretz. http://www.haaretz.com/news/national/barak-anti-arab-letters-by-rabbis-and-rabbis-wives-leading-israel-into-dark-place-1.334093. Retrieved 1 January 2011.
- ^ "Barak on Shoah: Strong Israel is vengeance of the dead". Jerusalem Post. http://www.jpost.com/JewishWorld/JewishNews/Article.aspx?id=207716. Retrieved 10 February 2011.
- ^ a b Irish Times, 18 Nov. 2011, "Barak Criticised over Iran Comments," http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/world/2011/1118/1224307767384.html
- ^ Dargis, Manohla (23 December 2005). "An Action Film About the Need to Talk". The New York Times. http://movies.nytimes.com/2005/12/23/movies/23muni.html. Retrieved 18 January 2009.
Bibliography[link]
- Bregman, Ahron Elusive Peace: How the Holy Land Defeated America.
- Clinton, Bill (2005). My Life. Vintage. ISBN 1-4000-3003-X.
- Dromi, Uri (5 November 2005). "Still craving peace 10 years after Rabin". New Straits Times, p. 20.
External links[link]
- Ehud Barak – official site (Hebrew)
- Ehud Barak Knesset website
- Appearances on C-SPAN
- Ehud Barak on Charlie Rose
- Ehud Barak at the Internet Movie Database
- Ehud Barak collected news and commentary at Al Jazeera English
- Ehud Barak collected news and commentary at The Electronic Intifada
- Ehud Barak collected news and commentary at The Jerusalem Post
- Ehud Barak collected news and commentary at The New York Times
- Works by or about Ehud Barak in libraries (WorldCat catalog)
- Ehud Barak at the Notable Names Database
- Defense Minister Ehud Barak at Ynetnews, profile
| Political offices | ||
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| Preceded by Benjamin Netanyahu |
Prime Minister of Israel 1999–2001 |
Succeeded by Ariel Sharon |
| Party political offices | ||
| Preceded by Shimon Peres |
Leader of the Israeli Labor Party 1997–2001 |
Succeeded by Benjamin Ben-Eliezer |
| Preceded by Amir Peretz |
Leader of the Israeli Labor Party 2007–11 |
Succeeded by Shelly Yachimovich |
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| Persondata | |
|---|---|
| Name | Barak, Ehud |
| Alternative names | Brog, Ehud |
| Short description | Prime Minister of Israel |
| Date of birth | 12 February 1942 |
| Place of birth | Mishmar HaSharon, British Mandate of Palestine |
| Date of death | |
| Place of death | |
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This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License, which means that you can copy and modify it as long as the entire work (including additions) remains under this license.
| Wolf Blitzer | |
|---|---|
 Blitzer at Democratic Party presidential primary debate in Los Angeles, California, January 31, 2008 |
|
| Born | Wolf Isaac Blitzer (1948-03-22) March 22, 1948 (age 64) Augsburg, Germany |
| Education | University at Buffalo (BA) Johns Hopkins University (MA) |
| Occupation | Journalist |
| Years active | 1972–present |
| Title | CNN The Situation Room anchor |
| Religion | Jewish[1] |
| Website | |
| http://www.cnn.com/CNN/anchors_reporters/blitzer.wolf.html | |
Wolf Isaac Blitzer (born March 22, 1948) is an American journalist who has been a CNN reporter since 1990. Blitzer is currently the host of the newscast The Situation Room and was the host of the Sunday talk show Late Edition until it was discontinued on January 11, 2009. Blitzer previously hosted Wolf Blitzer Reports, which was replaced by The Situation Room.
Contents |
Early life[link]
The son of Jewish refugees from Poland,[2] Wolf Blitzer was born in Augsburg, Germany[3][4] and raised in Buffalo, New York. Blitzer graduated from Kenmore West Senior High School and received a Bachelor of Arts in history from the University at Buffalo in 1970. While there, he was a brother of Alpha Epsilon Pi. In 1972, he received a Master of Arts in international relations from the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies. While at Johns Hopkins, Blitzer studied abroad at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, where he learned Hebrew.[5]
Name[link]
Blitzer has said that he has frequently been asked about his name, which has been characterized as seemingly "made-for-TV".[6] In a Wayne's World Saturday Night Live sketch which was aired during the Persian Gulf War, Wayne and Garth picked Blitzer as having the "worst name" of any war correspondent, with Garth remarking, "It's so obvious the guy made it up for the war!" [7] Blitzer explains that his surname goes back for generations, and his first name, 'Wolf', is the same first name as his maternal grandfather.
In writing for several Israeli newspapers in Washington, Blitzer has used the names Zev Blitzer and Zev Barak.[8] Zev (זאב) is the Hebrew word for "wolf".
Career[link]
Washington and Jerusalem[link]
Blitzer began his career in journalism in the early 1970s in the Tel Aviv bureau of the Reuters news agency. In 1973 he caught the eye of Jerusalem Post editor Ari Rath, who hired Blitzer as a Washington correspondent for the English language Israeli newspaper. Blitzer would remain with the Jerusalem Post until 1990, covering both American politics and developments in the Middle East.[9]
In the mid-1970s, Blitzer also contributed to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) as the editor of their monthly publication, the Near East Report.[10][11] While at AIPAC, Blitzer's writing focused on Middle East affairs as they relate to United States foreign policy.
At an April 1977 White House press conference, Blitzer asked Egyptian leader Anwar Sadat why Egyptian scholars, athletes and journalists were not permitted to visit Israel. Sadat, somewhat taken aback, responded that such visits would be possible after an end to the state of belligerence between the two nations. This was Sadat's first public acknowledgment that peace between Egypt and Israel was possible. In November of that year, Sadat made a historic visit to Israel, and Blitzer covered the negotiations between the two countries from the first joint Israeli-Egyptian press conference in 1977 to the final negotiations that would lead to the signing of the Egypt–Israel Peace Treaty two years later.[9]
Fluent in Hebrew, in this period Blitzer also published articles for several Israeli-based newspapers. Under the name Zev Blitzer, he wrote for Al HaMishmar; using the name Zev Barak, he had work published in Yedioth Ahronoth.[8]
In 1985, Blitzer published his first book, Between Washington and Jerusalem: A Reporter's Notebook (Oxford University Press, 1985). The text outlined his personal development as a reporter, and the relations between the United States and Israel.
Jonathan Pollard[link]
In 1986, he became known for his coverage of the arrest and trial of Jonathan Pollard, an American Jew who was charged with spying for Israel.[9] Blitzer was the first journalist to interview Pollard, and he would later write a book about the Pollard Affair titled Territory of Lies.[12] In the book, Blitzer writes that Pollard contacted him because he had been reading Blitzer's byline for years, and because Blitzer "had apparently impressed him as someone who was sympathetic".[13] Pollard also hoped that Blitzer would help him "reach the people of Israel, as well as the American Jewish community."[14]
Blitzer's interview with Pollard was controversial in the context of the legal action against him, as it was construed by some media voices as a possible violation of the terms of Pollard's plea deal, which forbade media contact. Blitzer's subsequent book about the affair was included in The New York Times list of "Notable Books of the Year" for 1989.[15] In its review, the Times praised the book as "lucid and highly readable" and called Blitzer's judgment of Israeli officials "harsh but fair".[16]
A review in The New York Review of Books was more critical, prompting a letter from Blitzer accusing the reviewer of making several inaccurate statements. Reviewer Robert I. Friedman responded to Blitzer's criticism by characterizing Territory of Lies as "a slick piece of damage control that would make [Blitzer's] former employers at AIPAC (not to mention Israel's Defense Ministry) proud."[17]
Cable News Network[link]
In May 1990, Blitzer moved to CNN and worked as the cable network's military affairs reporter. Blitzer spent a month in Moscow in 1991, and was one of the first Western reporters to visit KGB headquarters. His team's coverage of the first Gulf War in Kuwait won a CableACE Award and made him a household name.
In 1992, Blitzer became CNN's White House correspondent, a position he would hold until 1999. During this period, he earned an Emmy Award for his coverage of the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing. In 1998, he began hosting the CNN Sunday morning interview program Late Edition with Wolf Blitzer, which was seen in over 180 countries. Blitzer's first assignment as an anchor was on the daily newscast The World Today, in 1999. In 2000, he started anchoring his own show, Wolf Blitzer Reports.
CNN selected Blitzer to anchor their coverage of the 2004 presidential election and the 2008 presidential election. Since August 8, 2005, Blitzer has hosted The Situation Room, a three-hour afternoon/early evening program on CNN.[18][19]
Awards[link]
Blitzer has won awards including the 2004 Journalist Pillar of Justice Award from the Respect for Law Alliance and the 2003 Daniel Pearl Award from the Chicago Press Veterans Association. His news team was among those awarded a George Foster Peabody Award for coverage of Hurricane Katrina, an Alfred I. DuPont Award for coverage of the 1999 Southeast Asian tsunami, and an Edward R. Murrow Award for CNN's coverage of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.
In November 2002, he won the American Veteran Awards' Ernie Pyle Journalism Award for military reporting. In February 2000, he received the Anti-Defamation League’s Hubert H. Humphrey First Amendment Freedoms Prize. In 1999, Blitzer won the International Platform Association's Lowell Thomas Broadcast Journalism Award. Blitzer won an Emmy Award for his coverage of the Oklahoma City bombing. Blitzer was also part of the CNN team that was awarded a Golden ACE award for their 1991 Gulf War reporting. In 1994, American Journalism Review cited him and CNN as the readers' choice for the Best in the Business Award for network coverage of the Clinton administration.[18] On May 23, 2010, Blitzer was awarded the honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters by Niagara University at their undergraduate commencement exercise. Also, on May 14, 2011 he received an honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters from Penn State University. On September 25, 2011, Blitzer was awarded an honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters by the University of Hartford.[20]
Other media appearances[link]
Blitzer appears as himself in the 2009 documentary "Back Door Channels: The Price of Peace." The film deals with the back room negotiations that lead to the historic 1979 Peace Treaty between Israel and Egypt. At the time, Blitzer was the Washington Bureau Chief of the Jerusalem Post, and played a key role in establishing a back channel of communications between Israel and the White House by introducing President Carter's General Counsel, Robert Lipshutz, to New York businessman Leon Charney, a close friend of then Israeli Defense Minister Ezer Weizman.[21] The flow of information between Weizman and Carter, via Charney and Lipshutz, contributed to finalizing the peace agreement between Israel and Egypt.
On September 17, 2009, Blitzer competed on an episode of Celebrity Jeopardy!, finishing the Double Jeopardy round with −$4,600. He was given $1,000 to bet in Final Jeopardy!, finishing with $2,000 and ultimately losing to comedian Andy Richter, who won $68,000 for St. Jude Children's Research Hospital.[22][23] In an odd twist, a minor league soccer team from Blitzer's home town of Buffalo held a nickname contest and FC Buffalo's winner was "Blitzers."
Family[link]
Blitzer and his wife Lynn Greenfield live in Bethesda, Maryland, and have one daughter, Ilana, born in 1981.[24]
References[link]
- ^ jweekly.com
- ^ Bartelstein, Steve (1998, May 8). Wolf Blitzer Answers Questions About News [Televison transcript] CNN Talkback Live
- ^ Encyclopedia of television news, By Michael D. Murray, Greenwood Publishing Group, 1999, ISBN 978-1-57356-108-2
- ^ Profile from University at Buffalo alumni magazine
- ^ New York Magazine. Feb 11, 1991. Page 36.
- ^ Sheridan, Patricia (October 3, 2005). ""Breakfast with...". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Retrieved December 6, 2005.
- ^ http://snltranscripts.jt.org/90/90kwaynesworld.phtml
- ^ a b Blitzer, Wolf. Between Washington and Jerusalem. 1985, page ix
- ^ a b c Makovsky, David (1990-04-29). "Wolf Blitzer, 'Symbol of Integrity', Leaves Post For Cable Network Job". The Jerusalem Post.
- ^ The American Spectator
- ^ MiddleEast.org - Mid-East Realities
- ^ Luxenberg, Steven (1989-05-21). "The American Who Loved Israel Too Much" (Book Review). Washington Post.
- ^ Blitzer, Wolf. Territory of Lies. 1989, page xv
- ^ Blitzer, Wolf. Territory of Lies. 1989, page xix
- ^ "Notable Books of the Year". The New York Times. 1989-12-13. http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=950DEEDF163BF930A35751C1A96F948260. Retrieved 2008-04-10.
- ^ Pear, Robert (1989-05-07). "The Spy from South Bend" (Book Review). The New York Times. http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=950DE7DA1F3DF934A35756C0A96F948260.
- ^ Friedman, Robert (1990-02-01). "'Territory of Lies'" (letter by Blitzer, response by Friedman). New York Review of Books. http://www.nybooks.com/articles/3751. Retrieved 2007-02-16.
- ^ a b "Wolf Blitzer". CNN. http://www.cnn.com/CNN/anchors_reporters/blitzer.wolf.html. Retrieved 2007-02-09.
- ^ "Who's Who in America - 2007". Who's Who in America - 2007. Marquis' Who's Who Ltd.. 2006. http://search.marquiswhoswho.com/executable/SearchResults.aspx?db=E. Retrieved 2007-02-09.
- ^ http://www.hartford.edu/daily/Articles.asp?MainID=11295&Category=1
- ^ http://www.tvfestival.net/content/Opening-Film/openUK.php
- ^ Linkins, Jason (2009-09-18). "Andy Richter Crushes CNN's Wolf Blitzer In Celebrity Jeopardy". Huffington Post. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/09/18/andy-richter-crushes-cnns_n_290883.html.
- ^ . http://popwatch.ew.com/2009/09/18/adventures-in-celebrity-jeopardy-what-is-get-a-clue-wolf-blizter/.
- ^ http://www.davidovit.com/articles/Blitzer.pdf
External links[link]
|
Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Wolf Blitzer |
- CNN bio
- CNN.com — The Situation Room
- Appearances on C-SPAN
- Wolf Blitzer on Charlie Rose
- Wolf Blitzer at the Internet Movie Database
- Works by or about Wolf Blitzer in libraries (WorldCat catalog)
- Wolf Blitzer at the Notable Names Database
- "Wolf Blitzer for the Defense (Department)", Jim Naureckas, FAIR Extra!, January/February 2003
- Google Video on Israel Discussion - Held Nov 1989.
| Media offices | ||
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| Preceded by Charles Bierbauer |
CNN Senior White House Correspondent 1992–1999 |
Succeeded by John King |
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| Persondata | |
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| Name | Blitzer, Wolf |
| Alternative names | |
| Short description | |
| Date of birth | 1948-03-22 |
| Place of birth | Augsburg, Germany |
| Date of death | |
| Place of death | |
http://wn.com/Wolf_Blitzer
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| Barack Obama | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| 44th President of the United States | |
| Incumbent | |
| Assumed office January 20, 2009 |
|
| Vice President | Joe Biden |
| Preceded by | George W. Bush |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Barack Hussein Obama II[1] (1961-08-04) August 4, 1961 (age 50) Honolulu, Hawaii, United States[1] |
| Nationality | American |
| Political party | Democratic |
| Spouse(s) | Michelle Robinson (m. 1992) |
| Children | Malia (b.1998) Sasha (b.2001) |
| Residence | The White House |
| Alma mater | Occidental College Columbia University (B.A.) Harvard Law School (J.D.) |
| Profession | Community organizer Attorney Author Constitutional law professor United States Senator President of the United States |
| Religion | Christian,[2] former member of United Church of Christ[3][4] |
| Signature |  |
| Website | WhiteHouse.gov |
 |
This article is part of a series on Barack Obama |
|---|---|
The Presidency of Barack Obama began at noon EST on January 20, 2009, when he became the 44th President of the United States. Obama was a United States Senator from Illinois at the time of his victory over Arizona Senator John McCain in the 2008 presidential election. Barack Obama is the first African-American president of the United States, as well as the first born in Hawaii.
His policy decisions have addressed a global financial crisis and have included changes in tax policies, legislation to reform the United States health care industry, foreign policy initiatives and the phasing out of detention of prisoners at the Guantanamo Bay detention camp in Cuba. He attended the G-20 London summit and later visited U.S. troops in Iraq. On the tour of various European countries following the G-20 summit, he announced in Prague that he intended to negotiate substantial reduction in the world's nuclear arsenals, en route to their eventual extinction. In October 2009, Obama was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for "his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples."
Transition period[link]
Main article: Presidential transition of Barack Obama
The presidential transition period began following Obama's election to the presidency on November 4, 2008. The Obama-Biden Transition Project was co-chaired by John Podesta, Valerie Jarrett, and Pete Rouse. During the transition period, Obama announced his nominations for his Cabinet and administration. Shortly after the election on November 4, Obama chose Representative Rahm Emanuel of Illinois as White House Chief of Staff.[5]
Cabinet nominations included former Democratic primary opponents Hillary Rodham Clinton for Secretary of State and Bill Richardson for Secretary of Commerce (although the latter withdrew on January 4, 2009). Obama appointed Eric Holder as his Attorney General, the first African-American appointed to that position. He also nominated Timothy F. Geithner to serve as Secretary of the Treasury.[6] On December 1, Obama announced that he had asked Robert Gates to remain as Secretary of Defense, making Gates the first Defense head to carry over from a president of a different party.[7] He nominated former Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Susan Rice to the United States Ambassador to the United Nations, which he restored to a Cabinet-level position.[8]
During his transition, he maintained a website Change.gov, on which he wrote blogs to readers and uploaded video addresses by many of the members of his new cabinet.[9] He announced strict rules for federal lobbyists, restricting them from financially contributing to his administration and forcing them to stop lobbying while working for him.[10] The website also allowed individuals to share stories and visions with each other and the transition team in what was called the Citizen's Briefing Book, which was given to Obama shortly after his inauguration.[11] Most of the information from Change.gov was transferred to the official White House website whitehouse.gov just after Obama's inauguration.[12]
Inauguration[link]
Main article: Inauguration of Barack Obama
Barack Obama was inaugurated on January 20, 2009. He officially assumed the presidency at 12:00 noon, EST,[13] and completed the oath of office at 12:05 PM, EST. He delivered his inaugural address immediately following his oath. After his speech, he went to the President's Room in the House Wing of the Capitol and signed three documents: a commemorative proclamation, a list of Cabinet appointments, and a list of sub-Cabinet appointments, before attending a luncheon with congressional and administration leaders and invited guests.[14] To commemorate the 200th anniversary of the birth of former President Abraham Lincoln, the same Bible that was used for Lincoln's inauguration was used in Obama's inauguration.[15]
In administering the oath, Chief Justice John G. Roberts misplaced the word "faithfully" and erroneously replaced the phrase "President of the United States" with "President to the United States" before restating the phrase correctly; since Obama initially repeated the incorrect form, some scholars argued the President should take the oath again.[16] On January 21, Roberts readministered the oath to Obama in a private ceremony in the White House Map Room, making him the seventh U.S. president to retake the oath; White House Counsel Greg Craig said Obama took the oath from Roberts a second time out of an "abundance of caution".[17]
First 100 days[link]
Main article: First 100 days of Barack Obama's presidency
Expectations[link]
Obama's 100th day in office was April 29, 2009. In his first post-election interview with 60 Minutes, Obama said that he has been studying Franklin Roosevelt's first 100 days,[18] while adding, "The first hundred days is going to be important, but it's probably going to be the first thousand days that makes the difference."[19]
Obama's first 100 days were highly anticipated ever since he became the presumptive nominee.[20] Several news outlets created web pages dedicated to covering the subject.[21] Commentators weighed in on challenges and priorities within domestic, foreign, economic, and environmental policy.[22][23][24][25] CNN lists a number of economic issues that "Obama and his team will have to tackle in their first 100 days", foremost among which is passing and implementing a recovery package to deal with the financial crisis.[24] Clive Stafford Smith, a British human rights lawyer, expressed hopes that the new president will close Guantanamo Bay detention camp in his first 100 days in office.[23] After aides of the president announced his intention to give a major foreign policy speech in the capital of an Islamic country, there were speculations in Jakarta that he might return to his former home city within the first 100 days.[26]
The New York Times devoted a five-part series, which was spread out over two weeks, to anticipatory analysis of Obama's first hundred days. Each day, the analysis of a political expert was followed by freely edited blog postings from readers. The writers compared Obama's prospects with the situations of Franklin D. Roosevelt (January 16, Jean Edward Smith),[27] John F. Kennedy (January 19, Richard Reeves),[28] Lyndon B. Johnson (January 23, Robert Dallek),[29] Ronald Reagan (January 27, Lou Cannon),[30] and Richard Nixon.
Legislation and executive orders[link]
Within minutes of taking the Oath of Office on January 20, Obama's Chief of Staff, Rahm Emanuel, issued an order suspending last-minute federal regulations pushed through by outgoing President George W. Bush, planning to review everything still pending.[31] Due to the economic crisis, the President enacted a pay freeze for Senior White House Staff making more than $100,000 per year,[32] as well as announcing stricter guidelines regarding lobbyists in an effort to raise the ethical standards of the White House.[33] He asked for a waiver to his own new rules, however, for the appointments of William Lynn to the position of Deputy Defense Secretary, Jocelyn Frye to the position of director of policy and projects in the Office of the First Lady, and Cecilia Muñoz to the position of director of intergovernmental affairs in the executive office of the president, leading to some criticism of hypocrisy and violation of his pledge for governmental openness.[34][35]
In his first week in office, Obama signed Executive Order 13492 suspending all the ongoing proceedings of Guantanamo military commission and ordering the detention facility to be shut down within the year.[36][37][38] He also signed Executive Order 13491 - Ensuring Lawful Interrogations requiring the Army Field Manual to be used as a guide for terror interrogations, banning torture and other coercive techniques, such as waterboarding.[39] Obama also issued an executive order entitled "Ethics Commitments by Executive Branch Personnel", setting stricter limitations on incoming executive branch employees and placing tighter restrictions on lobbying in the White House.[40] Obama signed two Presidential Memoranda concerning energy independence, ordering the Department of Transportation to establish higher fuel efficiency standards before 2011 models are released and allowing states to raise their emissions standards above the national standard.[41] He also ended the Mexico City Policy, which banned federal grants to international groups that provide abortion services or counseling.[42][43]
In his first week he also established a policy of producing a weekly Saturday morning video address available on whitehouse.gov and YouTube,[44][45][46] much like those released during his transition period.[47][48] The first address had been viewed by 600,000 YouTube viewers by the next afternoon.[49]
The first piece of legislation Obama signed was the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2009 on January 29, which revised the statute of limitations for filing pay discrimination lawsuits. Lilly Ledbetter joined Obama and his wife, Michelle, as he signed the bill, fulfilling his campaign pledge to nullify Ledbetter v. Goodyear.[50] On February 3, he signed the Children's Health Insurance Program Reauthorization Act (CHIP), expanding health care from 7 million children under the plan to 11 million.[51]
 President Obama signs the ARRA into law on February 17, 2009 in Denver, Colorado. Vice President Joe Biden stands behind him.
 Obama addresses a joint session of Congress, with Vice President Joe Biden and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
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 The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 was a focal point of Barack Obama's February 24, 2009 Address Before a Joint Session of Congress.
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After much debate, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) was passed by both the House and Senate on February 13, 2009. Originally intended to be a bipartisan bill, the passage of the bill was largely along party lines. No Republicans voted for it in the House, and three moderate Republicans voted for it in the Senate (Susan Collins and Olympia Snowe of Maine and Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania).[52] The bill combined tax breaks with spending on infrastructure projects, extension of welfare benefits, and education.[53][54] The final cost of the bill was $787 billion, and almost $1.2 trillion with debt service included.[55] Obama signed the Act into law on February 17, 2009, in Denver, Colorado.[56]
On March 9, 2009, Obama lifted restrictions on federal funding of embryonic stem cell research,[57] and in doing so, called into question some of George W. Bush's signing statements. Obama stated that he too would employ signing statements if he deems upon review that a portion of a bill is unconstitutional,[58][59] and he has issued several signing statements.[60]
Early in his presidency, Obama signed a law raising the tobacco tax 62 cents on a pack of cigarettes.[61] The tax is to be "used to finance a major expansion of health insurance for children", and "help some [smokers] to quit and persuade young people not to start".[61]
In October 2011, Obama instituted the We Can't Wait program, which involved using executive orders, administrative rulemaking, and recess appointments to institute policies without the support of Congress.[62] The initiative was developed in response to Congress's unwillingness to pass economic legislation proposed by Obama, and conflicts in Congress during the 2011 debt ceiling crisis.[63]
Approval ratings and opinion[link]
2009[link]
After his transition period, Obama entered office with an approval rating of 82%.[64] At the end of his first week, 68% of respondents in a Gallup poll approved of how Obama was handling his job, the second highest approval rating for a President shortly after being elected since World War II.[65] Throughout early February polls showed scattered approval ratings: 62% (CBS News),[66] 64% (USA Today/Gallup), 66% (Gallup), and 76% in an outlier poll (CNN/Opinion Research).[67][68] Gallup reported the congressional address in late February boosted his approval from a term-low of 59% to 67%.[69]
Throughout autumn 2009, Rasmussen estimated Obama's approval as fluctuating between 45% and 52% and his disapproval between 48% and 54%;[70] as of November 11, Pew Research estimated Obama's approval between 51% and 55% and his disapproval between 33% and 37% since July.[71]
Handling of the economy[link]
Rasmussen reported in mid-February 2009, that 55% of voters gave Obama good or excellent marks on his handling of the economy.[72] In early March, a The Wall Street Journal survey of 49 economists gave Obama an average grade of 59 out of 100, with 42% of the respondents surveyed giving the administration's economic policies a grade below 60 percent. In comparison, only 30% of those same economists considered the response of governments around the world to the global recession to have been adequate.[73] In April, a Gallup poll showed trust in Obama's economic policy with 71% saying they had "a fair amount" or "a great deal" of confidence in Obama's handling of the economy, higher than for Ben Bernanke, Tim Geithner, or leaders of Congress.[74] Another Gallup poll in June showed 55% of Americans approved Obama's overall handling of the economy, but 48% and 51% disapproved of his handling of the federal budget deficit and controlling federal spending, respectively.[75] A CBS News poll taken August 27–31 showed 53% of those polled approved of his handling of the economy.[76] A Rasmussen poll taken on November 12 found 45% of Americans rating Obama's handling of the economy as poor and 39% rating him as doing a good or excellent job. They found 72% of Democrats rated his handling of the economy as good or excellent, while only 10% of Republicans and 27% of voters not affiliated with either party agreed.[77]
2010[link]
On March 25, 2010, following his signing of landmark health care reform legislation into law, Obama's polling was revealed by Bloomberg to be 50%, with higher marks for relations with other countries (58%) and his running of the war in Afghanistan (54%). "Obama's approval rating is roughly equal to what Bill Clinton had at this point in his presidency, according to data maintained by Gallup (and) higher than the 45 percent Ronald Reagan recorded in April 1982" and more favorable than Democrats or Republicans office in 2010. They found Obama's approval rating was at 85% among Democrats, compared with 46% among independents and 11% among Republicans.[78]
Fox News released the results of two polls on April 8–9, 2010. The first showed a drop in Obama's approval rating to 43%, with 48% disapproving. In that poll, Democrats approved of Obama's performance 80–12%, while independents disapproved 49–38%.[79] The other poll, which concentrated on the economy, showed disapproval of Obama's handling of the economy by a 53–42% margin, with 62% saying they were dissatisfied with the handling of the federal deficit.[80] According to a Gallup Poll released April 10, 2010, President Obama had a 45% approval rating, with 48% disapproving.[81] In a poll from Rasmussen Reports, released April 10, 2010, 47% approved of the President's performance, while 53% disapproved.[82][83]
2011[link]
Obama's approval rating jumped to a high following the death of Osama Bin Laden on May 2, 2011. A GfK poll conducted May 5, 2011 found his approval rating to be 60%. During the debt ceiling debate in August 2011, Obama's approval rating dropped to the low-40s.[84]
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Major legislation[link]
2009[link]
- January 29: Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act
- February 4: Children's Health Insurance Reauthorization Act
- February 11: DTV Delay Act
- February 17: American Recovery and Reinvestment Act
- March 30: Omnibus Public Lands Management Act of 2009
- April 21: Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act
- May 20: Fraud Enforcement and Recovery Act
- May 20: Helping Families Save Their Homes Act of 2009
- May 22: Credit Card Accountability, Responsibility, and Disclosure Act of 2009
- June 22: Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act
- August 6: Cash For Clunkers Extension Act
- October 22: Veterans Health Care Budget Reform and Transparency Act
- October 28: Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act
- October 30: Ryan White HIV/AIDS Treatment Extension Act
- November 6: Worker, Homeownership, and Business Assistance Act of 2009
2010[link]
- January 27: Emergency Aid to American Survivors of Haiti Earthquake Act
- March 4: Travel Promotion Act
- March 18: Hiring Incentives to Restore Employment Act (HIRE Act)
- March 23: Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act
- March 30: Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010
- May 5: Caregivers and Veterans Omnibus Health Services Act of 2010
- May 17: Daniel Pearl Freedom of the Press Act
- July 1: Comprehensive Iran Sanctions, Accountability, and Divestment Act
- July 21: Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act
- July 22: Unemployment Compensation Extension Act of 2010
- July 22: Improper Payments Elimination and Recovery Act of 2010
- August 10: SPEECH Act
- September 27: Small Business Jobs and Credit Act of 2010
- December 9: Animal Crush Video Prohibition Act of 2010
- December 13: Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010
- December 17: Tax Relief, Unemployment Insurance Reauthorization, and Job Creation Act of 2010
- December 22: Don't Ask, Don't Tell Repeal Act of 2010
2011[link]
- January 2: James Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act of 2010 (H.R. 847)
- January 4: Food Safety and Modernization Act, Pub.L. 111-353, H.R. 2751
- August 2: Budget Control Act of 2011
- October 21: United States-Colombia Free Trade Agreement Implemention Act
- October 21: United States-Panama Free Trade Agreement Implemention Act
- October 21: United States-South Korea Free Trade Agreement Implemention Act
Personnel[link]
Cabinet appointees[link]
Main articles: First 100 days of Barack Obama's presidency#Administration and Cabinet and Confirmations of Barack Obama's Cabinet
Twenty-two members of the Obama administration are either in the United States Cabinet (15) or are in positions considered to be Cabinet-level (7). The members of the Cabinet are the heads of the fifteen major departments (State, Defense, Justice, etc.), and the seven cabinet-level positions are the Vice President, White House Chief of Staff, Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, Director of the Office of Management and Budget, U.S. Trade Representative, Ambassador to the United Nations, and the Chair of the Council of Economic Advisers.[85][86] Since Robert Gates was a member of the previous administration, his letter of resignation (a formality at the end of a President's term) was simply not accepted, and he did not need confirmation.[87] On January 19, 2009, Senate Democratic leaders requested fifteen of the twenty positions to be ratified by unanimous consent,[88] and seven gained unanimous confirmation by voice vote the next day: Ken Salazar, Steven Chu, Arne Duncan, Peter Orszag, Eric Shinseki, Tom Vilsack, and Janet Napolitano.[87][89] On January 21, Obama presided over the swearing in of the seven unanimous nominees.[90] Later that day, the Senate confirmed Hillary Clinton by a 94–2 vote. On January 22, several more confirmations were approved unanimously: Susan E. Rice, Ray LaHood, Lisa P. Jackson, and Shaun Donovan.[91] On January 26, the Senate confirmed Geithner by a 60–34 margin.[92][93]
At the conclusion of Obama's first week as President, Hilda Solis, Tom Daschle, Ron Kirk, and Eric Holder had yet to be confirmed, and there had been no second appointment for Secretary of Commerce.[93] Holder was confirmed by a vote of 75–21 on February 2,[94] and on February 3, Obama announced Senator Judd Gregg as his second nomination for Secretary of Commerce.[95] Daschle withdrew later that day amid controversy over his failure to pay income taxes and potential conflicts of interest related to the speaking fees he accepted from health care interests.[96] Solis was later confirmed by a vote of 80-17 on February 24,[97] and Ron Kirk was confirmed on March 18 by a 92-5 vote in the Senate.[98]
Gregg, who was the leading Republican negotiator and author of the TARP program in the Senate, after publication that he had a multi-million dollar investment in the Bank of America, on February 12, withdrew his nomination as Secretary of Commerce, citing "irresolvable conflicts" with President Obama and his staff over how to conduct the 2010 census and the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.[99][100] Former Washington governor Gary Locke was nominated on February 26[101] as Obama's third choice for Commerce Secretary and confirmed on March 24 by voice vote.[102]
On March 2, Obama introduced Kansas governor Kathleen Sebelius as his second choice for Secretary of Health and Human Services. He also introduced Nancy-Ann DeParle as head of the new White House Office of Health Reform, which he suggested would work closely with the Department of Health and Human Services.[103][104] At the end of March, Sebelius was the only remaining Cabinet member yet to be confirmed.[102]
Six high-ranking cabinet nominees in the Obama administration had their confirmations delayed or rejected among reports that they did not pay all of their taxes, including Tom Daschle, Obama's original nominee for Health and Human Services Secretary, and Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner.[105] Though Geithner was confirmed, and Senator Max Baucus, chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, thought Daschle would have been confirmed, Daschle withdrew his nomination on February 3.[96] Obama had nominated Nancy Killefer for the position of Chief Performance Officer, but Killefer also withdrew on February 3, citing unspecified problems with District of Columbia unemployment tax.[106] A senior administration official said that Killefer's tax issues dealt with household help.[106] Hilda Solis, Obama's nominee for Secretary of Labor, faced delayed confirmation hearings due to tax lien concerns pertaining to her husband's auto repair business,[107] but she was later confirmed on February 24.[97] While pundits puzzled over U.S. Trade Representative-designate Ron Kirk's failure to be confirmed by March 2009, it was reported on March 2 that Kirk owed over $10,000 in back taxes. Kirk agreed to pay them in exchange for Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus's aid in speeding up the confirmation process;[108] he was later confirmed on March 18.[98] On March 31, Kathleen Sebelius, Obama's nominee for Health and Human Services secretary, revealed in a letter to the Senate Finance Committee that her Certified Public Accountant found errors in her tax returns for years 2005-2007. She, along with her husband, paid more than $7,000 in back taxes, along with $878 in interest.[109]
Notable non-Cabinet positions[link]
Appointees serve at the pleasure of the President and were nominated by Barack Obama except as noted.
- Chair of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation
- Sheila Bair1 (2009–2011)
- Special envoy for Afghanistan and Pakistan
- Richard Holbrooke (2009–2010)
- Marc Grossman (2011–present)
- Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs
- Retired General James L. Jones (2009–2011)
- Thomas E. Donilon (2011–present)
- Special envoy to the Middle East
- George J. Mitchell (2009–2011)
- David Hale (2011–present)
- Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation
- Robert Mueller2 (2009–present)
- Director of the Central Intelligence Agency
- Leon Panetta (2009–2011)
- Michael Morell (Acting-2011)
- David Petraeus (2011–present)
- Chair of the Council of Economic Advisers
- Christina Romer (2009–2010)
- Austan Goolsbee (2010–2011)
- Alan Krueger (2011–present)
- Chair of the Securities and Exchange Commission
- Mary Schapiro (2009–present)
- Assistant to the President for Economic Policy and Director of National Economic Council
- Lawrence Summers (2009–2010)
- Gene Sperling (2011–present)
- Chairman of the Economic Recovery Advisory Board
- Paul Volcker (2009–2011)
- Replaced by Council on Jobs and Competitiveness in 2011
- Chairperson of the Council on Jobs and Competitiveness
- Jeffrey R. Immelt (2011–present)
1Appointed by George W. Bush in 2006 to a five-year term
2Appointed by George W. Bush in 2001 to a ten-year term
Judicial nominees[link]
Main articles: Barack Obama Supreme Court candidates and List of federal judges appointed by Barack Obama
United States Supreme Court[link]
Obama appointed the following Justices to the Supreme Court of the United States:
Further information: List of nominations to the Supreme Court of the United States
Other courts[link]
Outside of the Supreme Court, by October 2009, Obama had nominated fewer than two dozen judges to fill judicial vacancies, of which there were close to 100. This has prompted some Democrats to criticize the pace of Obama's judicial appointments as too slow.[110] In December 2009, Senator Patrick Leahy criticized Republicans for stalling those judicial nominations that had been made, noting that the Senate confirmed more district and circuit court nominees during the first year of the George W. Bush administration than it had approved by that point during the Barack Obama presidency.[111]
As of July 2010, Obama's nominees to the district and circuit courts had been confirmed at a rate of only 43.5 percent, compared to 87.2 percent during Bill Clinton's administration and 91.3 percent for George W. Bush. The Center for American Progress, which compiled the data, commented:
Judicial confirmations slowed to a trickle on the day President Barack Obama took office. Filibusters, anonymous holds, and other obstructionary tactics have become the rule. Uncontroversial nominees wait months for a floor vote, and even district court nominees—low-ranking judges whose confirmations have never been controversial in the past—are routinely filibustered into oblivion. Nominations grind to a halt in many cases even after the Senate Judiciary Committee has unanimously endorsed a nominee. [112]
Policies[link]
Economy[link]
Upon entering office, Obama planned to center his attention on handling the global financial crisis.[113] Even before his inauguration he lobbied Congress to pass an economic stimulus bill,[114] which became the top priority during his first month in office.[115] As President, Obama made a high profile trip to Capitol Hill, Washington, D.C. to dialog with Congressional Republicans and advocate for the bill.[116] On February 17, 2009, Obama signed into law a $787 billion plan that included spending for health care, infrastructure, education, various tax breaks and incentives, and direct assistance to individuals.[117] The tax provisions of the law reduced taxes for 98 percent of taxpayers, bringing tax rates to their lowest levels in 60 years.[118]
As part of the 2010 budget proposal, the Obama administration has proposed additional measures to attempt to stabilize the economy, including a $2–3 trillion measure aimed at stabilizing the financial system and freeing up credit. The program includes up to $1 trillion to buy toxic bank assets, an additional $1 trillion to expand a federal consumer loan program, and the $350 billion left in the Troubled Assets Relief Program. The plan also includes $50 billion intended to slow the wave of mortgage foreclosures.[117] The 2011 budget includes a three-year freeze on discretionary spending, proposes several program cancellations, and raises taxes on high income earners to bring down deficits during the economic recovery.[119]
In a July 2009 interview with ABC News, Biden was asked about the sustained increase of the U.S. unemployment rate from May 2007 to October 2009[120] despite the administration's multi-year economic stimulus package passed five months earlier. He responded "The truth is, we and everyone else, misread the economy. The figures we worked off of in January were the consensus figures and most of the blue chip indexes out there ... the truth is, there was a misreading of just how bad an economy we inherited."[121][122] The White House indicates that 2 million jobs were created or saved due to the stimulus package in 2009[123] and self reporting by recipients of the grants, loans, and contracts portion of the package report that the package saved or created 608,317 jobs in the final three months of 2009.[124]
The unemployment rate rose in 2009, reaching a peak in October at 10.1% and averaging 10.0% in the fourth quarter.[125] Following a decrease to 9.7% in the first quarter of 2010, the unemployment rate fell to 9.6% in the second quarter, where it remained for the rest of the year.[125] Between February and December 2010, employment rose by 0.8%, which was less than the average of 1.9% experienced during comparable periods in the past four employment recoveries.[126] GDP growth returned in the third quarter of 2009, expanding at a 1.6% pace, followed by a 5.0% increase in the fourth quarter.[127] Growth continued in 2010, posting an increase of 3.7% in the first quarter, with lesser gains throughout the rest of the year.[127] Overall, the economy expanded at a rate of 2.9% in 2010.[128]
During November–December 2010, Obama and a lame duck session of the 111th Congress focused on a dispute about the temporary Bush tax cuts, which were due to expire at the end of the year. Obama wanted to extend the tax cuts for taxpayers making less than $250,000 a year. Congressional Republicans agreed but also wanted to extend the tax cuts for those making over that amount, and refused to support any bill that did not do so.[129] All the Republicans in the Senate also joined in saying that, until the tax dispute was resolved, they would filibuster to prevent consideration of any other legislation, except for bills to fund the U.S. government.[130][131] On 7 December, Obama strongly defended a compromise agreement he had reached with the Republican congressional leadership that included a two-year extension of all the tax cuts, a 13-month extension of unemployment insurance, a one-year reduction in the FICA payroll tax, and other measures.[132] On December 10, Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) led a filibuster against the compromise tax proposal, which lasted over eight hours.[133] Obama persuaded many wary Democrats to support the bill,[134] but not all; of the 148 votes against the bill in the House, 112 were cast by Democrats and only 36 by Republicans.[135] The $858 billion Tax Relief, Unemployment Insurance Reauthorization, and Job Creation Act of 2010, which The Washington Post called "the most significant tax bill in nearly a decade",[136] passed with bipartisan majorities in both houses of Congress and was signed into law by Obama on December 17, 2010.[134]
Ethics[link]
Lobbying reform[link]
Early in his presidential campaign, Obama stated that "they [lobbyists] won't find a job in my White House", but softened his stance later in the campaign.[137] On January 21, 2009, Obama issued an executive order for all future appointees to his administration, which stated, no appointee who was a registered lobbyist within the two years before his appointment could participate on matters in which he lobbied for a period of two years after the date of appointment.[40] Three formal waivers were initially issued in early 2009, out of 800 executive appointments:[138][139] to William J. Lynn III, a lobbyist for Raytheon, to hold the position of Deputy Secretary of Defense;[34] to Jocelyn Frye, former general counsel at the National Partnership for Women and Families, to serve as Director of Policy and Projects in the Office of the First Lady; and to Cecilia Muñoz, former senior vice president for the National Council of La Raza,[138] to serve as Director of Intergovernmental Affairs in the Executive Office of the President.[139] As of March 21, 2009, at least thirty officials appointed by Obama had been lobbyists in the past five years.[137] Ten additional waivers were announced in September 2009.[140]
Not all recent former lobbyists require waivers; those without waivers write letters of recusal stating issues from which they must refrain because of their previous jobs.[138] USA Today reported that 21 members of the Obama administration have at some time been registered as federal lobbyists, although most have not within the previous two years.[141] Lobbyists in the administration include William Corr, an anti-tobacco lobbyist, as Deputy Secretary of Health and Human Services[142] and Tom Vilsack, who lobbied in 2007, for a national teachers union, as Secretary of Agriculture.[141] Also, the Secretary of Labor nominee, Hilda Solis, formerly served as a board member of American Rights at Work, which lobbied Congress on two bills Solis co-sponsored,[143] and Mark Patterson, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner's chief of staff, is a former lobbyist for Goldman Sachs.[141]
The Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington have criticized the administration, claiming that Obama is retreating from his own ethics rules barring lobbyists from working on the issues about which they lobbied during the previous two years by issuing waivers. According to Melanie Sloan, the group's executive director, "It makes it appear that they are saying one thing and doing another."[141]
Transparency[link]
The Obama administration has said that all executive orders, non-emergency legislation, and proclamations will be posted to the official White House website, whitehouse.gov, allowing the public to review and comment for five days before the President signs the legislation.[144] The pledge was twice broken during Obama's first month in office when he signed SCHIP legislation and the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act with less than the full five days of "sunlight before signing". The administration has said that they are still "working through implementation procedures and some initial issues with the congressional calendar".[145][146]
During his first week in office, Obama announced plans to post a video address each week on the site,[44] and on YouTube,[45] informing the public of government actions each week. During his speech at the 2008 Democratic National Convention, Obama stated, "I will also go through the federal budget, line by line, eliminating programs that no longer work and making the ones we do need work better and cost less - because we cannot meet twenty-first century challenges with a twentieth century bureaucracy."[147]
On January 21, 2009, by executive order, Obama revoked Executive Order 13233, which had limited access to the records of former United States Presidents.[148] Obama issued instructions to all agencies and departments in his administration to "adopt a presumption in favor" of Freedom of Information Act requests.[149] In April 2009, the United States Department of Justice released four legal memos from the Bush administration to comply voluntarily with a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union.[150] The memos were written by John Yoo[151] and signed by Jay Bybee and Steven Bradbury, then Principal Assistant Attorneys General to the Department of Justice, and addressed to John A. Rizzo, general counsel of the Central Intelligence Agency.[152] The memos describe in detail controversial interrogation methods the CIA used on prisoners suspected of terrorism.[153][154] Obama became personally involved in the decision to release the memos, which was opposed by former CIA directors Michael Hayden, Porter Goss, George Tenet and John Deutch.[152] Former Vice President Dick Cheney criticized Obama for not releasing more memos; Cheney claimed that unreleased memos detail successes of CIA interrogations.[155]
The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act requires all recipients of the funds provided by the act to publish a plan for using the funds, along with purpose, cost, rationale, net job creation, and contact information about the plan to a website Recovery.gov so that the public can review and comment. Inspectors General from each department or executive agency will then review, as appropriate, any concerns raised by the public. Any findings of an Inspector General must be relayed immediately to the head of each department and published on Recovery.gov.[156]
On June 16, 2009, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) filed a lawsuit against the Obama administration in order to get information about the visits of coal company executives. Anne Weismann, the chief counsel for CREW, stated "The Obama administration has now taken exactly the same position as the Bush administration... I don't see how you can keep people from knowing who visits the White House and adhere to a policy of openness and transparency." On June 16, MSNBC reported that its more comprehensive request for visitor logs since Obama's January 20 inauguration had been denied.[157] The administration announced that White House visitor logs will be made available to the public on an ongoing basis, with certain limitations, for visits occurring after September 15, 2009.[158] Beginning on January 29, 2010, the White House did begin to release the names of its visitor records.[159] Since that time, names of visitors (which includes not only tourists, but also names of union leaders, Wall Street executives, lobbyists, party chairs, philanthropists and celebrities), have been released. The names are released in huge batches up to 75,000 names at a time.[160] Names are released 90–120 days after having visited the White House. The complete list of names is available online by accessing the official White House website.[161]
Obama stated during the 2008 Presidential campaign that he would have negotiations for health care reform televised on C-SPAN, citing transparency as being the leverage needed to ensure that people stay involved in the process taking place in Washington. This did not fully happen and Politifact gives President Obama a "Promise Broken" rating on this issue.[162] After White House press secretary Robert Gibbs initially avoided addressing the issue,[163] President Obama himself acknowledged that he met with Democratic leaders behind closed doors to discuss how best to garner enough votes in order to merge the two (House and Senate) passed versions of the health care bill. Doing this violated the letter of the pledge, although Obama maintains that negotiations in several congressional committees were open, televised hearings. Obama also cited an independent ethics watchdog group describe his administration as the most transparent in recent history.[164]
The Obama administration has been characterized[165] as much more aggressive than the Bush and other previous administrations in their response to whistleblowing and leaks to the press. Three people have been prosecuted under the rarely used Espionage Act of 1917. They include Thomas Andrews Drake, a former National Security Agency (NSA) employee who was critical of the NSA's Trailblazer Project,[166][167][168] Stephen Jin-Woo Kim, a State Department contractor who allegedly had a conversation about North Korea with James Rosen of Fox News,[169][170] and Jeffrey Sterling, who allegedly was a source for James Risen's book State of War. Risen has also been subpoenaed to reveal his sources, another rare action by the government.[171]
Foreign policy[link]
Main articles: Foreign policy of the Barack Obama administration and List of presidential trips made by Barack Obama
In his inaugural address, Obama suggested that he plans to begin the process of withdrawing from Iraq and continuing to focus on the war in Afghanistan. He also mentioned lessening the nuclear threat through "working tirelessly with old friends and former foes". He spoke about America's determination to combat terrorism, proclaiming America's spirit is "stronger and cannot be broken — you cannot outlast us, and we will defeat you." To the Muslim world, Obama extended an invite to "a new way forward, based on mutual interest and mutual respect". He also said the USA would "extend a hand" to those "who cling to power through corruption and deceit" if they "are willing to unclench" their fists.[172] Shortly after his inauguration President Obama first called President Abbas of the Palestinian National Authority (PNA). Calls were also made to President Mubarak of Egypt, Prime Minister Olmert of Israel and King Abdullah of Jordan.[173] Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton named George Mitchell as Special Envoy for Middle East peace and Richard Holbrooke as special representative to Pakistan and Afghanistan on January 23, 2009.[174] At the same time, Obama called on Israel to open the borders of Gaza, detailing early plans on his administration's peace plans for the Israeli–Palestinian conflict.[175]
On February 18, 2009, Obama announced that the U.S. military presence in Afghanistan would be bolstered by 17,000 new troops by summer.[176] The announcement followed the recommendation of several experts including Defense Secretary Robert Gates that additional troops be deployed to the war-torn nation.[177][178]
Obama declared his plan for ending the Iraq War on February 27, 2009, in a speech at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, before an audience of Marines stationed there. According to the president, combat troops will be withdrawn from Iraq by August 2010, leaving a contingent of up to 50,000 servicemen and servicewomen to continue training, advisory, and counterterrorism operations until as late as the end of 2011.[179][180]
Other characteristics of the Obama administration on foreign policy include a tough stance on tax havens,[181] continuing military operation in Pakistan,[182] and avowed focus on diplomacy to prevent nuclear proliferation in Iran[183] and North Korea.[184]
On April 1, 2009, Obama and China's President, Hu Jintao, announced the establishment of the U.S.-China Strategic and Economic Dialogue and agreed to work together to build a positive, cooperative, and comprehensive U.S.-China relationship for the 21st century.[185]
In that same month, Obama requested that Congress approve $83.4 billion of supplemental military funding, mostly for the war in Iraq and to increase troop levels in Afghanistan. The request also includes $2.2 billion to increase the size of the US military, $350 million to upgrade security along the US-Mexico border, and $400 million in counterinsurgency aid for Pakistan.[186]
In May 2009, it was reported that Obama plans to expand the military by 20,000 employees.[187]
On June 4, 2009, Obama delivered a speech at Cairo University in Egypt.[188] The wide ranging speech called for a "new beginning" in relations between the Islamic world and the United States.[189][190] The speech received both praise and criticism from leaders in the region.[191][192][193][194][195] In March 2010, Secretary of State Clinton criticized the Israeli government for approving expansion of settlements in East Jerusalem.[196]
On April 8, 2010, Obama and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev signed the latest Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START), a "major" nuclear arms control agreement that reduces the nuclear weapons stockpiles of both countries.[197]
In March 2011, international reaction to Muammar Gaddafi's military crackdown on rebel forces and civilians in Libya culminated in a United Nations resolution to enforce a no fly zone in Libya. Obama authorized U.S. forces to participate in international air attacks on Libyan air defenses using Tomahawk cruise missiles to establish the protective zone.[198]
Guantánamo Bay detention camp[link]
On his first day in office, Obama requested a 120-day suspension of all trials for alleged terrorists held at the Guantánamo Bay detention camp, so the new administration could "review the military commissions process, generally, and the cases pending before military commissions as of 2011[update], specifically".[199] Another order established a task force to lead a review of detention policies, procedures and individual cases. Obama addressed the State Department that "the United States will not torture" and drafted an executive order to close Guantánamo within a year.[200] On January 22, 2009, Obama signed an executive order ensuring safe, lawful, and humane treatment of individuals detained in armed conflicts. This order restricts interrogators to methods listed and authorized by an Army Field Manual.[201] A detainee released since Obama took office claimed in an interview with Agence France-Presse that conditions at Guantánamo had worsened, stating guards wanted to "take their last revenge" before the facility is closed.[202] On March 13, 2009, the administration announced that it would no longer refer to prisoners at Guantánamo Bay as enemy combatants, but it also asserted that the president has the authority to detain terrorism suspects there without criminal charges.[203]
The case review of detainee files by administration officials and prosecutors was made more difficult than expected as the Bush administration had failed to establish a coherent repository of the evidence and intelligence on each prisoner. By September 2009, prosecutors recommended to the Justice Department which detainees are eligible for trial, and the Justice Department and the Pentagon worked together to determine which of several now-scheduled trials will go forward in military tribunals and which in civilian courts. While 216 international terrorists are already held in maximum security prisons in the U.S., Congress was denying the administration funds to shut down the camp and adapt existing facilities elsewhere, arguing that the decision was "too dangerous to rush".[204] In November, Obama stated that the U.S. would miss the January 2010 date for closing the Guantánamo Bay prison as he had ordered, acknowledging that he "knew this was going to be hard". Obama did not set a specific new deadline for closing the camp, citing that the delay was due to politics and lack of congressional cooperation.[205] The state of Illinois has offered to sell to the federal government the Thomson Correctional Center, a new but largely unused prison, for the purpose of housing detainees. Federal officials testified at a December 23 hearing that if the state commission approves the sale for that purpose, it could take more than six months to ready the facility.[206]
Killing of Osama bin Laden[link]
Main article: Death of Osama bin Laden
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Starting with information received in July 2010, intelligence developed by the CIA over the next several months determined what they believed to be the location of Osama bin Laden in a large compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan, a suburban area 35 miles from Islamabad.[207] CIA head Leon Panetta reported this intelligence to Obama in March 2011.[207] Meeting with his national security advisers over the course of the next six weeks, Obama rejected a plan to bomb the compound, and authorized a "surgical raid" to be conducted by United States Navy SEALs.[207] The operation took place on May 1, 2011, resulting in the death of bin Laden and the seizure of papers and computer drives and disks from the compound.[208][209] Bin Laden's body was identified through DNA testing,[210] and buried at sea several hours later.[211] Within minutes of Obama's announcement from Washington, DC, late in the evening on May 1, there were spontaneous celebrations around the country as crowds gathered outside the White House, and at New York City's Ground Zero and Times Square.[208][212] Reaction to the announcement was positive across party lines, including from predecessors George W. Bush and Bill Clinton,[213] and from many countries around the world.[214]
Overseas Contingency Operation[link]
Obama discontinued use of the term "War on Terror" and instead uses the term "Overseas Contingency Operation". However, Obama has stated that the U.S. is at war with Al-Qaeda, saying "Our nation is at war, against a far-reaching network of violence and hatred."[215]
In April 2010, the Obama administration authorized the targeted killing of the radical Muslim cleric and American citizen Anwar al-Awlaki, who was believed to have shifted from encouraging attacks on the United States to directly participating in them.[216]
Gun control[link]
During the presidential campaign, Obama announced that he favors measures that respect Second Amendment rights, while at the same time keeping guns away from children and criminals.[217][218] On February 25, 2009, Attorney General Eric Holder announced that the Obama administration would seek a new assault weapons ban across the United States, saying that it would have a positive impact on the drug-related violence in Mexico.[219] After the statement drew criticism from the NRA and some House Democrats, the Administration reportedly ordered the Justice Department to end public discussion of the issue.[220] Obama has signed into law two bills containing amendments reducing restrictions on gun owners, one which permits guns to be transported in checked baggage on Amtrak trains[221] and another which allows carrying loaded firearms in national parks located in states allowing concealed carry.[222][223]
See also: Operation Fast and Furious
Science and technology[link]
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Wikinews has related news: NSA to participate in U.S. cybersecurity |
Cybersecurity[link]
Obama initiated a 60-day review of cybersecurity[224] by Melissa Hathaway, a consultant for Booz Allen Hamilton, appointed Acting Senior Director for Cyberspace.[225][226]
The New York Times reported in 2009, that the NSA is intercepting communications of American citizens including a Congressman, although the Justice Department believed that the NSA had corrected its errors.[227] United States Attorney General Eric Holder resumed the wiretapping according to his understanding of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 Amendments Act of 2008 that Congress passed in July 2008, but without explaining what had occurred.[228]
Environment[link]
On January 27, 2009, Obama issued two presidential memoranda concerning energy policy. One directed the Department of Transportation to raise fuel efficiency standards incrementally to 35 miles per US gallon (15 km/L) by 2020, and the other directed the Environmental Protection Agency to allow individual states to set stricter tailpipe emissions regulations than the federal standard.[41][229]
The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 provides $54 billion in funds to double domestic renewable energy production, renovate federal buildings making them more energy-efficient, improve the nation's electricity grid, repair public housing, and weatherize modest-income homes.[230]
On February 10, 2009, Obama overturned a Bush administration policy that had opened up a five-year period of offshore drilling for oil and gas near both the Atlantic and Pacific coasts. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar has been quoted as saying, "To establish an orderly process that allows us to make wise decisions based on sound information, we need to set aside" the plan "and create our own timeline".[231]
On May 19, 2009, Obama announced a plan to increase the Corporate Average Fuel Economy national standards for gasoline mileage, by creating a single new national standard that will create a car and light truck fleet in the United States that is almost 40 percent cleaner and more fuel-efficient by 2016, than it is today, with an average of 35.5 miles per gallon.[232] Environmental advocates and industry officials welcomed the new program, but for different reasons. Environmentalists called it a long-overdue tightening of emissions and fuel economy standards after decades of government delay and industry opposition. Auto industry officials said it would provide the single national efficiency standard they have long desired, a reasonable timetable to meet it and the certainty they need to proceed with product development plans.[232]
On March 30, 2010, Obama partially reinstated Bush administration proposals to open certain offshore areas along the Atlantic coastline, the eastern Gulf of Mexico and the north coast of Alaska to oil and natural gas drilling. The proposals had earlier been set aside by President Obama after they were challenged in court on environmental grounds.[233]
On May 27, 2010, Obama extended a moratorium on offshore drilling permits after the April 20, 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill which is considered to be the worst oil spill in U.S. history.[234][235] Although BP took responsibility for the disaster and its ongoing after effects, Obama began a federal investigation along with forming a bipartisan commission to review the incident and methods to avoid it in the future.[236][237][238] Obama visited the Gulf Coast on May 2 and May 28 and expressed his frustration on the June 8 NBC Today Show, by saying "I don't sit around just talking to experts because this is a college seminar. We talk to these folks because they potentially have the best answers, so I know whose ass to kick."[239] Obama's response to the disaster drew confusion and criticism within segments of the media and public.[240]
NASA[link]
Main article: Space policy of the Barack Obama administration
Obama set up the Augustine panel to review the Constellation program in 2009, and announced in February 2010, that he was cutting the program from the 2011 United States federal budget, describing it as "over budget, behind schedule, and lacking in innovation."[241][242][243][244][245] After the decision drew criticism in the United States, a new "Flexible path to Mars" plan was unveiled at a space conference in April 2010.[246][247][248] It included new technology programs, increased R&D spending, a focus on the International Space Station and contracting out flying crew to space to commercial providers.[249] The new plan also increased NASA's 2011 budget to $19 billion from $18.3 billion in 2010.[246]
In July 2009, Obama appointed Charles Bolden, a former astronaut, to be administrator of NASA.[250]
Stem cell research[link]
On March 9, 2009, Obama repealed a Bush-era policy that prevented federal tax dollars from being used to fund research on new lines of embryonic stem cells. Such research has been a matter of debate between those who emphasize the therapeutic potential of such research and those who suggest that elements of this research breach ethical limitations. Obama stated that "In recent years, when it comes to stem cell research, rather than furthering discovery, our government has forced what I believe is a false choice between sound science and moral values...In this case, I believe the two are not inconsistent. As a person of faith, I believe we are called to care for each other and work to ease human suffering. I believe we have been given the capacity and will to pursue this research — and the humanity and conscience to do so responsibly."[251]
Social policy[link]
On January 23, 2009, Obama rescinded the Mexico City Policy, a measure from the Reagan and Bush eras that required any non-governmental organization receiving U.S. Government funding to refrain from performing or promoting abortion services in other countries.[252]
On June 17, 2009, Obama authorized the extension of some benefits (but not health insurance or pension benefits) to same-sex partners of federal employees.[253] Obama has chosen to leave larger changes, such as the repeal of Don't ask, don't tell and the Defense of Marriage Act, to Congress.[254][255]
On October 19, 2009, the U.S. Department of Justice issued a directive to federal prosecutors in states with medical marijuana laws not to investigate or prosecute cases of marijuana use or production done in compliance with those laws.[256]
On December 16, 2009, President Obama signed the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2010, which repealed a 21-year-old ban on federal funding of needle exchange programs.[257]
On December 22, 2010, Obama signed the Don't Ask, Don't Tell Repeal Act of 2010, a bill that provides for repeal of the Don't ask, don't tell policy of 1993, that has prevented gay and lesbian people from serving openly in the United States Armed Forces.[258] Repealing "Don't ask, don't tell" had been a key campaign promise that Obama had made during the 2008 presidential campaign.[259][260]
Health care reform[link]
See also: Health care reform in the United States
Once the stimulus bill was enacted, health care reform became Obama's top domestic priority. On July 14, 2009, House Democratic leaders introduced a 1,000 page plan for overhauling the US health care system, which Obama wanted Congress to approve by the end of the year.[261]
The U.S. Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimated the ten-year cost to the federal government of the major insurance-related provisions of the bill at approximately $1.0 trillion.[262] In mid-July 2009, Douglas Elmendorf, director of the CBO, testified that the proposals under consideration would significantly increase federal spending and did not include the "fundamental changes" needed to control the rapid growth in health care spending.[263][264] However after reviewing the final version of the bill introduced after 14 months of debate the CBO estimated that it would reduce federal budget deficits by $143 billion over 10 years and by more than a trillion in the next decade.[265]
After much public debate during the Congressional summer recess of 2009, Obama delivered a speech to a joint session of Congress on September 9 where he addressed concerns over his administration's proposals.[266] In March 2010, Obama gave several speeches across the country to argue for the passage of health care reform.[267][268] On March 21, 2010, after Obama announced an executive order reinforcing the current law against spending federal funds for elective abortion services, the House, by a vote of 219 to 212, passed the version of the bill previously passed on December 24, 2009, by a 60-vote supermajority in the Senate. The bill, which includes over 200 Republican amendments, was passed without a single Republican vote. On March 23, 2010, President Obama signed the bill into law. Immediately following the bill's passage, the House voted in favor of a reconciliation measure to make significant changes and corrections to the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, which was passed by both houses with two minor alterations on March 25, 2010, and signed into law on March 30, 2010.[269][270]
Education reform[link]
On March 30, 2010, Obama signed the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010, which ended the role of private banks in lending out federally-insured student loans.[271] By directly lending to students, the government is projected to save taxpayers $68 billion dollars over the next several years.[272] Federally-insured student loans will instead be distributed by the Department of Education.[273] The law also increased the amount of Pell Grant awards given each year, doubling its current funding.[274][275] Starting in 2014, the law permits borrowers to cap the amount they spend on student loans each year to ten percent of their discretionary income and have their balance forgiven if they have faithfully paid the balance of their loan over 20 years.[274][276] Additionally, the law seeks to make it easier for parents to qualify for Grad PLUS loans, and spends billions on poor and minority schools and $2 billion for community colleges.[272][273]
Gates arrest controversy[link]
Further information: Henry Louis Gates arrest controversy
From left to right: Gates, Crowley, and President Obama.
Photo taken before Vice President Biden's arrival.
On July 16, 2009, prominent African American Harvard University professor Henry Louis Gates, Jr., was arrested at his Cambridge, Massachusetts home by a local white police officer, Cambridge Police Sgt. James Crowley, for disorderly conduct. Gates, who was locked out of his house, had attempted to break into his own property, thus causing the initial alarm from a neighbor who called 9-1-1. The incident sparked national controversy over whether Gates's civil rights had been violated by Crowley. On July 21, the Cambridge Police Department dropped charges against Gates. On July 22, President Barack Obama, commented on the incident over national and international television, criticized the arrest, and stated the police acted "stupidly" in handling the incident. National law enforcement organizations and members objected to Obama's comments and criticized his handling of the issue. In the aftermath, Obama stated that he regretted his comments exacerbating the situation, and hoped that the situation could become a "teachable moment". To reduce tensions, on July 24, Obama invited both parties to the White House to discuss the issue over beers, and on July 30, Obama and Vice President Joe Biden joined Crowley and Gates in a private, cordial meeting in a courtyard near the White House Rose Garden; this became known colloquially as the "Beer Summit".[277]
Wall Street reform[link]
On July 21, 2010, Obama signed Dodd–Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, considered to be the largest financial system overhaul since the New Deal. The law recognizes complex financial derivatives and makes rules to protect consumers from unfair practices in loans and credit cards by establishing a new consumer protection agency. At the signing ceremony in the Ronald Reagan Building in Washington D.C. Obama proclaimed, "There will be no more taxpayer-funded bailouts. Period." Obama also mentioned that "These reforms represent the strongest consumer financial protections in history." At the ceremony were Sen. Christopher Dodd, D-Conn., and Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., the two committee chairmen who sponsored the bill.[278]
2010 midterm elections[link]
Due in large part to voter frustration over high unemployment and a stalled economy, Republicans won control of the House in the 2010 midterm elections. On reflection after the election, Obama blamed himself, in part, for the many Democrats who went down to defeat knowing that they had risked their careers to support his agenda of economic stimulus legislation and a landmark health care bill.[279] Democrats narrowly retained the Senate majority and will continue to control it through the 112th Congress.[280]
Obama called the elections "humbling" and a "shellacking".[281] He said that the results came because not enough Americans had felt the effects of the economic recovery.[282]
2012 re-election campaign[link]
On April 4, 2011, President Obama announced that he would seek re-election in the 2012 presidential election. The campaign will be based in Chicago and is being run by many former members of the White House staff and members of the successful 2008 campaign.[283]
References[link]
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- ^ "Obama's church choice likely to be scrutinized". Associated Press. msnbc.com. November 17, 2008. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/27775757/. Retrieved January 20, 2009.
- ^ "Barack Obama, long time UCC member, inaugurated forty-fourth U.S. President" (Press release). United Church of Christ. January 20, 2009. http://www.ucc.org/news/obama-inauguration.html. Retrieved January 21, 2009. "Barack Obama, who spent more than 20 years as a UCC member, is the forty-fourth President of the United States."
- ^ An Associated Press wire story on Obama's resignation from Trinity United Church of Christ in the course of the Jeremiah Wright controversy stated that he had, in doing so, disaffiliated himself with the UCC. (See "Obama's church choice likely to be scrutinized". Associated Press. msnbc.com. November 17, 2008. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/27775757/. Retrieved January 20, 2009. )
- ^ Zeleny, Jeff; Baker, Peter (November 6, 2008). "Rahm Emanuel Accepts Post as White House Chief of Staff". The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/06/us/politics/07elect.html. Retrieved December 6, 2008.
- ^ "Geithner, Summers among key economic team members announced today" (Press release). Office of the President-elect. November 24, 2008. http://change.gov/newsroom/entry/geithner_summers_among_key_economic_team_members_announced_today/. Retrieved December 6, 2008.
- ^ Baker, Peter (November 25, 2008). "Defense Secretary Said to Be Staying On". The New York Times. http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/11/25/defense-secretary-said-to-be-staying-on/. Retrieved December 6, 2008.
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- ^ "Official Obama-Biden Transition Website". Office of the President-elect. http://change.gov/content/home. Retrieved January 26, 2009.
- ^ "Obama Transition announces rules for lobbyists in Transition" (Press release). Office of the President-elect. November 11, 2008. http://change.gov/newsroom/entry/obama_transition_announces_rules_for_lobbyists_in_transition. Retrieved January 26, 2009.
- ^ "Citizen's Briefing Book". Office of the President-elect. http://citizensbriefingbook.change.gov/. Retrieved January 26, 2009.
- ^ Marisa Taylor (January 20, 2009). "Change Has Come To WhiteHouse.Gov". The Wall Street Journal. http://blogs.wsj.com/digits/2009/01/20/change-has-come-to-whitehousegov/. Retrieved February 13, 2009.
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- ^ "Obama Signs First Presidential Proclamation". CNN. January 20, 2009. http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2009/01/20/obama-signs-first-presidential-proclamation/. Retrieved January 20, 2009.
- ^ Kelley, Matt (January 19, 2009). "Obama to be sworn in on 'Lincoln Bible'". USA Today. http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2009-01-19-Lincoln-bible_N.htm. Retrieved January 26, 2009.
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- ^ "Obama takes presidential oath again after stumble". China Daily. January 22, 2009. http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/world/2009-01/22/content_7421457.htm. Retrieved March 10, 2010.
- ^ Chernus, Ira (December 16, 2008). "The First Hundred Days or the Last Hundred Days?". The LA Progressive. http://www.laprogressive.com/2008/12/16/the-first-hundred-days-or-the-last-hundred-days/. Retrieved January 18, 2009.
- ^ Reid, Tim (November 1, 2008). "Barack Obama lays plans to deaden expectation after election victory". London: The Times. http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/us_elections/article5051118.ece. Retrieved January 18, 2009.
- ^ Dorning, Mike (May 28, 2008). "Obama's priorities for first 100 days". Chicago Tribune. http://www.swamppolitics.com/news/politics/blog/2008/05/obamas_priorities_for_first_10.html. Retrieved January 18, 2009.
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- "Obama's First 100 Days". The Huffington Post. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/news/100-days. Retrieved January 21, 2009.
- "Special Reports - The First 100 Days of the 44th President Barack Obama". CNN. http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/2009/44.president/first.100.days/. Retrieved 14 May 2012.
- "The 44th President 100 Days". CBS News. http://www.cbsnews.com/sections/politics/100days/main503723.shtml. Retrieved January 21, 2009.
- ^ Hall, Ashley (January 21, 2009). "Domestic issues to dominate Obama's first 100 days in office". ABC Online, Australia. http://www.abc.net.au/pm/content/2008/s2471452.htm. Retrieved January 21, 2009.
- ^ a b Naughton, Philippe (January 21, 2009). "Barack Obama calls halt to Guantanamo trials". London: The Times. http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/us_elections/article5558726.ece. Retrieved January 21, 2009.
- ^ a b Sahadi, Jeanne (January 20, 2009). "First 100 days: Obama's burden". CNN. http://money.cnn.com/2009/01/20/news/economy/obama_first100days/?postversion=2009012012. Retrieved January 21, 2009.
- ^ West, Larry (January 20, 2009). "Obama's First 100 Days: An Environmental Agenda for Obama's First 100 Days". About.com. http://environment.about.com/b/2009/01/20/obamas-first-100-days-an-environmental-agenda-for-obamas-first-100-days.htm. Retrieved January 21, 2009.
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External links[link]
*"President Barack Obama: The Man and His Journey"
- "Obama's People" (photography: Nadav Kander)
- The Official White House YouTube page
- "President Barack Obama's Inaugural Address". The White House.
- "Wrapping Up Open for Questions". The White House.
- "President Obama's State of the Union Address" C-SPAN.
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| Ban Ki-moon 반기문 潘基文 |
|
|---|---|
 |
|
| Secretary-General of the United Nations | |
| Incumbent | |
| Assumed office January 1, 2007 |
|
| Deputy | Asha-Rose Migiro Jan Eliasson (designate) |
| Preceded by | Kofi Annan |
| Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade | |
| In office January 17, 2004 – November 10, 2007 |
|
| President | Roh Moo-hyun |
| Prime Minister | Goh Kun Lee Hae Chan Han Duck-soo Han Myeong-sook |
| Preceded by | Yoon Young Kwan |
| Succeeded by | Song Min-soon |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1944-06-13) 13 June 1944 (age 68)[1] Injō, Chūsei-hokudō, Korea, Empire of Japan (present-day Eumseong County, Chungcheongbuk-do, South Korea) |
| Nationality | South Korean |
| Spouse(s) | Yoo Soon-taek |
| Alma mater | Seoul National University (B.A.) Harvard University (M.P.A.) |
| Religion | No public affiliation[2][3] |
| Signature |  |
| Korean name | |
|---|---|
| Hangul | 반기문 |
| Hanja | 潘基文 |
| Revised Romanization | Ban Gimun |
| McCune–Reischauer | Pan Kimun |
| Korean pronunciation: [panɡimun] | |
 |
This article contains Korean text. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols instead of Hangul or Hanja. |
Ban Ki-moon (Hangul: 반기문; Hanja: 潘基文; born 13 June 1944) is the eighth and current Secretary-General of the United Nations, after succeeding Kofi Annan in 2007. Before going on to be Secretary-General, Ban was a career diplomat in South Korea's Ministry of Foreign Affairs and in the United Nations. He entered diplomatic service the year he graduated from university, accepting his first post in New Delhi, India. In the foreign ministry he established a reputation for modesty and competence .
Ban was the Foreign Minister of the Republic of Korea from January 2004 to November 2006. In February 2006, he began to campaign for the office of Secretary-General. Ban was initially considered to be a long shot for the office. As foreign minister of South Korea, however, he was able to travel to all of the countries that were members of the United Nations Security Council, a maneuver that turned him into the front runner.
On 11 October 2006, he was elected to be the eighth Secretary-General by the United Nations General Assembly and officially succeeded Annan on 1 January 2007. Ban has led several major reforms regarding peacekeeping and UN employment practices. Diplomatically, Ban has taken particularly strong views on Darfur, where he helped persuade Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir to allow peacekeeping troops to enter Sudan; and on global warming, pressing the issue repeatedly with former U.S. President George W. Bush. Ban has received strong criticism from OIOS, the UN internal audit unit, stating that the secretariat, under Ban's leadership, is "drifting into irrelevance".[4]
In 2011, Ban ran unopposed for a second term as Secretary-General. On 21 June 2011, he was unanimously re-elected by the General Assembly and therefore will continue to serve until 31 December 2016.[5][6]
Contents |
Biography[link]
Ban was born in Eumseong in a small farming village in North Chungcheong, in 1944 at the end of the Japanese rule of Korea. His family moved to the nearby town of Chungju, where he was raised.[7] During Ban's childhood, his father had a warehouse business, but the warehouse went bankrupt and the family lost its middle-class standard of living. When Ban was six, his family fled to a remote mountainside for the duration of the Korean War.[1] After the war ended, his family returned to Chungju. Ban has mentioned meeting U.S. military troops at this time.[8]
In secondary school (Chungju High School), Ban became a star pupil, particularly in his studies of English. In 1952, he was selected by his class to address a message to then UN Secretary-General Dag Hammarskjöld, but it is unknown if the message was ever sent. In 1962, Ban won an essay contest sponsored by the Red Cross and earned a trip to the United States where he lived in San Francisco with a host family for several months.[9] As part of the trip, Ban met U.S. President John F. Kennedy.[1] When a journalist at the meeting asked Ban what he wanted to be when he grew up, he said, "I want to become a diplomat."[8]
He received a [[bachelor's degree] in International Relations from Seoul National University in 1970, and earned a Master of Public Administration from the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University in 1985.[8] At Harvard, he studied under Joseph Nye who remarked that Ban had "a rare combination of analytic clarity, humility and perseverance."[9] Ban was awarded the degree of Doctor of Laws (Honoris Causa) by the University of Malta on 22 April 2009.[10] He further received an honorary degree of Doctor of Laws from the University of Washington in October 2009.[11]
In addition to his native Korean, Ban speaks English, French, and Japanese. There have been questions, however, regarding the extent of his knowledge of French, one of the two working languages of the United Nations Secretariat.[12]
Family[link]
Ban Ki-moon met Yoo Soon-taek in 1962 when they were both high school students. Ban was 18 years old, and Yoo Soon-taek was his secondary school's student council president. Ban Ki-moon married Yoo Soon-taek in 1971. They have three adult children: two daughters and a son. His elder daughter, Seon-yong, was born in 1972 and now works for the Korea Foundation in Seoul. She is married to an Indian.[13][14] His son, Woo-hyun was born in 1974 in India.[13] He received an MBA from Anderson School of Management at University of California, Los Angeles, and works for an investment firm in New York.[15] His younger daughter, Hyun-hee (born 1976), is a field officer for UNICEF in Nairobi.[1] After his election as Secretary-General, Ban became an icon in his hometown, where his extended family still resides. Over 50,000 gathered in a soccer stadium in Chungju for celebration of the result. In the months following his election, thousands of practitioners of geomancy went to his village to determine how it produced such an important person.[7] Ban himself is not a member of any church or religious group[2] and has declined to expound his beliefs: "Now, as Secretary-General, it will not be appropriate at this time to talk about my own belief in any particular religion or God. So maybe we will have some other time to talk about personal matters."[3] His mother is a Buddhist.[7]
Personality[link]
In the Korean Foreign Ministry his nickname was riya, meaning "the Bureaucrat" or "the administrative clerk." The name was used as both positive and negative: complimenting Ban's attention to detail and administrative skill while deriding what was seen as a lack of charisma and subservience to his superiors.[16] The Korean press corps calls him "the slippery eel" for his ability to dodge questions.[8] His peers praise his understated "Confucian approach."[17] and he is regarded by many as a "stand-up guy"[9] and is known for his "easy smile".[1]
Diplomatic career[link]
After graduating from university, Ban received the top score on Korea's foreign service exam. He joined the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in May 1970, and worked his way up the career ladder during the years of the Yusin Constitution.[9]
His first overseas posting was to New Delhi, where he served as vice consul and impressed many of his superiors in the foreign ministry with his competence. Ban reportedly accepted a posting to India rather than the more prestigious United States, because in India he would be able to save more money, and send more money home to his family.[18][19] In 1974 he received his first posting to the United Nations, as First Secretary of the South Permanent Observer Mission (South Korea became a full UN member-state on 17 September 1991).[20] After Park Chung-hee's 1979 assassination, Ban assumed the post of Director of the United Nations Division.
In 1980 Ban became director of the United Nations' International Organizations and Treaties Bureau, headquartered in Seoul.[19] He has been posted twice to the Republic of Korea embassy in Washington, D.C. Between these two assignments he served as Director-General for American Affairs in 1990–1992. In 1992, he became Vice Chairman of the South-North Joint Nuclear Control Commission, following the adoption by South and North Korea of the Joint Declaration of the Denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.[18] From 1993–1994 Ban was Korea's deputy ambassador to the United States. He was promoted to the position of Deputy Minister for Policy Planning and International Organizations in 1995 and then appointed National Security Advisor to the President in 1996.[19] Ban's lengthy career overseas has been credited with helping him avoid South Korea's unforgiving political environment.[17]
Ban was appointed Ambassador to Austria and Slovenia in 1998, and a year later he was also elected as Chairman of the Preparatory Commission for the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization (CTBTO PrepCom). During the negotiations, in what Ban considers the biggest blunder of his career, he included in a public letter a positive statement about the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty in 2001, not long after the United States had decided to abandon the treaty. To avoid anger from the United States, Ban was fired by President Kim Dae-jung, who also issued a public apology for Ban's statement.[1]
Ban was unemployed for the only time in his career and was expecting to receive an assignment to work in a remote and unimportant embassy.[1] In 2001, during the 56th Session of the United Nations General Assembly, the Republic of Korea held the rotating presidency, and to Ban's surprise, he was selected to be the chief of staff to general assembly president Han Seung-soo.[21] In 2003, incoming president Roh Moo-hyun selected Ban as one of his foreign policy advisors.[19]
Foreign Minister of South Korea[link]
File:Yudhoyono BanKiMoon.jpg
Ban Ki-moon with Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono
In 2004, Ban replaced Yoon Young Kwan as foreign minister of South Korea under president Roh Moo-hyun.[8] At the beginning of his term, Ban was faced with two major crises: in June 2004 Kim Sun-il, a Korean translator, was kidnapped and killed in Iraq by Islamic extremists; and in December 2004 dozens of Koreans died in the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami. Ban survived scrutiny from lawmakers and saw an upturn in his popularity when talks began with North Korea.[19] Ban became actively involved in issues relating to inter-Korean relationships.[18] In September 2005, as Foreign Minister, he played a leading role in the diplomatic efforts to adopt the Joint Statement on resolving the North Korean nuclear issue at the Fourth Round of the Six-party talks held in Beijing.[22][23]
As foreign minister, Ban oversaw the trade and aid policies of South Korea. This work put Ban in the position of signing trade deals and delivering foreign assistance to diplomats who would later be influential in his candidacy for Secretary-General. For example, Ban became the first senior South Korean minister to travel to the Republic of the Congo since its independence in 1960.[24]
Campaign for Secretary-General: 2007[link]
| 2007 Secretary-General candidates[25] | ||
|---|---|---|
| Name | Position | |
 |
Ban Ki-moon | South Korean foreign minister |
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Shashi Tharoor | Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations for public information; from India |
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Vaira Vīķe-Freiberga | President of Latvia |
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Ashraf Ghani | Chancellor of Kabul University, Afghanistan |
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Surakiart Sathirathai | Deputy prime minister of Thailand |
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Prince Zeid bin Ra'ad | Jordan's ambassador to the United Nations |
 |
Jayantha Dhanapala | Former Under-Secretary-General for disarmament; from Sri Lanka |
In February 2006, Ban declared his candidacy to replace Kofi Annan as UN Secretary-General at the end of 2006, becoming the first South Korean to run for the office.[26] Though Ban was the first to announce a candidacy, he was not originally considered a serious contender.[9]
Over the next eight months, Ban made ministerial visits to each of the 15 countries with a seat on the Security Council.[8] Of the seven candidates, he topped each of the four straw polls conducted by the United Nations Security Council: on 24 July,[27] 14 September,[28] 28 September,[29] and 2 October.[30]
During the period in which these polls took place, Ban made major speeches to the Asia Society and the Council on Foreign Relations in New York.[31][32] To be confirmed, Ban needed not only to win the support of the diplomatic community, but also to be able to avoid a veto from any of the five permanent members of the council: People's Republic of China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Ban was popular in Washington for having pushed to send South Korean troops to Iraq, and had the support of the Bush administration as he pursued the position.[33] But Ban also opposed several U.S. positions: he expressed his support for the International Criminal Court and favoured an entirely non-confrontational approach to dealing with North Korea.[8] Ban said during his campaign that he would like to visit North Korea in person to meet with Kim Jong-il directly.[23] Ban was viewed as a stark contrast from Kofi Annan, who was considered charismatic, but perceived as a weak manager because of problems surrounding the UN's oil-for-food program in Iraq.[16]
Ban struggled to win the approval of France. His official biography states that he speaks both English and French, the two working languages of the UN Secretariat. He has repeatedly struggled to answer questions in French from journalists.[12] Ban has repeatedly acknowledged his limitations at French, but assured French diplomats that he was devoted to continuing his study. At a press conference on 11 January 2007, Ban remarked, "My French perhaps could be improved, and I am continuing to work. I have taken French lessons over the last few months. I think that, even if my French isn't perfect, I will continue to study it."[34]
As the Secretary-General election drew closer, there was rising criticism of the South Korean campaign on Ban's behalf. Specifically, his alleged practice of systematically visiting all member states of the Security Council in his role as the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade to secure votes in his support by signing trade deals with European countries and pledging aid to developing countries were the focus of many news articles.[35] According to The Washington Post, "rivals have privately grumbled that Republic of Korea, which has the world's 11th-largest economy, has wielded its economic might to generate support for his candidacy." Ban reportedly said that these insinuations were "groundless." In an interview on 17 September 2006 he stated: "As front-runner, I know that I can become a target of this very scrutinizing process," and "I am a man of integrity."[36]
In the final informal poll on 2 October, Ban received fourteen favorable votes and one abstention ("no opinion") from the fifteen members of the Security Council. The one abstention came from the Japanese delegation, who vehemently opposed the idea of a Korean taking the role of Secretary-General. Due to the overwhelming support of Ban by the rest of the Security Council, Japan later voted in favor of Ban to avoid controversy. More importantly, Ban was the only one to escape a veto; each of the other candidates received at least one "no" vote from among the five permanent members. After the vote, Shashi Tharoor, who finished second, withdrew his candidacy[37] and China's Permanent Representative to the UN told reporters that "it is quite clear from today's straw poll that Minister Ban Ki-moon is the candidate that the Security Council will recommend to the General Assembly."[38]
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Wikinews has related news: General Assembly elects Ban Ki-moon as next UN chief |
On 9 October, the Security Council formally chose Ban as its nominee. In the public vote, he was supported by all 15 members of the council.[39] On 13 October, the 192-member General Assembly acclaimed Ban as Secretary-General.[21]
First Term as Secretary-General[link]
When Ban became Secretary-General, The Economist listed the major challenges facing him in 2007: "rising nuclear demons in Iran and North Korea, a haemorrhaging wound in Darfur, unending violence in the Middle East, looming environmental disaster, escalating international terrorism, the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, the spread of HIV/AIDS. And then the more parochial concerns, such as the largely unfinished business of the most sweeping attempt at reform in the UN's history."[40] Before starting, Kofi Annan shared the story that when the first Secretary-General Trygve Lie left office, he told his successor, Dag Hammarskjöld, "You are about to take over the most impossible job on earth."[21]
On 23 January 2007 Ban took office as the eighth Secretary-General of the United Nations. Ban's term as Secretary-General opened with a flap. At his first encounter with the press as Secretary-General on 2 January 2007, he refused to condemn the death penalty imposed on Saddam Hussein by the Iraqi High Tribunal, remarking that "The issue of capital punishment is for each and every member State to decide".[41] Ban's statements contradicted long-standing United Nations opposition to the death penalty as a human-rights concern.[42] He quickly clarified his stance in the case of Barzan al-Tikriti and Awad al-Bandar, two top officials who were convicted of the deaths of 148 Shia Muslims in the Iraqi village of Dujail in the 1980s. In a statement through his spokesperson on 6 January, he "strongly urged the Government of Iraq to grant a stay of execution to those whose death sentences may be carried out in the near future."[43][44] On the broader issue, he told a Washington, D.C., audience on 16 January 2007 that he recognized and encouraged the "growing trend in international society, international law and domestic policies and practices to phase out eventually the death penalty."[45]
On the tenth anniversary of Khmer Rouge leader Pol Pot's death, 15 April 2008, Ban Ki-moon appealed for the senior leaders of the regime to be brought to justice. The Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia-tribunal, which was established by both the United Nations and Cambodia and which became operational in 2006, is expected to continue until at least 2010.[46]
Cabinet[link]
In early January, Ban appointed the key members of his cabinet. As his Deputy Secretary-General, he selected Tanzanian foreign minister and professor Asha-Rose Migiro – a move that pleased African diplomats who had concerns of losing power without Annan in office.[47]
The top position devoted exclusively to management, Under-Secretary-General for Management, was filled by Alicia Bárcena Ibarra of Mexico. Bárcena was considered a UN insider, having previously served as Annan's chief of staff. Her appointment was seen by critics as an indication that Ban would not make dramatic changes to UN bureaucracy.[48] Ban appointed Sir John Holmes, the British Ambassador to France, as Under-Secretary-General for humanitarian affairs and coordinator of emergency relief.[48]
Ban initially said that he would delay making other appointments until his first round of reforms were approved, but he later abandoned this idea after receiving criticism.[43][49] In February he continued with appointments, selecting B. Lynn Pascoe, the U.S. ambassador to Indonesia, to become Under-Secretary-General for political affairs. Jean-Marie Guéhenno, a French diplomat, who had served as Under-Secretary-General for peacekeeping operations under Annan, remained in office. Ban selected Vijay K. Nambiar as his chief of staff.[50]
The appointment of many women to top jobs was seen as fulfilling a campaign promise Ban had made to increase the role of women in the United Nations. During Ban's first year as Secretary-General, more top jobs were being handled by women than ever before. Though not appointed by Ban, the president of the General Assembly, Haya Rashed Al-Khalifa, is only the third woman to hold this position in UN history.[51]
Reform agenda[link]
During his first month in office, Ban proposed two major restructurings: to split the UN peacekeeping operation into two departments and to combine the political affairs and disarmament department. His proposals were met with stiff resistance from members of the UN General Assembly who bristled under Ban's request for rapid approval. The proposed merger of the disarmament and political affairs offices was criticized by many in the developing world, partially because of rumours that Ban hoped to place American B. Lynn Pascoe in charge of the new office. Alejandro D. Wolff, then acting American ambassador, said the United States backed his proposals.[43][49]
After the early bout of reproach, Ban began extensive consultation with UN ambassadors, agreeing to have his peacekeeping proposal extensively vetted. After the consultations, Ban dropped his proposal to combine political affairs and disarmament.[52] Ban nevertheless pressed ahead with reforms on job requirements at the UN requiring that all positions be considered five-year appointments, all receive strict annual performance reviews, and all financial disclosures be made public. Though unpopular in the New York office, the move was popular in other UN offices around the world and lauded by UN observers.[53] Ban's proposal to split the peacekeeping operation into one group handling operations and another handling arms was finally adopted in mid-March 2007.[54]
Key issues[link]
The Secretary-General of the United Nations has the ability to influence debate on nearly any global issue. Although unsuccessful in some areas, Ban's predecessor Annan had been successful in increasing the UN peacekeeping presence and in popularizing the Millennium Development Goals. UN observers were eager to see on which issues Ban intends to focus, in addition to reform of the United Nations bureaucracy.[40]
On several prominent issues, such as proliferation in Iran and North Korea, Ban has deferred to the Security Council.[54] In 2007, the Republic of Nauru raised the issue of allowing the Republic of China (Taiwan) to sign the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women. Ban referenced the United Nations General Assembly Resolution 2758, and refused the motion. On 19 July 2007, Taiwanese President Chen Shui-bian wrote to request admission into the UN by the name Taiwan. Ban rejected the request.[55]
Global warming[link]
Ban early on identified global warming as one of the key issues of his administration. In a White House meeting with U.S. President George W. Bush in January, Ban urged Bush to take steps to curb greenhouse gas emissions. On 1 March 2007 in a speech before the UN General Assembly, Ban emphasized his concerns about global warming. Ban stated, "For my generation, coming of age at the height of the Cold War, fear of nuclear winter seemed the leading existential threat on the horizon. But the danger posed by war to all humanity — and to our planet — is at least matched by climate change"[56] (referring to Global Warming, see P:GW portal). On 3 September 2009 he further emphasized his concerns at the World Climate Conference in Geneva, when he stated, "Our foot is stuck on the accelerator and we are heading towards an abyss".[57]
Middle East[link]
On Thursday, 22 March 2007, while Ban was taking part in the first stop of a tour of the Middle East, a mortar attack hit just 80 meters (260 ft) from where the Secretary-General was standing, interrupting a press conference in Baghdad's Green Zone, and visibly shaking Ban and others. No one was hurt in the incident.[58] The United Nations had already limited its role in Iraq after its Baghdad headquarters was bombed in August 2003, killing 22 people. Ban said, however, that he still hoped to find a way for the United Nations to "do more for Iraqi social and political development."[59]
On his trip, Ban visited Egypt, Israel, the West Bank, Jordan, Lebanon and Saudi Arabia, where Ban attended a conference with leaders of the Arab League and met for several hours with Omar Hassan al-Bashir, the Sudanese president who had resisted UN peacekeepers in Darfur.[54] While Ban met with Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian president, he declined to meet with Ismail Haniya of Hamas.[60]
Ban Ki-moon criticized Israel on 10 March 2008 for planning to build housing units in a West Bank settlement, saying the decision conflicts with "Israel's obligation under the road map" for Middle East peace.[61]
During a meeting of the UN Security Council on Wednesday, 7 January 2009, Ban called for an immediate end to fighting in the Gaza Strip. He criticized both sides, Israel for bombarding Gaza and Hamas for firing rockets into Israel.[62]
Although the 2009 Iranian presidential election was widely disputed, Ban Ki-moon sent a traditional congratulation message [63] to the Iranian president upon his inauguration. He kept silent over the request of Shirin Ebadi to visit[64] Iran after the crackdown on peaceful post-election protests by the Iranian police – an event that was perceived by some as a crime against humanity .[65] More than 4000 people were arrested and nearly 70 were killed, some while being held in prison.[66] In another incident, several prominent intellectuals including Akbar Ganji, Hamid Dabashi, Noam Chomsky went on a three-day hunger strike in front of the UN. The incident was followed by an official request[67] by more than 200 intellectuals, human rights activists and reformist politicians in Iran for the UN reaction. Ban Ki-moon however did not take any action to stop the violence in Iran.
On 9 May 2012 Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon expressed his concern about the condition of the Palestinian hunger strikers in Israeli prisons.[68]
Darfur[link]
Ban took the first foreign trip of his term to attend the African Union summit in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, in January 2007 as part of an effort to reach out to the Group of 77.[40] He repeatedly identified Darfur as the top humanitarian priority of his administration.[54] Ban played a large role, with several face-to-face meetings with Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir, in convincing Sudan to allow UN peacekeepers to enter the Darfur region. On 31 July 2007 the United Nations Security Council approved sending 26,000 UN peacekeepers into the region to join 7,000 troops from the African Union. The resolution was heralded as a major breakthrough in confronting the Darfur conflict (although the United States labeled the conflict a "genocide," the United Nations has declined to do so). The first phase of the peacekeeping mission began in October 2007.[69]
Myanmar[link]
Ban Ki-moon flew to Myanmar on 25 May 2008 to guide a conference with international agencies aimed at boosting donations for the nation, which was struck by Cyclone Nargis on 2 May 2008. The conference was initiated after Ban had met with Than Shwe, the leading figure of Myanmar's government 23 May 2008. Ban toured the devastation—especially in the hard-hit Irrawaddy Delta—23 May 2008 and 24 May 2008. Myanmar officials agreed to allow the Yangon International Airport to be used as a logistical hub for aid distribution.[70]
Campaign for second term as Secretary-General: 2011[link]
On 6 June 2011, Ban Ki-moon formally announced his candidacy for a second consecutive term[5] as Secretary-General of the United Nations. He announced his candidacy at a press conference, following a meeting with the Asian group of countries at the United Nations. Ban Ki-moon's first mandate as the Secretary-General was set to end on 31 December 2011.[71] The five permanent Security Council members supported his candidacy. There was no declared rival for the post.[72]
On 17 June 2011, he received the recommendation of the Security Council by a unanimous vote,[73] and, on 21 June, his nomination was confirmed by a unanimous[6] acclamation vote at the United Nations General Assembly.[74]
His new five-year term as Secretary-General commenced on 1 January 2012[75] and will end on 31 December 2016.[5]
Honors and awards[link]
- Ban Ki-moon was awarded the Order of Service Merit by the Government of the Republic of Korea on three occasions: in 1975, 1986 and 2006.[22]
- For his accomplishments as an envoy, he received the Decoration for Services to the Republic of Austria in 2001.
- He was bestowed the Grand Cross of Rio Branco by the government of Brazil.
- He was bestowed the Gran Cruz del Sol by the government of Peru.
- He was bestowed a Doctor Honoris Causa by the National University of San Marcos, the main university in Peru and the oldest of the Americas (2011).
- He was bestowed a Doctor of Laws Degree Honoris Causa by the University of the Philippines College of Law, the national university of the country, in 2008.
- He was honored with James A. Van Fleet Award by the Korea Society in New York City for his contributions to friendship between the United States and the Republic of Korea.[76]
Controversy[link]
According to The Washington Post, "some U.N. employees and delegates" expressed resentment at Ban's perceived favoritism in the appointment of South Korean nationals in key posts. Previous U.N. chiefs such as Kurt Waldheim (Austria), Javier Pérez de Cuéllar (Peru) and Boutros Boutros-Ghali (Egypt) brought small teams of trusted aides or clerical workers from their country's Foreign Ministry. But according to "some officials" in the Post story, Ban has gone further, boosting South Korea's presence in U.N. ranks by more than 20 percent during his first year in office. In response, Ban and his aides have claimed that allegations of favoritism are wrong, and that some of the harshest criticisms against him have undercurrents of racism.[77] He said that the South Korean nationals he had appointed — including Choi Young-jin, who has served as a high-ranking official in the United Nations' peacekeeping department — are highly qualified for their positions. Others such as Donald P. Gregg, a former U.S. ambassador to South Korea say the complaints are driven by envy, "I think being from South Korea, and people have growing respect for South Korea, that's a great enhancement for the secretary general. If he brings along talented people who (whom) he knows very well, I think that's also a plus." U.N. records show that South Korea, the organization's eleventh-largest financial contributor, had 54 South Korean nationals assigned to its mission six months before Ban took over the top U.N. post. [77]
Former U.N. Under Secretary Inga-Britt Ahlenius denounced Ban Ki Moon after resigning her post in 2010, calling him reprehensible.[78]
Question of bias[link]
During the ROKS Cheonan sinking saga, he took the unusual step of demanding action against North Korea for the alleged sinking of a vessel from his country. This move was perceived[by whom?] as unusual because it was rare for any Secretary-General—and particularly Ban Ki-moon—to comment on the Security Council taking action on a particular issue as his office had, in the past, tended to be extremely deferential to the Security Council.[79]
References[link]
- ^ a b c d e f g Warren Hoge (2006-12-09). "For New U.N. Chief, a Past Misstep Leads to Opportunity". The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/09/world/asia/09ban.html?_r=3&ref=world&oref=slogin&oref=slogin&oref=slogin.
- ^ a b "Correction: Ban Ki-moon". The Economist. 2007-01-11. http://www.economist.com/world/displaystory.cfm?story_id=8525903. Retrieved 2007-08-02.
- ^ a b "Transcript of Press Conference by Secretary-General-Designate Ban Ki-moon At United Nations Headquarters". un.org. 13 October 2006. http://www.un.org/News/Press/docs/2006/sg2117.doc.htm. Retrieved 2007-12-15.
- ^ "Ahlenius End of Assignment Report". Foreign Policy. 2010-06-14. http://www.foreignpolicy.com/files/fp_uploaded_documents/100719_0_ahleniussummary.pdf. Retrieved 2012-01-16.
- ^ a b c "General Assembly appoints Ban Ki-moon to second term as UN Secretary-General". UN News Service. 21 June 2011. http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=38797&Cr=secretary-general&Cr1=. Retrieved 21 June 2011.
- ^ a b Louis Charbonneau (21 June 2011). "U.N. assembly approves second term for U.N. chief Ban". Reuters. http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/06/21/us-un-election-idUSTRE75K5XZ20110621. Retrieved 22 June 2011.
- ^ a b c Martin Fackler (2006-12-22). "On His Ancestors' Wings, a Korean Soars to the U.N.". The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/22/world/asia/22ban.html?ex=1324443600&en=78d0549ab6ed28c9&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss.
- ^ a b c d e f g Maggie Farley and Bruce Wallace (2006-10-09). "Aspiring U.N. Chief Is a Harmonizer, Not a Rock Star; South Korean career diplomat Ban Ki-moon may lack charisma, but he has many fans". The Los Angeles Times.
- ^ a b c d e Anna Fifield (2006-10-10). "Relentless pursuit brings a challenge close to home; Profile Ban Ki-moon". Financial Times.
- ^ University of Malta (2009-04-17). "Honoris Causa". News on Campus.
- ^ Heim, Kristi (2009-10-26). "A conversation with UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon". The Seattle Times. http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/thebusinessofgiving/2010141457_on_saturday_they_tried_somethi.html.
- ^ a b "Is Ban Ki-moon a franco-phoney?". CBC News. 2006-12-14. http://www.cbc.ca/news/reportsfromabroad/herland/20061214.html. Retrieved 2007-08-02.
- ^ a b "Ban Ki-moon's family nuptial ties with India". Rediff News. 31 October 2008. http://www.rediff.com/news/2008/oct/31moon.htm. Retrieved 5 June 2011.
- ^ "Ban ki-Moon at the World Hindi Conference". Rediff News. 14 July 2007. http://www.rediff.com/news/2007/jul/13hindi.htm. Retrieved 5 June 2011.
- ^ "반기문 총장 아들 내달 결혼" (in Korean). Dong-a Ilbo. 2009-04-28. http://www.donga.com/fbin/output?n=200904280139.
- ^ a b "Enter Mr Ban; The UN's new secretary-general" (PDF). The Economist. 2006-10-07. http://www.unsgselection.org/files/Economist_EnterMrBan_7Oct06.pdf.
- ^ a b "Can This Guy Run the U.N.?". Time Magazine. 2006-10-16. http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1543932,00.html.
- ^ a b c "Profile: Ban Ki-moon". BBC News. 2006-10-13. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/5401856.stm. Retrieved 2007-08-04.
- ^ a b c d e Lee Joo-hee (2006-02-15). "Ban surges toward next career step". The Korea Herald.
- ^ Warren Hoge (2006-10-03). "Council Backs South Korean for U.N. Secretary General". The New York Times.
- ^ a b c Warren Hoge (2006-10-14). "South Korean Is Appointed Secretary General of the U.N.". The New York Times.
- ^ a b "Official U.N. biography". un.org. http://www.un.org/sg/biography.shtml. Retrieved 2007-08-12.
- ^ a b Lally Weymouth (2006-10-23). "A Baptism by Fire; Even before taking office, the newly elected secretary-general of the United Nations is confronted with a global crisis". Newsweek. http://www.newsweek.com/id/45039.
- ^ Colum Lynch (2006-09-29). "S. Korean Contender for U.N. Post Has an Edge; Ban Ki Moon's Rivals Complain About His Role in Foreign Aid and Trade Policy". The Washington Post.
- ^ Warren Hoge (2006-09-29). "South Korean Favored to Win Top Job at U.N.". The New York Times.
- ^ Song-wu, Park (2006-02-14). "Minister Ban to Run for Top UN Job". The Korea Times. http://times.hankooki.com/lpage/nation/200602/kt2006021416334111990.htm. Retrieved 2006-09-28. [dead link]
- ^ "Ban takes 1st Straw Poll". UNSG.org. 2006-07-24. http://www.unsg.org/wordpress/archives/115. Retrieved 2006-09-28. [dead link]
- ^ "Ban firms up lead in second Straw Poll". UNSG.org. 2006-09-14. http://www.unsg.org/wordpress/archives/138. Retrieved 2006-09-28. [dead link]
- ^ "Ban slips but holds, Vīķe-Freiberga pushes into third". UNSG.org. 2006-09-28. http://www.unsg.org/wordpress/archives/164. Retrieved 2006-09-28. [dead link]
- ^ "Ban Ki-moon wins". UNSG.org. 2006-10-02. http://www.unsg.org/wordpress/archives/170. Retrieved 2006-10-02. [dead link]
- ^ "Foreign Minister Ban Ki-moon interview". Asiasource.org. 2006-09-26. http://www.asiasource.org/news/special_reports/kimoon.cfm. Retrieved 2007-08-02.
- ^ "The Quest for Peace and Prosperity in the Asia-Pacific and Beyond". Ban Ki-moon address to Asia Society (transcript). 2006-09-25. http://www.asiasociety.org/speeches/06ny_ban.html. Retrieved 2007-08-02.
- ^ "UN’s Lynn Pascoe cannot avoid being influenced by US State Department agenda on Sri Lanka", Daya Gamage. Asian Tribune. April 30, 2010. Accessed June 7, 2011
- ^ "Secretary-General's press conference". United Nations. 2007-01-11. http://www.un.org/apps/sg/sgstats.asp?nid=2407. Retrieved 2007-08-02.
- ^ Beeston, Richard; Bone, James (2006-09-26). "Millions of dollars and a piano may put Korean in UN's top job". The Times (London). http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,25689-2380336,00.html. Retrieved 2007-08-02.
- ^ Lynch, Colum (2006-09-28). "S. Korean Contender for U.N. Post Has an Edge". The Washington Post. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/09/28/AR2006092801765.html. Retrieved 2007-08-02.
- ^ "Shashi Tharoor pulls out of UN race". NDTV.com. 2006-10-03. http://www.ndtv.com/video/player/news/shashi-tharoor-pulls-out-of-un-race/7904. Retrieved 2006-10-02.
- ^ "United Nations Webcast of announcement". United Nations. http://webcast.un.org/ramgen/sc/so061002pm3.rm. Retrieved 2007-08-02.
- ^ Warren Hoge and Choe Sang-Hun (2006-10-10). "Security Council Approves South Korean as U.N. Chief". The New York Times.
- ^ a b c "Mission impossible?—The United Nations". The Economist. 2007-01-06.
- ^ "Secretary-General's encounter with the UN press corps (transcript)". United Nations. 2007-01-02. http://www.un.org/apps/sg/offthecuff.asp?nid=964. Retrieved 2007-08-02.
- ^ Julia Preston (2007-01-03). "New U.N. Chief Invites Controversy by Declining to Oppose Hussein Execution". The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/03/world/middleeast/03nations.html.
- ^ a b c Mark Turner (2007-02-01). "Ban's month of muddle: how the new UN chief is struggling to win over the doubters". Financial Times.
- ^ "Statement attributable to the Spokesperson for the Secretary-General on the death sentences in Iraq". United Nations. 2007-01-06. http://www.un.org/apps/sg/sgstats.asp?nid=2395. Retrieved 2007-08-02.
- ^ "Address at the Center for Strategic and International Studies and Q&A (transcript)". United Nations. 2007-01-16. http://www.un.org/apps/sg/sgstats.asp?nid=2410. Retrieved 2007-08-02.
- ^ "U.N. chief calls for justice in Cambodia". CNN. 2008-04-15. http://edition.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/asiapcf/04/15/un.pol.pot/index.html. Retrieved 2008-04-15.
- ^ Julia Preston (2007-01-06). "Tanzanian Woman Is Chosen for U.N.'s 2nd Highest Post". The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/06/world/06nations.html.
- ^ a b Julia Preston (2007-01-04). "Mexican U.N. Insider Gets Manager's Post".
- ^ a b Warren Hoge (2007-02-06). "U.N. Chief Returns to Headquarters, Where Battles Await Him". The New York Times.
- ^ Warren Hoge (2007-02-10). "U.N. Chief Gives Key Post to American". The New York Times.
- ^ Stevenson Swanson (2007-04-11). "Leaders making world of difference\ Higher profile at UN brings new emphasis on issues affecting women". Chicago Tribune.
- ^ Warren Hoge (2007-02-19). "U.N. Chief Is Assuaging Doubts About Leadership". The New York Times.
- ^ Warren Hoge (2007-02-28). "New United Nations Chief Tackles the Agency's Tradition of Patronage Jobs". The New York Times.
- ^ a b c d Maggie Farley (2007-04-11). "Ban Ki-moon learns the hard way". The Irish Times.
- ^ "MOFA spokesman slams Ban Ki-moon for rejecting UN bid". Taipei Times. 2007-07-30. http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/archives/2007/07/30/2003371907. Retrieved 2007-08-30.
- ^ Colum Lynch (2007-03-02). "U.N. Secretary General Calls Global Warming a Priority". The Washington Post. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/01/AR2007030101484.html.
- ^ Ban urges rapid progress in negotiations on new climate change pact UN News Centre, 3 September 2009.
- ^ Rocket blast shakes UN chief in Baghdad Xinhua – 2007-03-23
- ^ Warren Hoge (2007-03-24). "U.N. Chief Isn't Discouraged by His Close Call in Iraq". The New York Times.
- ^ Warren Hoge (2007-04-03). "On Mideast Trip, U.N. Chief Sought to Expand New Role". The New York Times.
- ^ "U.N. blasts Israel for West Bank housing expansion plan". CNN. 2008-03-10. http://edition.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/meast/03/10/israel.palestinian.settlement/index.html. Retrieved 2008-03-10.
- ^ "U.N. blasts Israel for West Bank housing expansion plan". BBC. 2009-01-07.
- ^ UN toasts Ahmadinejad win, as 69 said killed in Iran protests – Haaretz Daily Newspaper|Israel News. Haaretz.com. Retrieved on 2011-05-06.
- ^ "Nobel laureate calls on U.N. chief to visit Iran". Reuters. 2009-08-11. http://www.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idUSTRE57A0HY20090811.
- ^ "British, French embassy workers on trial over Iran protests". CNN. 2009-08-09. http://edition.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/meast/08/08/iran.detainee.trials/. Retrieved 2010-04-07.
- ^ "Iran admits 4,000 June detentions". BBC News. 2009-08-11. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/8195586.stm. Retrieved 2010-04-07.
- ^ Ganji, Akbar (2009-08-12). "Dear Mr Ban, heed the Iranian people". The Guardian (London). http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/aug/12/iran-ban-ki-moon-protest. Retrieved 2010-04-07.
- ^ http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=41959&Cr=palestin&Cr1=
- ^ Cheryl Corley (2007-08-02). "United Nations Deploys Peacekeeping Troops to Darfur". Tell Me More on NPR.
- ^ CNN (2008-05-25). "Cyclone aid conference opens in Myanmar".
- ^ "Ban Ki-moon launches official re-election campaign". Xinhua. 2011-06-06. http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/world/2011-06/06/c_13913806.htm. Retrieved 2011-06-22.
- ^ Agence France-Presse (2011-06-05). "Ban Ki-moon reelection campaign gathers pace". Hurriyet Daily News. http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/n.php?n=ban-ki-moon-reelection-campaign-gathers-pace-2011-06-05. Retrieved 2011-06-22.
- ^ Patrick Worsnip (2011-06-17). "U.N. council recommends 2nd term for Ban Ki-moon". Reuters. http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/06/17/us-un-election-idUSTRE75G42820110617. Retrieved 2011-06-22.
- ^ "General Assembly Appoints Secretary-General Ban Ki–moon to Second Term of Office". UN Press Office. 2011-06-21. http://www.un.org/News/Press/docs//2011/ga11102.doc.htm. Retrieved 2011-06-22.
- ^ PTI (2011-06-22). "Ban Ki-moon unanimously elected for second term as UN chief". The Times of India. http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/06/17/us-un-election-idUSTRE75G42820110617. Retrieved 2011-06-22.
- ^ "Samsung Chairman Lee Receives Van Fleet Award". KBS World. 2006-09-20. http://liveweb.web.archive.org/http://world.kbs.co.kr/english/news/news_detail.htm?No=39557. Retrieved 2006-09-28. [dead link]
- ^ a b Colum Lynch (2007-10-21). "Under U.N. Chief, Koreans in Key Posts: Ban Ki-moon Denies Playing Favorites". Washington Post. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/10/20/AR2007102001008.html. Retrieved 2007-10-23.
- ^ "investigator says Ban is "embarrassing" himself", Abby Wisse Schachter. New York Post. July 20, 2010. Accessed June 7, 2011
- ^ "Ban Ki Moon Joins The North Korea-Security Council Debate". UN Dispatch. Archived from the original on 2010-05-28. http://web.archive.org/web/20100528051009/http://www.undispatch.com/node/9910. Retrieved 2010-05-25.
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- Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, official United Nations profile, statements, reports, press briefings
- Column archive at The Guardian
- Appearances on C-SPAN
- Ban Ki-moon on Charlie Rose
- Ban Ki-moon at the Internet Movie Database
- Works by or about Ban Ki-moon in libraries (WorldCat catalog)
- Ban Ki-moon collected news and commentary at Al Jazeera English
- Ban Ki-moon collected news and commentary at The Guardian
- Ban Ki-moon collected news and commentary at The New York Times
- Ban Ki-moon collected news and commentary at The Wall Street Journal
- Ban Ki-moon interview with Dennis Wholey on 23 February 2006
- Ban Ki-moon's address to the United Nations General Assembly, General Debate of the 63rd Session, 23 September 2008
- Ban Ki-moon on Sixty Years of UN Peacekeeping, Dublin Castle, 7 July 2009
| Political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Yoon Young-kwan |
Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade of South Korea 2004–2006 |
Succeeded by Song Min-soon |
| Diplomatic posts | ||
| Preceded by Kofi Annan |
Secretary-General of the United Nations 2007–present |
Incumbent |
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| Persondata | |
|---|---|
| Name | Ban, Ki-moon |
| Alternative names | 반기문 (Hangul); 潘基文 (Hanja) |
| Short description | Current Secretary-General of the United Nations |
| Date of birth | 13 June 1944 |
| Place of birth | Eumseong County, South Korea |
| Date of death | |
| Place of death | |
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This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License, which means that you can copy and modify it as long as the entire work (including additions) remains under this license.
This article is about the American journalist. For the talk show, see Charlie Rose (talk show). For other people with the same name, see Charlie Rose (disambiguation).
| Charlie Rose | |
|---|---|
 Rose in May 2010 |
|
| Born | Charles Peete Rose, Jr. (1942-01-05) January 5, 1942 (age 70) Henderson, North Carolina, U.S. |
| Education | Duke University B.A. (1964) Duke University J.D. (1968) |
| Occupation | Talk show host Journalist |
| Years active | 1972–present |
| Notable credit(s) | Charlie Rose, 60 Minutes II, 60 Minutes, CBS News Nightwatch, CBS This Morning |
| Website | |
| http://www.charlierose.com/ | |
Charles Peete "Charlie" Rose, Jr. (born January 5, 1942)[1] is an American television talk show host and journalist. Since 1991 he has hosted Charlie Rose, an interview show distributed nationally by PBS since 1993. He has also co-anchored CBS This Morning since January 2012. Rose, along with Lara Logan, has hosted the revived CBS classic Person to Person, a news program during which celebrities are interviewed in their homes, originally hosted from 1953 to 1961 by Edward R. Murrow.[2]
Contents |
Early life[link]
Rose was born in Henderson, North Carolina, the only child[3] of Margaret Frazier and Charles Peete Rose, Sr., tobacco farmers who owned a country store.[4][5] As a child, Rose lived above his parents' store in Henderson and helped out with the family business from age seven.[6] Rose admitted in a Fresh Dialogues interview that as a child his insatiable curiosity was constantly getting him in trouble.[7] A high school basketball star, Rose entered Duke University intending to pursue a degree with a pre-med track, but an internship in the office of Democratic North Carolina Senator B. Everett Jordan got him interested in politics.[8] Rose graduated in 1964 with a bachelor's degree in history. At Duke, he was a member of the Kappa Alpha Order fraternity. He earned a Juris Doctor from the Duke University School of Law in 1968.[6] He met his wife, Mary (née King), while attending Duke.[3][4]
Career[link]
After his wife was hired by the BBC (in New York), Rose handled some assignments for the BBC on a freelance basis. In 1972, while continuing to work at Bankers Trust, he landed a job as a weekend reporter for WPIX-TV. His break came in 1974, after Bill Moyers hired Rose as managing editor for the PBS series Bill Moyers' International Report. In 1975, Moyers named Rose executive producer of Bill Moyers Journal. Rose soon began appearing on camera. "A Conversation with Jimmy Carter," one installment of Moyers's series U.S.A.: People and Politics, won a 1976 Peabody Award. Rose worked at several networks honing his interview skills until KXAS-TV in Dallas-Fort Worth hired him as program manager and gave him the late-night time slot that would become the Charlie Rose show.
Rose worked for CBS News (1984–1990) as the anchor of CBS News Nightwatch, the network's first late-night news broadcast. The Nightwatch broadcast of Rose's interview with Charles Manson won an Emmy Award in 1987.[4] In 1990, Rose left CBS to serve as anchor of Personalities, a syndicated program produced by Fox Broadcasting Company, but he got out of his contract after six weeks because of the tabloid-style content of the show. Charlie Rose premiered on PBS station Thirteen/WNET on September 30, 1991, and has been nationally syndicated since January 1993. In 1994, Rose moved the show to a studio owned by Bloomberg Television, which allowed for improved satellite interviewing.[9]
Rose was a correspondent for 60 Minutes II[10] from its inception in January 1999 until its cancellation in September 2005, and was later named a correspondent on 60 Minutes.[11]
Rose was a member of the board of directors of Citadel Broadcasting Corporation from 2003 to 2009.[3] In May 2010, Charlie Rose delivered the commencement address at North Carolina State University.
On November 15, 2011, it was announced that Rose would return to CBS to help anchor CBS This Morning, replacing The Early Show, commencing January 9, 2012, along with co-anchors Erica Hill and Gayle King.
Cameo appearances[link]
Rose has appeared as himself in the 1998 film Primary Colors,[12] in a 2000 episode of The Simpsons[13] and in the 2008 movie Elegy.[14] He and his show were also used in the Wes Anderson film The Royal Tenenbaums. He also appears as himself in the 2011 George Clooney directed film, The Ides of March.
[edit] Accusations of conflict of interest
While hosting the 2002 Coca-Cola Company shareholders' meeting, Rose said "few companies are able to connect as completely with consumers in the way that Coca-Cola is. It is a privilege to be associated with [The Coca-Cola family] ... This is the business of Coca-Cola: being part of a family, being worldwide, doing well and doing good at the same time."[15] Afterward, Coca-Cola agreed to become what Rose called "a leading underwriter" of The Charlie Rose Show, paying "six or possibly seven figures."[16] Even the Charlie Rose mugs used on his PBS show feature a Coca-Cola logo on one side.[17][18] Although CBS News policy bars correspondents from doing commercials and product endorsements, the Washington Post reported CBS was "comfortable" with Rose's actions. Rose insists he "would never do a story on 60 Minutes II about anybody who underwrites my PBS show."[16]
[edit] Quiet influence
The New York Times reported that Rose encouraged a discussion between the leaders of NBC and Fox, that led eventually to a mutual reduction in ad hominem attacks between Keith Olbermann and Bill O'Reilly on their respective news programs.[19]
Rose has attended several Bilderberg Group conference meetings, including meetings held in the United States in 2008;[20] Spain in 2010;[21] and Switzerland in 2011.[22] These unofficial conferences hold guests from North America and Western Europe, most of whom are political leaders and businessmen. Details of meetings are closed off to the public and strictly invitation-only, and critics[who?] speculate the controversial nature of these meetings of highly influential people. Accusations from conspiracy theorists against The Charlie Rose show claim that it has become the US media outlet for Bilderberg.[23][unreliable source?]
Personal life[link]
Rose's twelve-year marriage to Mary Rose (née King) ended in divorce in 1980. Mary is the sister-in-law of Morgan Stanley Chairman John J. Mack. Since 1993, his companion has been socialite and chairman of the New York City Planning Commission and director of the city department of planning Amanda Burden, a stepdaughter of CBS founder William S. Paley.[24]
On March 29, 2006, after experiencing shortness of breath in Syria, Rose was flown to Paris and underwent surgery for mitral valve repair in the Georges-Pompidou European Hospital. His surgery was performed under the supervision of Alain F. Carpentier, a pioneer of the procedure.[25] Rose returned to the air on June 12, 2006, with Bill Moyers and Yvette Vega (the show's executive producer), to discuss his surgery and recuperation.
In a 2009 Fresh Dialogues interview, Rose described his life as "great and glorious."[7] He added, '"I get up every morning with a new adventure. The adventure is fueled by interesting people. I get a chance to control my own destiny. I do something that is immediately either appreciated or not. I get feedback."
Rose owns a 575-acre (2.33 km2) farm in Oxford, North Carolina, an apartment overlooking Central Park in New York City, a beach house in Bellport, New York, an apartment in Washington D.C.[3] and an apartment in Paris, France.
References[link]
- ^ Marks, Peter (January 5, 1993). "The Love Cult of Charlie Rose". Newsday: p. 42.
- ^ "Charlie Rose, Lara Logan on "Person to Person". Person to Person (CBS News). February 8, 2012. http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-505383_162-57373639/charlie-rose-lara-logan-on-person-to-person/. Retrieved May 3, 2012.
- ^ a b c d Kaplan, David A. (September 28, 2009). "Why business loves Charlie Rose". Fortune. http://money.cnn.com/2009/09/25/magazines/fortune/charlie_rose.fortune/index.htm?section=money_latest. Retrieved December 18, 2009.
- ^ a b c O'Shaughnessy, Elise (September 1993). "The Fame of the Rose". Vanity Fair 56 (9): pp. 172–181. ISSN 0733-8899.
- ^ "Charlie Rose Biography (1942–)". Filmreference.com. January 5, 1942. http://www.filmreference.com/film/1/Charlie-Rose.html. Retrieved December 8, 2011.
- ^ a b Charlie Rose biography from Bloomberg News
- ^ a b van Diggelen, Alison (February 26, 2009). "Transcript of Interview with Charlie Rose". Fresh Dialogues. http://www.freshdialogues.com/2009/02/26/transcript-of-fresh-dialogues-with-charlie-rose/. Retrieved February 7, 2012.
- ^ The North Carolina Awards: Charlie Rose (1942 -) Public Service 2007 from the website of the State Library of North Carolina
- ^ Charlie Rose, Bloomberg News
- ^ 60 Minutes II profile from CBS News
- ^ "Charlie Rose". CBS News. January 17, 2008. http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/01/17/60minutes/bios/main3725276.shtml. Retrieved December 6, 2009.
- ^ Charlie Rose at the Internet Movie Database
- ^ Nancy Basile. ""The Simpsons" Episode Guide – Season Eleven". About.com. http://animatedtv.about.com/od/thesimpsonsepisodes/a/epguidesimp11.htm. Retrieved September 12, 2008.
- ^ Leslie Felperin (February 10, 2008). "Review of Elegy". Variety. http://www.variety.com/index.asp?layout=festivals&jump=review&id=2478&reviewid=VE1117936157&starting=1. Retrieved August 8, 2008.
- ^ audio, aired on Le Show
- ^ a b Lloyd Grove, "The Reliable Source," Washington Post, April 23, 2002, C03
- ^ Orange County Weekly, January 24, 2003
- ^ Fear & Favor 2003: How power shapes the news, Extra!, FAIR, March/April 2003
- ^ Stelter, Brian (August 1, 2009). "Voices From Above Silence a Cable TV Feud". The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/01/business/media/01feud.html. Retrieved November 7, 2010.
- ^ Fobes, Stefan (June 23, 2008). "My analysis of Bilderberg 2008". A War of Illusions. WordPress.com. http://warofillusions.wordpress.com/2008/06/23/my-analysis-of-bilderberg-2008. Retrieved August 25, 2011.
- ^ "Bilderberg 2010 list of participants". BilderbergMeetings.org. http://www.bilderbergmeetings.org/participants_2010.html. Retrieved August 25, 2011.
- ^ "Bilderberg 2011 list of participants". BilderbergMeetings.org. http://www.bilderbergmeetings.org/participants_2011.html. Retrieved August 25, 2011.
- ^ Newman, Alex (June 12, 2011). "Awareness of Bilderberg Cabal Explodes in 2011". The New American. http://thenewamerican.com/world-mainmenu-26/europe-mainmenu-35/7841-awareness-of-bilderberg-cabal-explodes-in-2011. Retrieved August 25, 2011.
- ^ Gardner, Ralph (May 13, 2002). "Social Planner". Nymag.com. http://nymag.com/nymetro/news/politics/newyork/features/6005/. Retrieved December 8, 2011.
- ^ Kaplan, David A. (September 28, 2009). "Why business loves Charlie Rose". CNN. http://money.cnn.com/2009/09/25/magazines/fortune/charlie_rose.fortune/index.htm?postversion=2009092811. Retrieved December 8, 2011.
External links[link]
 |
This article's use of external links may not follow Wikipedia's policies or guidelines. Please improve this article by removing excessive or inappropriate external links, and converting useful links where appropriate into footnote references. (March 2012) |
- Charlie Rose Official website of his eponymous show
- Charlie Rose official channel on YouTube
- Appearances on C-SPAN
- Charlie Rose at the Internet Movie Database
- Charlie Rose collected news and commentary at the Los Angeles Times
- Charlie Rose collected news and commentary at The New York Times
- Charlie Rose at the Notable Names Database
- Charlie Rose shows on Hulu
- celebritynetworth.com, Celebrity Net Worth, Charlie Rose
- Why Business Loves Charlie Rose David A. Kaplan, Fortune, September 28, 2009
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| Persondata | |
|---|---|
| Name | Rose, Charlie |
| Alternative names | Rose, Charles Peete, Jr. |
| Short description | American TV interviewer and journalist |
| Date of birth | 1942-01-05 |
| Place of birth | Henderson, North Carolina |
| Date of death | |
| Place of death | |
http://wn.com/Charlie_Rose
Related pages:
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http://fr.wn.com/Charlie Rose
http://de.wn.com/Charlie Rose
This page contains text from Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlie_Rose
This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License, which means that you can copy and modify it as long as the entire work (including additions) remains under this license.
This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License, which means that you can copy and modify it as long as the entire work (including additions) remains under this license.
