- Matan Vilnai
-
Matan Vilnai 
Date of birth 20 May 1944 Place of birth Jerusalem, Mandate Palestine Knessets 15, 16, 17, 18 Party Independence (2011–) Former parties One Israel (1999–2001)
Labor Party (2001–2011)Ministerial posts
(current in bold)Minister for Home Front Defense[1]
Minister of Science, Culture & Sport
Minister in the PM's Office
Minister of Science and TechnologyMatan Vilnai (Hebrew: מתן וילנאי, born 20 May 1944) is an Israeli politician and a former Major General in the Israel Defense Forces (IDF). He is currently Minister for Home Front Defense and a member of the Knesset for Independence.
Contents
Biography
Vilnai was born in Jerusalem in 1944. His father was Prof. Zev Vilnay, a pioneer in the sphere of Israeli geography and Land of Israel studies, from whom he inherited a love of nature and hiking.[2] He was drafted into the Israel Defense Forces in 1966, serving in the Paratroopers Brigade and the elite reconnaissance unit Sayeret Matkal. He was deputy commander [1] of the assault force in Operation Thunderbolt, also known as the Entebbe Raid, to free Jewish and Israeli passengers taken hostage by Palestinian and German terrorists after their Air France plane was hijacked to Entebbe, Uganda. Vilanai led the assault team into the airport building, while another team secured the outside. As a major general, Vilnai was the head of the Manpower Directorate, as well as the Deputy Chief of Staff.
Today Vilnai lives in Mevasseret Zion and is a married father of three.
Political career
In the run up to the 1999 elections Vilnai joined the Labour Party (which was running as part of the One Israel alliance), hoping to win a place on its Knesset list. He succeeded, and was voted in to the Knesset. Ehud Barak appointed him Minister of Science, Culture and Sport. Vilnai gave up his Knesset seat six months after the election (he was replaced by Colette Avital), but remained a minister. After Ariel Sharon beat Barak in the 2001 election for Prime Minister, Vilnai was reappointed to his post in the new government.
He re-entered the Knesset after the 2003 elections second on Labour's list,[3] but lost his ministerial post as Sharon formed a right-wing coalition that excluded Labour. However, when several parties left the coalition in the face of the disengagement plan, Labour was invited into the government in January 2005. Vilnai was initially appointed Minister in the Prime Minister's Office. In August 2005 he was appointed Acting Minister of Science and Technology, and the post was made permanent in November.
In the run-up to the 2006 elections, Vilnai competed in the election for Labour Party leader alongside Shimon Peres and Binyamin Ben-Eliezer,[4] but was beaten by Amir Peretz. However, he did retain his Knesset seat in the elections, placing 11th on Labour's list.
After Ehud Barak won the party leadership election in 2007 he appointed Vilnai as Deputy Minister of Defense. In February 2008, Vilnai threatened that Gazan Palestinians "will bring upon themselves a bigger 'shoah' because we will use all our might to defend ourselves." The word shoah (שואה), literally "disaster", is used in Israel to refer to the "holocaust".[5] But in everyday Hebrew, it is commonly used to mean 'catastrophe' rather than the much larger event known in English as the Holocaust. Mistranslation of Vilnai's statement led to a dangerous misunderstanding in the media.
Vilnai won sixth place on the Labor list for the 2009 elections, and retained his seat in the subsequent election. In 2011 he was one of the five members to leave the Labor Party to establish Independence, and was appointed to the newly-created post of Minister for the Home Front,[6] having originally been made Minister of Minorities.[7]
References
- ^ Matan Vilnai, mfa.go.il
- ^ Thousands Support JNF-KKL's Battle to Preserve Open Spaces in Jerusalem Jewish National Fund
- ^ Matan Vilnai tops Labor list; Yossi Beilin and other doves out Haaretz, 11 December 2002
- ^ Labor hopefuls court the Arab vote Haaretz
- ^ Israel warns Gaza of "shoah" Haaretz
- ^ PM announces creation of Homeland Security Ministry The Jerusalem Post, 19 January 2011
- ^ Barak's Atzmaut faction receives four portfolios in coalition government Haaretz, 18 January 2011
External links
- Matan Vilnai Knesset website
- Official website
Current members of the Knesset Governing coalition (ministers in bold) Likud Yisrael Beiteinu Shas Independence United Torah Judaism The Jewish Home Hershkowitz - Orlev - OrbakhOpposition parties Kadima Labor Party Hadash National Union United Arab List-Ta'al New Movement – Meretz Gilon - Horowitz - Gal-OnBalad Whole Nation Science and Technology Ministers of Israel 
Ne'eman (1982-84) · Patt (1984-88) · Weizman (1988-90) · Ne'eman (1990-92) · Rubinstein (1992) · Sheetrit (1992-93) · Aloni (1993-96) · Begin (1996-97) · Netanyahu (1996-97) · Eitan (1997-98) · Shalom (1998-99) · Barak (1999) · Vilnai (1999-2001) · Sandberg (2003-04) · Shalgi (2004) · Brailovsky (2004) · Vilnai (2005) · Bar-On (2006) · Pines-Paz (2006) · Majadele (2007-09) · Hershkowitz (2009-)
Heads of the Manpower Directorate Moshe Zadok (1947–49) · Shimon Maz'ah (1949–52) · Tzvi Tzur (1952–56) · Gideon Shoken (1956–61) · Aharon Doron (1961–63) · Haim Ben David (1963–66) · Shmuel Eyal (1966–70) · Shlomo Lahat (1970–73) · Herzl Shafir (1973–74) · Moshe Gidron (1974-76) · Rafael Vardi (1976–78) · Moshe Nativ (1978–83) · Amos Yaron (1983–85) · Matan Vilnai (1986–89) · Ran Goren (1989–92) · Yoram Yair (1992–95) · Gideon Scheffer (1995–98) · Yehuda Segev (1998–2001) · Gil Regev (2001–04) · Elazar Stern (2004–08) · Avi Zamir (2008–)Heads of Southern Command Allon (1948–49) · Rabin (1949) · Dayan (1949–51) · Tzadok (1951–54) · Peri (1954) · Amit (1955–56) · Simhoni (1956) · Laskov (1956–58) · Herzog (1958) · Yoffe (1958–62) · Zamir (1962–64) · Gavish (1965-69) · Sharon (1969-73) · Gonen (1973) · Bar-Lev (1973) · Tal (1973-74) · Adan (1974) · Adam (1974–76) · Shapir (1976–78) · Shomron (1978–82) · Erez (1982–83) · Bar Kokhva (1983–86) · Sagi (1986) · Mordechai (1986–89) · Vilnai (1989–94) · Mofaz (1994–96) · Yanai (1996–97) · Samia (1997–2000) · Almog (2000–03) · Harel (2003–05) · Galant (2005–2010) · Russo (2010–)Deputy Chiefs of Staff of the Israel Defense Forces Tzvi Ayalon (1948–49) · Mordechai Maklef (1949–52) · Haim Laskov (1955–56) · Tzvi Tzur (1958) · Yitzhak Rabin (1961–63) · Haim Bar-Lev (1967–68) · Israel Tal (1973) · Yekutiel Adam (1978–82) · Moshe Levi (1982–83) · David Ivry (1983–85) · Dan Shomron (1985–86) · Amir Drori (1986–87) · Ehud Barak (1987–91) · Amnon Lipkin-Shahak (1991–94) · Matan Vilnai (1994–97) · Shaul Mofaz (1997–98) · Uzi Dayan (1998–99) · Moshe Ya'alon (1999–2002) · Gabi Ashkenazi (2002-04) · Dan Halutz (2004–05) · Moshe Kaplinsky (2005–07) · Dan Harel (2007–09) · Benny Gantz (2009–10) · Yair Naveh (2010–present)
Categories:- Government ministers of Israel
- 1944 births
- People from Jerusalem
- Israeli generals
- Members of the Knesset
- Living people
- One Israel politicians
- Israeli Labor Party politicians
- Independence (Israeli political party) politicians
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.
