Gideon Ben-Yisrael | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Faction represented in theKnesset | |
| 1959-1961 | Mapai |
| 1962-1965 | Mapai |
| 1965 | Rafi |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1923-03-06)6 March 1923 |
| Died | 18 December 2014(2014-12-18) (aged 91) Tel Aviv, Israel |
Gideon Ben-Yisrael (Hebrew:גדעון בן-ישראל; 6 March 1923 – 18 December 2014) was an Israeli politician who served as a member of the Knesset forMapai andRafi in the 1950s and 1960s.
Born inHaifa during theMandate era, Ben-Yisrael joined theHaganah, and between 1938 and 1940 was a recruiting officer in Jerusalem. DuringWorld War II he volunteered for theBritish Army and served in theJewish Brigade. Following the war he helped to smuggleHolocaust survivors into Palestine.[1] He then fought in the1948 Arab-Israeli War and was wounded in the Battle for Jerusalem. He was demobilised from theIDF as a major.
After the war, he studied economics and international relations at theLondon School of Economics. He returned to Israel in 1953 and served as secretary of theBeersheba Workers Council, and was head of Labor Relations in theMinistry of Labour. He also lectured on labour relations atTel Aviv University and the Hebrew University, and was a member of the co-ordinating committee of theHistadrut trade union, and chairman of its Organisation and Workers Council section.
In 1955 he married Ruth Ne'eman, sister ofYuval (later a government minister), who went on to become a law professor. They had two children, Marit and Sivion.
In1959 he was elected to theKnesset on the Mapai list. The following year he received a graduate law degree from theTel Aviv branch of theHebrew University of Jerusalem. Although he lost his seat in the1961 elections, he returned to the Knesset on 28 August 1962 as a replacement for the deceasedHerzl Berger.[2] He was amongst the Mapai members that broke away to form Rafi in 1965, and lost his seat inthe elections later that year. He went on to serve as chair of theLabor Party's unions section, and was a member of the party's central committee and secretariat.
In 1996 he became chairman of the Pensioners' Union in theHistadrut, a position he held until his death in December 2014.[1]
Ben-Yisrael died inTel Aviv from natural causes.[3] He was buried at theTrumpeldor Cemetery in Tel Aviv.[4]
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