- Shlomo Benizri
MKs
Date of birth =7 February 1961
Year of Aliyah =
Date of death =
Knesset(s) = 13th, 14th, 15th, 16th,
17th (current)
Party =Shas
Former parties =
Gov't roles = Minister of Health
Minister of Labor & Social WelfareShlomo Benizri ( _he. שלמה בניזרי, born
7 February 1961 ) is anIsrael i politician and member of theShas party. He represented Shas in the Knesset between 1992 and 2008, serving as Deputy Health Minister, Minister of Health, and Labor and Social Welfare Minister during the late 1990s and early 2000s.Controversies
Corruption scandal
On
29 March 2006 , he was charged by the State Prosecutor's Office with acceptingbribes and breaching the public trust. He allegedly accepted favors worth millions of shekels from his friend, contractor Moshe Sela, in exchange for inside information regarding foreign workers scheduled to arrive in Israel. He was sixth on the Shas list of candidates for the 2006 elections. The decision to indict Benizri after the elections had already taken place was a conscious decision on the part of the Israeliattorney general Menachem Mazuz . He was eventually convicted of bribery, conspiring to commit a crime and obstruction of justice on1 April 2008 ; if the court rules that his crimes amounted to "moral turpitude", he will have to resign from the Knesset. [ [http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/970611.html Benizri: I've been persecuted for 8 years for no fault of my own] Haaretz, 1 April 2008]On
27 April 2008 , a district court sentenced Benizri to 18 months in jail and decided that his actions amount to moral turpitude. Although his attorneys planned to file an appeal,Cite news|url=http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3536430,00.html|title=Court sentences Shas MK Benizri to 18-month term|author=Zino, Aviram|date=2008-04-28|accessdate=2008-04-28|publisher=Ynetnews ] Cite news|publisher=Ynet |date=2008-04-08|accessdate=2008-04-08|url=http://www.ynet.co.il/articles/0,7340,L-3536597,00.html|title=Benizri Will Go to Prison, Without "He is Innocent" Song|author=Sela, Neta he icon] he resigned from the Knesset the same day and was replaced byMazor Bahaina .Other
In 1998, Benizri led a call to disqualify
Dana International from theEurovision Song Contest , which she went on to win. He stated, "The Eurovision Song Contest interests me about as much as the weather in Antarctica, but as a son of the Jewish people it [Dana International's transsexuality] offends me." [http://www.jewcy.com/post/what_eurovision_teaches_us_about_israel What Eurovision Teaches Us About Israel] ]In 2001 Benizri was accused of
racism after he said "I just don't understand why a restaurant needs a slant-eye to serve me my meal." [ [http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/A/JPArticle/Full&cid=1025787760816 They serve, suffer and still root for us] Jerusalem Post, 11 July 2002] He has also stated, 'The Jews did kill Jesus' reflecting his point of view onThe Passion of the Christ controversy. [cite web|url=http://web.israelinsider.com/Articles/AntiSemi/3360.htm |work=israelinsider | title=Anti-Semitism: One Shas MK says ban "Passion", another says "Jews did kill Jesus"|accessdate=2008-06-30|date=2004-02-26|author=Shuman, Ellis ]In 2008, Benizri blamed several earthquakes in the region on Israel's tolerance of homosexuality. [ [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7255657.stm Israeli MP blames quakes on gays] ]
References
External links
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