Rafi Peretz | |
|---|---|
רפי פרץ | |
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| Ministerial roles | |
| 2019–2020 | Minister of Education |
| 2020–2021 | Minister of Jerusalem Affairs[1] |
| Faction represented in theKnesset | |
| 2019 | Union of Right-Wing Parties |
| 2019 | Yamina |
| 2019–2020 | Jewish Home–National Union |
| 2020 | Yamina |
| 2020–2021 | Jewish Home |
| Other roles | |
| 2010–2016 | Chief Military Rabbi |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1956-01-07)7 January 1956 (age 70) |
Rafael "Rafi" Peretz (Hebrew:רפאל "רפי" פרץ; born 7 January 1956) is an IsraeliOrthodoxrabbi and former politician. A former military officer andhelicopterpilot who also served as theChief Military Rabbi of theIsrael Defense Forces, he was the leader ofthe Jewish Home party. Peretz was a member of the Knesset for theYamina alliance until he separated from the faction in order to join theNetanyahu-led government.[2]
Peretz was born inJerusalem, to parents ofMoroccan-Jewish descent.[3] He grew up in theKiryat HaYovel neighborhood of Western Jerusalem.
He studied atMercaz HaRav, and thenYeshivat HaKotel; he receivedsemikhah (ordination) from theChief Rabbinate of Israel.
Prior to being promoted to the rank of brigadier general, Peretz was the head of the Otzem Pre-Military Academy inYated, which was relocated fromBnei Atzmon, where he established it in 1993, and a major (reserves) in theIsraeli Air Force, where he served as a helicopter pilot. He succeeded RabbiAvichai Rontzki as Chief Military Rabbi in mid-2010,[4][5] serving in the post until 2016.
In November 2014, at a tense time in Jerusalem, Peretz caused a public controversy by announcing that theTemple Mount has no religious significance to the Muslim religion. He was quoted as saying, "Ninety percent of the Arabs don't know a thing about the Koran. I tell you with full authority. We know better than many of them."[6] The IDF quickly distanced itself from the rabbi's statements, and stated: "The rabbi is sorry if his remarks offended the Arab population."[7]Ynet characterized Peretz's comments as "explosive".[8]
Peretz was elected to leadthe Jewish Home party on 4 February 2019.[9] The party joined theUnion of the Right-Wing Parties alliance for theApril 2019 Knesset elections, with Peretz as the alliance's lead candidate. He was elected to the Knesset as the coalition won five seats.
In 2019, Peretz was appointed the interimMinister of Education.[10][11]
In May 2019, Peretz comparedJewish intermarriage in the United States to a "second Holocaust".[12]Jonathan Greenblatt, director of theAnti-Defamation League, said that Peretz' remark "trivializes the Shoah [Holocaust]".[13]
Peretz attracted further criticism from within the government and Israeli society in July 2019, when he endorsedgay conversion therapy, and claimed to have personally performed such therapy. Prime MinisterBenjamin Netanyahu rejected Peretz's comments as "unacceptable".[14] On July 18, 2019, Peretz said, after protests, that he rejected gay conversion therapy.[15]
In an interview published on 10 January 2020, Peretz told the Israeli dailyYedioth Ahronoth, "In the religious public that lives according to the Torah, a normal family is a man and a woman. [We] don’t need to be ashamed that we live in this natural way",The Times of Israel reported, adding that his comments drew criticism of Israeli LGBT activists and politicians by "suggesting gay marriage was not natural".[16]
In May 2020, asYamina switched to the opposition before the formation of theNetanyahu–Gantz unity government, Peretz resigned from Yamina and joined the Netanyahu government as the "Minister of Jerusalem Affairs and Heritage".[17]
In January 2021, he announced his retirement from politics.[18]
Peretz is married, and has 12 children. He lived in theGush Katif settlement ofBnei Atzmon prior to theIsraeli disengagement from Gaza in 2005, and now lives inNaveh, a village established in 2008 by former residents of Gush Katif. On 1 August 2020, Peretz tested positive forCOVID-19.[19]
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