Aharon Abuhatzira

MKs


Date of birth = 28 October 1938
Place of birth = Morocco
Year of Aliyah = 1949
Date of death =
Place of death =
Knesset(s) = 8th, 9th, 10th, 11th, 12th
Party = Likud
Former parties = National Religious Party, Tami
Gov't roles = Minister of Religions
Minister of Immigrant Absorption
Minister of Labor and Social Welfare|

Aharon Abuhatzira ( _he. אהרן אבוחצירא, born 28 October 1938) is a former Israeli politician. A former mayor of Ramla, he held several ministerial portfolios in the late 1970s and early 1980s, but resigned from the cabinet after being convicted of larceny, breach of trust and fraud. [http://www.ajcarchives.org/AJC_DATA/Files/Vol_84__1984.pdf American Jewish Yearbook 1984] p66]

Biography

Born in Morocco, Abuhatzira made aliyah in 1949. He was elected to Ramla city council in 1969 and in 1972 became its mayor. He was elected to the Knesset in 1977 on the National Religious Party's list, and was appointed Minister of Religions.

In June 1980 Israel Police began investigating claims that Abuhatzira had received 52,500 shekels from religious institutions in 1978 and 1979 for giving funds to non-existent yeshivas. [http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,922213,00.html?promoid=googlep Unholy Ministry] Time, 15 December 1980] Although he denied the allegations, stating that they were "provocation and a libel", in December 1980 Attorney General Yitzhak Zamir requested that the Knesset lift Abuhatzira's parliamentary immunity so that he could be charged with bribery.

On 13 January 1981 the Knesset plenum agreed to remove his parliamentary immunity. [ [http://www.knesset.gov.il/review/ReviewPage2.aspx?kns=9&lng=3 The Ninth Knesset] Knesset website] In protest, Abuhatzira left the NRP and formed his own party, Tami. The party won three seats in the 1981 elections and was included in Menachem Begin's government. Despite the legal case, Abuhatzira was appointed both Minister of Immigrant Absorption and Minister of Labor and Social Welfare. However, after being found guilty on 19 April 1982, he resigned from the cabinet on 30 April, after which fellow Tami MK Aharon Uzan took over his portfolios. He was sentenced to a suspended sentence of four years and three months; thirty months for larceny, eighteen months for breach of trust and fraud by an administrator, and three months for breach of trust by a public servant.

Despite his conviction, Abuhatzira was re-elected in the 1984 elections, though Tami had shrunk to a single seat. During the Knesset term he merged the party into Likud. In the 1988 elections he won a seat on Likud's list, but failed to retain it in the 1992 vote.

In 2004 he hit the headlines again when he was sued by a former maid, Malka Gani, whilst police were investigating claims that he had defrauded the Ministry of the Interior. [ [http://www.aad-online.org/2004/englishsite/Englinks/2-12en/aad17/2.htm Ex-minister may have conned government for his maid] Haaretz, 21 September 2004]

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