Moshe Kahlon | |
|---|---|
משה כחלון | |
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| Ministerial roles | |
| 2009–2013 | Minister of Communications |
| 2011–2013 | Minister of Welfare & Social Services |
| 2015–2020 | Minister of Finance |
| 2016 | Minister of Environmental Protection |
| 2016–2017 | Minister of Economy |
| Faction represented in theKnesset | |
| 2003–2013 | Likud |
| 2015–2019 | Kulanu |
| 2019–2020 | Likud |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1960-11-19)19 November 1960 (age 65) |
Moshe Kahlon (Hebrew:משה כחלון; born 19 November 1960) is a retired Israeli politician. Between 2003 and 2013 he served as a member of theKnesset forLikud, and asMinister of Communications andMinister of Welfare & Social Services. After taking a break from politics, he founded theKulanu party in 2014,[1][2] and returned to the Knesset the following year. In 2015, he was appointedMinister of Finance in theNetanyahu IV cabinet. On 12 January 2020, Kahlon announced that he would be retiring from politics.[3]
He is known for championing socioeconomic issues like theeradication of poverty andincome inequality.[4]
Moshe Kahlon was born in theGivat Olga neighborhood ofHadera. He was the fifth of seven children born toLibyan Jewish parents who had immigrated fromTripoli.[4] His father worked in construction.[5] He served in theIsrael Defense Forces from 1978 to 1986, in theOrdnance Corps. After completing his army service he started a business of importing car appliances.[6] He earned aBA inpolitical science and general studies from theUniversity of Haifa before going on to study law and gaining anLLB from theNetanya Academic College.[7] In 2013, he attended the six-week advanced management program atHarvard University.[8]
Kahlon became politically active in the late 1980s, when he helped Rami Dotan campaign for mayor ofHaifa. It was in the context of this election campaign that he metUzi Landau, who appointed him his Bureau Chief when he became Minister of Public Security in 2001. Kahlon served in this position for a year. Kahlon was first elected to the Knesset in the2003 elections, and was appointed Deputy Speaker of the Knesset. In the run up to the2006 elections, he won third place on Likud's list in the party's primaries.[9] He retained his seat again in the2009 elections after being placed sixth on the Likud list, and was appointed Minister of Communications on 31 March.
In the Knesset, he worked to pass a bill to reduce electricity charges for poor families and headed an inquiry into bank fees.[10][11] Kahlon was also credited with leading the "Cellular Revolution"; a set of policies that allowed new competitors to enter the cellular communications market in Israel, includingGolan Telecom. This drastically reduced cellular communications prices in the Israeli market.[12] On 19 January 2011, he was appointedMinister of Welfare & Social Services after the resignation ofIsaac Herzog.
Kahlon announced he would be taking a break from politics,[13] and did not run in the2013 Knesset elections.[14] In response to reports that he was going to form a new political party, Kahlon announced on 3 November 2013 that he would not.[15] It was subsequently reported that Kahlon would initiate a new party to run in thenext Israeli legislative election; possible running-mates were reported to includeYoav Gallant andMeir Dagan.[16] In April 2014, after a period of silence, Kahlon announced in an interview with the newspaperYedioth Ahronoth his intention to return to politics "imminently", but that he had not decided on a "framework" for his return; in the same interview, he criticised the socio-economic and diplomatic policies of prime ministerBenjamin Netanyahu, adding to speculation that he would attempt to run against Netanyahu in the future elections.[17] In 2014, he indeed founded a new political party, theKulanu party, ahead of the expected March 2015 elections. He announced several new members of his Knesset list: former ambassador to the USMichael Oren, Israel Prize winnerEli Alaluf,Yifat Sasha-Biton, a former deputy mayor ofKiryat Shmona and Deputy Jerusalem MayorRachel Azaria.[18]
Kulanu subsequently won ten seats in the2015 elections. The party joined Binyamin Netanyahu'scoalition government, with Kahlon appointed Minister of Finance on 14 May 2015. He also briefly served asMinister of Environmental Protection from 31 May 2016 to 1 August 2016 and asMinister of the Economy from 1 August 2016 until 23 January 2017.[19] He resigned from the Knesset on 29 January 2016 and was replaced byAkram Hasson, while retaining his ministerial portfolios under theNorwegian Law.[20]
In theApril 2019 Israeli legislative election, Kulanu won 4 seats, losing 6. The party merged withLikud on 28 May 2020, with Kahlon placing fifth on the party slate for thefollowing election.[21]
On 27 April 2020, a source close to Kahlon toldAl-Monitor that Kahlon was speeding up his retirement and was planning to resign from Netanyahu's government before a new Israeli government was formed.[22] However, he subsequently announced that he would not retire until a new government was formed.[23] Kahlon officially left politics on 17 May 2020 whenIsrael Katz replaced him as Minister of Finance.
In November 2020, it was announced that Kahlon was to head a new investment fund founded with members of theHouse of Al Falahi in the wake of theIsrael–United Arab Emirates normalization agreement.[24]
| Party political offices | ||
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| New office | Leader ofKulanu 2014–2020 | Incumbent |
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| National | |
