Zevulun Orlev | |
|---|---|
זבולון אורלב | |
 | |
| Ministerial roles | |
| 2003–2004 | Minister of Welfare & Social Services |
| Faction represented in theKnesset | |
| 1999–2009 | National Religious Party |
| 2009–2013 | The Jewish Home |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1945-11-09)9 November 1945 (age 79) |
Zevulun Orlev (Hebrew:זבולון אורלב; born 9 November 1945) is an Israeli politician and a formerKnesset member,Minister of Welfare & Social Services and leader of theNational Religious Party. Orlev is a decoratedwar hero who received theMedal of Distinguished Service in theYom Kippur War.
Zevulun Orlev was born inRehovot during theMandate era. He studied humanities and social sciences at theHebrew University of Jerusalem and then trained to be a teacher at Moreshet Yaakov College. Orlev lives in Jerusalem'sGivat Mordechai neighborhood with his wife, Nira. They have four children.
During his national service in theIsrael Defense Forces, he reached the rank of Sergeant. Orlev fought in theSix-Day War, participating in the capture of East Jerusalem. He sustained a knee injury and underwent rehabilitation for two years. During theYom Kippur War, Orlev served in a stronghold on theBar-Lev Line. During the Egyptian attack on the first day of the war, Orlev took charge of the soldiers in his outpost after the commander was wounded. Under his command, his unit repelled Egyptian attempts to capture the position, and he organized the evacuation from the stronghold. For this, he was awarded aMedal of Distinguished Service.[1] He later served as a reservist during the1982 Lebanon War.
Orlev worked as Director General of the Ministry of Religious Affairs and Director General of the Ministry of Education and Culture.
He was first elected to the Knesset in the1999 elections on theNational Religious Party list. After being re-elected in the2003 elections, Orlev was appointedMinister of Welfare and Social Services inAriel Sharon's government. During the crisis in the party over theGaza disengagement plan, Orlev led the camp which believed staying in the government, rather than leaving the coalition, was the best option. In response, NRP leaderEffi Eitam called Orlev a "Meimadnik". When Eitam andYitzhak 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 theRenewed Religious National Zionist Party (later renamedAhi), which would later join theNational Union.
Orlev was re-elected in the2006 elections. Prior to the2009 elections the NRP was dissolved and its members joinedthe Jewish Home. Orlev won second place on the new party's list, and retained his seat in the subsequent elections.
In 2009 Orlev sponsored aPrivate member's bill that called for a years imprisonment for any person who denied Israel to be a Jewish and democratic state, a law that would have criminalized calls by members of the Arab minority for Israel to be a state for all its citizens. The bill was castigated as racist and discriminatory, and a media outcry following the bill passing its first reading in the Knesset led to the bill ultimately being defeated. The bill was criticized as an exercise in thought police and as being an assault on freedom of speech, and called "racist and fascist" by theHigh Follow-Up Committee for Arab Citizens of Israel. TheMossawa Center described the bill as "discriminatory and racist".[2][3][4][5]Uri Avnery placed the bill in the context as being one in a series of racist laws, writing that it "does not stand out at all in today’s political landscape", describing Orlev's Jewish Home party as "ultra-ultra-ultra racist" and trying to outdo the other right-wing parties.[6]
Orlev was criticized for proposing a bill that would mandate divorced fathers to pay child support until their children reached age 22, though he later retracted and stated he would not pursue the bill.[7]
In 2012, he called for theThird Temple to be built in Jerusalem, as well as legislation to protect the project from prosecution and the "hostile, secular, left-wing media".[8] He also proposed a Private Members Bill to override anIsraeli Supreme Court ruling ordering the demolition five buildings in anIsraeli settlement.[9]
Orlev announced that he would retire from politics after he ran unsuccessfully in the2012 The Jewish Home leadership election.[10] Orlev did not run in the2013 elections.
He is a co-president of the internationalMizrachi movement, which the National Religious Party and its successor Jewish Home represents in the political arena.[11]
Media related toZevulun Orlev at Wikimedia Commons
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