Meir Sheetrit

Meir Sheetrit
Date of birth	10 October 1948 (1948-10-10) (age 63)
Place of birth	Ksar es Souk, Morocco
Year of aliyah	1957
Knessets	10th, 11th, 13th, 14th, 15th, 16th, 17th 18th
Party	Kadima
Former parties	Likud
Ministerial posts (current in bold)	Minister of the Interior, Minister of Housing & Construction, Minister of Finance, Minister of Justice, Minister of Transportation and Minister of Education, Culture & Sport

Meir Sheetrit (Hebrew: מאיר שטרית‎, born 10 October 1948) is a Moroccan-born Israeli politician. He is currently a member of the Knesset for Kadima. He has served as Minister of the Interior, Minister of Housing & Construction, Minister of Finance, Minister of Justice, Minister of Transportation and Minister of Education, Culture & Sport.

Biography

Sheetrit was born in Ksar es Souk (now Er Rachidia), Morocco. His family immigrated to Israel in 1957. He earned a BA and an MA in Public Policy from Bar-Ilan University.

Political career

Member of the Likud

Sheetrit began his political career in 1974 as mayor of the city of Yavne, a position he held until 1987.

He was first elected to the Knesset in 1981 on the Likud list. He was re-elected in 1984, but lost his seat in 1988. That year he was elected treasurer of the Jewish Agency and served in this position until 1992, when he returned to the Knesset. In 1998 he was appointed Minister of Finance, serving until the fall of Benjamin Netanyahu's first government in 1999. He returned to the cabinet in 2001 as Minister of Justice. After being re-elected in 2003, he was appointed Minister in the Ministry of Finance, where he worked closely with then Minister of Finance Netanyahu who was spearheading a sweeping privatization reform. He was appointed Minister of Transportation in 2004, and later served as Minister of Education, Culture and Sport until 2006.

Member of Kadima

Sheetrit speaking at Wikimedia conference in Haifa, 2011

In 2005 he left Likud and joined Ariel Sharon's new Kadima party. He was re-elected in 2006 and appointed Minister of Housing and Construction, a post he held until July 2007, when he was appointed Minister of Internal Affairs. Between 23 August and 29 November 2006, he also served as Acting Justice Minister following Haim Ramon's resignation on 18 August over an indecent assault indictment. Sheetrit was replaced in the Justice portfolio by Tzipi Livni, who also continued to serve as Foreign Minister.

Following Ehud Olmert's resignation as party leader, Sheetrit ran for the party chairmanship. However, he came third out of the four candidates in the election, receiving only 8.5% of the vote.^[1] Placed seventh on the party's list, he retained his seat in the 2009 elections

In early 2011, he and another MK sprayed air freshener in the Knesset, complaining about the "stench of bad politics". Both MKs were escorted out and speaker Reuven Rivlin condemned the actions.^[2]

As head of the Knesset Science and Technology Committee, he spoke at the international Wikimania conference held in Haifa in 2011.^[3]

References

1. ^ Livni's major rival Mofaz accepts Kadima primary's result Xinhua, 18 September 2008
2. ^ Miskin, Maayana (19 January 2011). "Kadima Perfumes Knesset to Ward off 'Stinking Politics'". Israel National News. Arutz Sheva. http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/141840. Retrieved 20 January 2011. 
3. ^ Levin, Verony (August 5, 2011). "Wikimania Conference at Its Peak; Founder Jimmy Wales to Speak Tomorrow". TheMarker. http://it.themarker.com/tmit/article/16395. Retrieved 2011-08-12.  (Hebrew)

External links

• Meir Sheetrit Knesset website

Persondata
Name	Sheetrit, Meir
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	10 October 1948
Place of birth	Ksar es Souk, Morocco
Date of death
Place of death