Dov Joseph | |
|---|---|
דב יוסף | |
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| Ministerial roles | |
| 1949–1950 | Minister of Rationing & Supply |
| 1949–1950 | Minister of Agriculture |
| 1950–1951 | Minister of Transportation |
| 1951–1952 | Minister of Justice |
| 1951–1952 | Minister of Trade & Industry |
| 1952–1953 | Minister without Portfolio |
| 1953–1955 | Minister of Development |
| 1955 | Minister of Health |
| 1961–1966 | Minister of Justice |
| Faction represented in theKnesset | |
| 1949–1959 | Mapai |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 27 May 1899 Montreal, Quebec, Canada |
| Died | 7 January 1980(1980-01-07) (aged 80) |
Dov Joseph (Hebrew:דב יוסף; 27 May 1899 – 7 January 1980) was an Israeli statesman. During the1948 Arab–Israeli War, he was in charge ofJerusalem. He later held ministerial positions in nine Israeli governments.[1]
Bernard Joseph (later Dov Joseph) was born inMontreal, Quebec, Canada. He attendedMcGill University,Université Laval, and theUniversity of London, qualifying as an attorney. Joseph founded theCanadian Young JudaeaZionist youth movement in 1917, and immigrated to Palestine in 1918 with the CanadianJewish Legion which he helped organize. After the end ofWorld War I, Yosef worked as an attorney inMandatory Palestine.
In December 1947 the Jewish Agency and Ben Gurion appointed him head of theJerusalem Emergency Committee; he continued to serve in that position during the early part of the1948 Arab-Israeli War, during the Blockade.[2]: 26, 85 On August 2, 1948, he was appointed Military Governor of Jerusalem.[2]: 318 [3] (Both of his daughters fought in the war, and his younger daughter was killed in it.[2]: 35, 252 )
In 1933 Joseph joinedDavid Ben-Gurion'sMapai. Three years later he became legal adviser to the Political Department of theJewish Agency[2]: 5, 6 He became a member of theJewish Agency Executive Committee and a member of theWorld Zionist Organization's Political Committee.[2]: 12, 25
He was elected to thefirst Knesset in January 1949. He was initially appointed Minister of Rationing and Supply in thefirst government, a key position during theausterity period.[1] In June 1949 he was also appointedAgriculture Minister.
The first government collapsed in October 1950 due to wranglings over refugee camps and religious education, but also because Ben-Gurion wanted the Rationing and Supply Ministry closed down. The Prime Minister got his way, and in thenew government Yosef was moved to thetransportation ministry.
He retained his seat in the1951 elections, and was appointed as both Minister of Justice and Minister of Trade and Industry, losing the former portfolio in June 1952. After the government collapsed again over the issue of religious education in December 1952, Yosef was initially appointedMinister without Portfolio in the new government, before switching to theDevelopment Ministry in June 1953. He retained this position in the new government formed byMoshe Sharett after Ben-Gurion had resigned to go and live onKibbutzSde Boker. After Sharett resigned and formed a new government again in 1955, Yosef remained Development Minister, but also becameMinister of Health.
He retained his seat again in the1955 elections, but was not appointed to a ministerial post. He lost his seat in the1959 elections, and never regained MK status. However, during thefifth Knesset he was appointed Minister of Justice by Ben-Gurion despite being outside the Knesset. When Ben-Gurion was replaced by Eshkol he remained Justice Minister, but was not reappointed after the1965 elections.
Joseph caused a political scandal when he published in 1960 an autobiographic book, "The Faithful City", which focused on thesiege ofJerusalem in 1948. He claimed thatDavid Shaltiel, the commander of Jerusalem gave him a wrong picture of the situation in the city, causing the fall of the old city.
Streets in Jerusalem,Netanya andBe'er Sheva are named after him.
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* entire or partial tenure as substitute justice minister, until a replacement was found | ||
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