Dan Meridor
Encyclopedia
Dan Meridor is an Israel
i 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
.
, 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.
.
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.
After successive clashes with Netanyahu, Meridor left the cabinet in June 1997. His public image suffered during that period, when he was compared to Hamlet
(for his indecisiveness) and to a fraidy cat
on a popular TV show, "Hartzufim
".
In 1998, together with several other Likud and Labor Party members, he co-founded Israel in the Centre, which later became the Centre Party. He was elected as a Centre Party MK in the 1999 elections, and was appointed chairman of the Knesset's Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee
. After Ariel Sharon
became Prime Minister in 2001, Meridor was made a Minister without Portfolio
.
Meridor lost his seat following the 2003 elections. During his time in the Knesset he also served as the Knesset observer to the Council of Europe
.
After leaving the Knesset, Meridor served as international chair of the Jerusalem Foundation
. He took part in the Winograd Commission
that investigated Israel's actions in the 2006 Lebanon War.
In the run-up to the 2006 elections, Meridor received offers by Labor and Yisrael Beiteinu, but he seemed to harbor hopes of being called to Kadima
's list. However, his inclusion was vetoed by Ariel Sharon's sons, Gilad and Omri Sharon
. He later rejoined Likud, and won seventeenth place on the party's list for the 2009 elections. He returned to the Knesset after the party won 27 seats.
In the Netanyahu cabinet formed after that election, Meridor was appointed Minister of Intelligence and Atomic Energy, and deputy Prime Minister http://www.knesset.gov.il/mk/eng/mk_eng.asp?mk_individual_id_t=88.
, the private sector, and government-sponsored panels. They have four children.
Meridor's younger brother Sallai Meridor
was Chairman of the Jewish Agency for Israel
and the World Zionist Organization
from 1999–2005, and was appointed as Israeli ambassador to the United States in 2006.
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
i politician and minister
Cabinet of Israel
The Cabinet of Israel is a formal body composed of government officials called ministers, chosen and led by the Prime Minister. The Prime Minister must appoint members based on the distribution of votes to political parties during legislative elections, and its composition must be approved by a...
. A longtime member of the Likud
Likud
Likud is the major center-right political party in Israel. It was founded in 1973 by Menachem Begin in an alliance with several right-wing and liberal parties. Likud's victory in the 1977 elections was a major turning point in the country's political history, marking the first time the left had...
party, in the late 1990s he became one of the founders of the Centre Party
Centre Party (Israel)
The Centre Party , originally known as Israel in the Centre, was a short-lived political party in Israel. Formed in 1999 by former Defense Minister Yitzhak Mordechai, the aim was to create a group of moderates to challenge both Binyamin Netanyahu on the right and opposition leader Ehud Barak's...
. He rejoined Likud in the early 2000s, and returned to the Knesset following the 2009 elections
Israeli legislative election, 2009
Elections for the 18th Knesset were held in Israel on 10 February 2009. These elections became necessary due to the resignation of Prime Minister Ehud Olmert as leader of the Kadima party, and the failure of his successor, Tzipi Livni, to form a coalition government...
. Meridor currently serves as Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Intelligence and Atomic Energy in the Israeli Cabinet
Cabinet of Israel
The Cabinet of Israel is a formal body composed of government officials called ministers, chosen and led by the Prime Minister. The Prime Minister must appoint members based on the distribution of votes to political parties during legislative elections, and its composition must be approved by a...
.
Biography
Born in Jerusalem towards the end of the Mandate era, Meridor is the son of Eliyahu MeridorEliyahu Meridor
Eliyahu Meridor was an Israeli politician who served as a member of the Knesset for Herut and Gahal from 1959 until his death in 1966.-Biography:...
, a longtime political associate of Menachem Begin
Menachem Begin
' 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,...
in the Irgun
Irgun
The Irgun , or Irgun Zevai Leumi to give it its full title , was a Zionist paramilitary group that operated in Mandate Palestine between 1931 and 1948. It was an offshoot of the earlier and larger Jewish paramilitary organization haHaganah...
and Herut
Herut
Herut was the major right-wing political party in Israel from the 1940s until its formal merger into Likud in 1988, and an adherent of Revisionist Zionism.-History:...
(which he represented in the Knesset), and Ra'anana Meridor, an associate professor of Classics at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Hebrew University of Jerusalem
The Hebrew University of Jerusalem ; ; abbreviated HUJI) is Israel's second-oldest university, after the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology. The Hebrew University has three campuses in Jerusalem and one in Rehovot. The world's largest Jewish studies library is located on its Edmond J...
.
He served in the armored corps and then studied law at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Hebrew University of Jerusalem
The Hebrew University of Jerusalem ; ; abbreviated HUJI) is Israel's second-oldest university, after the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology. The Hebrew University has three campuses in Jerusalem and one in Rehovot. The world's largest Jewish studies library is located on its Edmond J...
, gaining an LL.B. He then worked as an attorney at the Tel Aviv law firm of Haim Zadok & Co.
Haim Zadok & Co.
Haim Zadok & Co. is a law firm in Tel Aviv, Israel, established by Haim Yosef Zadok. The firm specializes in corporate and commercial law; insolvency, recovery and corporate reorganization; banking; high-tech and venture capital; litigation; constitutional and regulatory law; and public and...
.
Political career
After serving as Cabinet SecretaryCabinet Secretary
A Cabinet Secretary is almost always a senior official who provides services and advice to a Cabinet of Ministers. In many countries, the position can have considerably wider functions and powers, including general responsibility for the entire civil service...
between 1982 and 1984 (under Begin and Yitzhak Shamir
Yitzhak Shamir
' is a former Israeli politician, the seventh Prime Minister of Israel, in 1983–84 and 1986–92.-Biography:Icchak Jeziernicky was born in Ruzhany , Russian Empire . He studied at a Hebrew High School in Białystok, Poland. As a youth he joined Betar, the Revisionist Zionist youth movement...
), Meridor ran for the Knesset
Knesset
The Knesset is the unicameral legislature of Israel, located in Givat Ram, Jerusalem.-Role in Israeli Government :The legislative branch of the Israeli government, the Knesset passes all laws, elects the President and Prime Minister , approves the cabinet, and supervises the work of the government...
in the Likud list for the 1984 election
Israeli legislative election, 1984
Elections for the eleventh Knesset were held in Israel on 23 July 1984. Voter turnout was 78.8%. The results saw the Alignment return to being the largest party in the Knesset, a status it had lost in 1977...
. As a freshman member, he was appointed chairman of two legislative subcommittees. He was re-elected in 1988, and was appointed Minister of Justice
Justice Minister of Israel
The Justice Minister of Israel is the political head of the Israeli Ministry of Justice and a position in the Israeli cabinet. The current minister is Ya'akov Ne'eman, an independent who is not a member of the Knesset....
in Shamir's unity government of 1988–90 and in the right-wing cabinet of 1990–92. He retained his seat in the 1992
Israeli legislative election, 1992
Elections for the thirteenth Knesset were held in Israel on 23 June 1992. The result was a victory for the left, led by Yitzhak Rabin's Labor Party, though their win was at least partially due to several small right-wing parties narrowly failing to cross the electoral threshold and thus effectively...
and 1996 elections
Israeli legislative election, 1996
Elections for the fourteenth Knesset were held in Israel on 29 May 1996. Voter turnout was 79.3%.The 1996 elections included two new changes, both designed to increase the stability of the Knesset. First, the Prime Minister was to be elected on a separate ballot from the remaining members of the...
, and was appointed Minister of Finance by Binyamin Netanyahu in 1996.
After successive clashes with Netanyahu, Meridor left the cabinet in June 1997. His public image suffered during that period, when he was compared to Hamlet
Hamlet
The Tragical History of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, or more simply Hamlet, is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written between 1599 and 1601...
(for his indecisiveness) and to a fraidy cat
Fraidy Cat
Fraidy cat is a slang term for a person who is very skittish or fearful.Fraidy Cat may refer to:*Fraidy Cat , a 1942 Tom and Jerry cartoon short...
on a popular TV show, "Hartzufim
Chartzufim
Chartzufim or HaChartzufim was an Israeli political satire television programme in the vein of Britain's Spitting Image. It ran from 1995 to 1999 on Channel 2....
".
In 1998, together with several other Likud and Labor Party members, he co-founded Israel in the Centre, which later became the Centre Party. He was elected as a Centre Party MK in the 1999 elections, and was appointed chairman of the Knesset's Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee
Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee
The Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee is a permanent Knesset committee which oversees key Foreign and Defense areas, including the drafting of legislation, supervision over related government ministries and the approval of their budgests...
. After Ariel Sharon
Ariel Sharon
Ariel Sharon 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....
became Prime Minister in 2001, Meridor was made a Minister without Portfolio
Minister without Portfolio
A minister without portfolio is either a government minister with no specific responsibilities or a minister that does not head a particular ministry...
.
Meridor lost his seat following the 2003 elections. During his time in the Knesset he also served as the Knesset observer to the Council of Europe
Council of Europe
The Council of Europe is an international organisation promoting co-operation between all countries of Europe in the areas of legal standards, human rights, democratic development, the rule of law and cultural co-operation...
.
After leaving the Knesset, Meridor served as international chair of the Jerusalem Foundation
Jerusalem Foundation
The Jerusalem Foundation is an international non-profit organization whose goal is the improvement of the quality of life for all citizens of Jerusalem. It was founded in 1966 by the mayor of Jerusalem, Teddy Kollek. The foundation is politically not affiliated...
. He took part in the Winograd Commission
Winograd Commission
The Winograd Commission is an Israeli government-appointed commission of inquiry, chaired by retired judge Eliyahu Winograd, which investigated and drew lessons from the Israel-Hezbollah War...
that investigated Israel's actions in the 2006 Lebanon War.
In the run-up to the 2006 elections, Meridor received offers by Labor and Yisrael Beiteinu, but he seemed to harbor hopes of being called to Kadima
Kadima
Kadima is a centrist and liberal political party in Israel. It was established on 24 November 2005 by moderates from Likud largely to support the issue of Ariel Sharon's unilateral disengagement plan, and was soon joined by like-minded Labor politicians...
's list. However, his inclusion was vetoed by Ariel Sharon's sons, Gilad and Omri Sharon
Omri Sharon
Omri Sharon is a former Israeli politician. Sharon served as a member of Knesset between 2003 and 2006. In 2006, he was convicted of fraud and sentenced to nine months in prison. He reported to Maasiyahu Prison to begin serving his sentence in 2008. He was released later the same year, having...
. He later rejoined Likud, and won seventeenth place on the party's list for the 2009 elections. He returned to the Knesset after the party won 27 seats.
In the Netanyahu cabinet formed after that election, Meridor was appointed Minister of Intelligence and Atomic Energy, and deputy Prime Minister http://www.knesset.gov.il/mk/eng/mk_eng.asp?mk_individual_id_t=88.
Family
Meridor's wife Liora is a senior economist, who held several posts in the Bank of IsraelBank of Israel
The Bank of Israel is the central bank of Israel. It is located in Kiryat HaMemshala in Israel's capital city of Jerusalem, with a branch office in Tel Aviv. The current governor is Stanley Fischer.-History:...
, the private sector, and government-sponsored panels. They have four children.
Meridor's younger brother Sallai Meridor
Sallai Meridor
Sallai Meridor is an Israeli politician. He was the Israeli Ambassador to the United States between 2005–2009, appointed by Prime Minister Ehud Olmert...
was Chairman of the Jewish Agency for Israel
Jewish Agency for Israel
The Jewish Agency for Israel , also known as the Sochnut or JAFI, served as the organization in charge of immigration and absorption of Jews from the Diaspora into the state of Israel.-History:...
and the World Zionist Organization
World Zionist Organization
The World Zionist Organization , or WZO, was founded as the Zionist Organization , or ZO, in 1897 at the First Zionist Congress, held from August 29 to August 31 in Basel, Switzerland...
from 1999–2005, and was appointed as Israeli ambassador to the United States in 2006.
External links
- Dan Meridor debates Saeb Erakat at the International Peace Institute, 25 June 2010 (video)
- Deputy Prime Minister Dan Meridor interviewed by the British Broadcasting Corporation on HARDtalkHARDtalkHardtalk is a flagship BBC television programme, consisting of in-depth half-hour one-on-one interviews.It is broadcast four days a week on BBC World News and the BBC News channel. Launched in 1997, much of its worldwide fame is due to its global reach via BBC World...