Rafael Pinhasi is a former Israel

Israel

The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...

i who served as Minister of Communications

Communications Minister of Israel

The Communications Minister of Israel is the political head of the Israeli Ministry of Communications and a relatively minor position in the Israeli cabinet. The post was established in 1952, and until 1970 was known as the Minister of Postal Services...

 between 1990 and 1992.

Born in Kabul

Kabul

Kabul , spelt Caubul in some classic literatures, is the capital and largest city of Afghanistan. It is also the capital of the Kabul Province, located in the eastern section of Afghanistan...

 in Afghanistan, Pinhasi's family made aliyah

Aliyah

Aliyah is the immigration of Jews to the Land of Israel . It is a basic tenet of Zionist ideology. The opposite action, emigration from Israel, is referred to as yerida . The return to the Holy Land has been a Jewish aspiration since the Babylonian exile...

 in 1950. He was amongst the founders of Shas

Shas

Shas is an ultra-orthodox religious political party in Israel, primarily representing Sephardic and Mizrahi Haredi Judaism.Shas was founded in 1984 by dissident members of the Ashkenazi dominated Agudat Israel, to represent the interests of religiously observant Sephardic and Mizrahi ...

, and served as deputy mayor of Bnei Brak.

In 1984 he was elected to 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...

 on Shas' list and in December 1985 was appointed Deputy Minister of Labour and Social Welfare. He retained his seat in the 1988 elections

Israeli legislative election, 1988

Elections for the twelfth Knesset were held in Israel on 1 November 1988. Voter turnout was 79.7%.-Results:1 Five members of the Likud left to form the Party for the Advancement of the Zionist Idea; after two returned, the party was renamed the New Liberal Party...

, and became a Deputy Speaker of the Knesset. In January 1990 he was appointed Deputy Internal Affairs Minister

Internal Affairs Minister of Israel

The Interior Minister , also known as the Minister of Internal Affairs is head of the Israeli Ministry of Interior and an important portfolio in the cabinet. The current Interior Minister is Eli Yishai of Shas...

, and in June that year became Minister of Communications, serving until the 1992 elections

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...

.

He retained his seat in the election, and was appointed Deputy Minister of Finance in August, holding the post until he became Deputy Minister of Religious Affairs. He was forced to resign from the cabinet by the High Court of Justice in September 1993 after being convicted for making false declarations, a crime deemed to be of "moral turpitude".

Re-elected in 1996, Pinhasi lost his seat in the 1999 elections. In 2008 he was appointed chairman of the Tel Aviv

Tel Aviv

Tel Aviv , officially Tel Aviv-Yafo , is the second most populous city in Israel, with a population of 404,400 on a land area of . The city is located on the Israeli Mediterranean coastline in west-central Israel. It is the largest and most populous city in the metropolitan area of Gush Dan, with...

 cemeteries council.

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