All Topics  
Shlomo Benizri

 

 
   Email Print
   Bookmark   Link
 

 

Shlomo Benizri
 
 
  Topics Shlomo Benizri Topic Home

Shlomo Benizri (born 7 February 1961) is an Israel
Israel

Israel officially the State of Israel , is a country in the Middle East located on the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea. It borders Lebanon in the north, Syria in the northeast, Jordan in the east, and Egypt on the southwest, and contains geographically diverse features within its relatively small area....
i politician and member of the Shas
Shas

Shas is a List of political parties in Israel in Israel, primarily representing Haredi Judaism Sephardi Jews and Mizrahi Jews Judaism. Following the Israeli legislative election, 2006 in which Shas won 12 seats, it joined Ehud Olmert's coalition government and holds four cabinet posts....
 party. He represented Shas in the Knesset between 1992 and 2008, serving as Deputy Health Minister, Minister of Health
Health Minister of Israel

The Health Minister of Israel is the political head of the Israeli Ministry of Health and a member of the Cabinet of Israel. The current Minister of Health is Yaakov Ben-Yezri of Gil ....
, and Labor and Social Welfare Minister during the late 1990s and early 2000s.

9 March 2006, he was charged by the State Prosecutor's Office with accepting bribes and breaching the public trust.






Discussion
Ask a question about 'Shlomo Benizri'
Start a new discussion about 'Shlomo Benizri'
Answer questions from other users
Full Discussion Forum



Encyclopedia


Shlomo Benizri (born 7 February 1961) is an Israel
Israel

Israel officially the State of Israel , is a country in the Middle East located on the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea. It borders Lebanon in the north, Syria in the northeast, Jordan in the east, and Egypt on the southwest, and contains geographically diverse features within its relatively small area....
i politician and member of the Shas
Shas

Shas is a List of political parties in Israel in Israel, primarily representing Haredi Judaism Sephardi Jews and Mizrahi Jews Judaism. Following the Israeli legislative election, 2006 in which Shas won 12 seats, it joined Ehud Olmert's coalition government and holds four cabinet posts....
 party. He represented Shas in the Knesset between 1992 and 2008, serving as Deputy Health Minister, Minister of Health
Health Minister of Israel

The Health Minister of Israel is the political head of the Israeli Ministry of Health and a member of the Cabinet of Israel. The current Minister of Health is Yaakov Ben-Yezri of Gil ....
, and Labor and Social Welfare Minister during the late 1990s and early 2000s.

Controversies


Corruption scandal

On 29 March 2006, he was charged by the State Prosecutor's Office with accepting bribes and breaching the public trust. He allegedly accepted favors worth millions of shekels from his friend, contractor
General contractor

A general contractor is a group or individual that contracts with another organization or individual for the construction, renovation or demolition of a building, road or other structure....
 Moshe Sela, in exchange for inside information regarding foreign workers scheduled to arrive in Israel. He was sixth on the Shas list of candidates for the 2006 elections. The decision to indict Benizri after the elections had already taken place was a conscious decision on the part of the Israeli attorney general
Attorney General

In most common law jurisdictions, the attorney general, or attorney-general, is the main legal advisor to the government, and in some jurisdictions he or she may in addition have executive responsibility for law enforcement or responsibility for public prosecutions....
 Menachem Mazuz
Menachem Mazuz

Menachem Mazuz is an Israeli jurist, currently the Attorney General of Israel. Mazuz was born in Djerba, Tunisia, the fourth in a family of nine children of the rabbi of one of the island's Jewish communities....
. He was eventually convicted of bribery, conspiring to commit a crime and obstruction of justice on 1 April 2008; if the court rules that his crimes amounted to "moral turpitude", he will have to resign from the Knesset.

On 27 April 2008, a district court sentenced Benizri to 18 months in jail and decided that his actions amount to moral turpitude. Although his attorneys planned to file an appeal, he resigned from the Knesset the same day and was replaced by Mazor Bahaina
Mazor Bahaina

Rabbi Mazor Mahoy Bahaina is a Kessim, an ordained rabbi, an Israeli politician and former member of the Knesset for Shas....
.

Other

In 1998, Benizri led a call to disqualify Dana International
Dana International

Sharon Cohen , professionally known as Dana International is an Israeli Pop music singer of a Yemenite Jewish origin. She is most famous for having won the 1998 Eurovision Song Contest with her song "Diva ." She is arguably one of the most famous transsexual celebrities in the world....
 from the Eurovision Song Contest
Eurovision Song Contest

The Eurovision Song Contest is an annual competition held among active member countries of the European Broadcasting Union .Each member country submits a song to be performed on live television and then casts votes for the other countries' songs to determine the most popular song in the competition....
, which she went on to win. He stated, "The Eurovision Song Contest interests me about as much as the weather in Antarctica, but as a son of the Jewish people it [Dana International's transsexuality] offends me."

In 2001 Benizri was accused of racism
Racism

Racism, by its simplest definition is the belief that Race is the primary determinant of human traits and capacities and that racial differences produce an inherent superiority of a particular race....
 after he said "I just don't understand why a restaurant needs a slant-eye to serve me my meal." He has also stated, 'The Jews did kill Jesus' reflecting his point of view on The Passion of the Christ
The Passion of the Christ

The Passion of the Christ is a 2004 in film film co-written, co-produced and directed by Mel Gibson. It is based on Catholic accounts of the arrest, trial, torture, crucifixion, and resurrection of Jesus, events commonly known as "The Passion "....
 controversy.

In 2008, Benizri blamed several earthquakes in the region on Israel's tolerance of homosexuality.

External links