Yitzhak Ben-Aharon

MKs


Date of birth = 17 July 1906
Year of Aliyah = 1928
Date of death = 19 May 2006
Knesset(s) = 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 7th, 8th
Party = Alignment
Former parties = Mapam, Ahdut HaAvoda
Gov't roles = Minister of Transport

Yitzhak Ben-Aharon ( _he. יצחק בן אהרון, born 17 July 1906, died 19 May 2006) was a left-wing Israeli politician. He was a Knesset member from the first to the fifth Knessets and in the seventh and eighth, and a former Minister of Transport and General secretary of the Histadrut. The philosopher Yeshayahu Ben-Aharon is his son.

Early life and career

Ben-Aharon was born in the Bukovina region of the Austro-Hungarian Empire (today Romania). He attended high school in Cernăuţi and studied at the Advanced School for Political Science in Berlin. He became a leader in Hashomer Hatzair in Romania, and in 1928 he emigrated to Mandate Palestine. In 1933, he became a member of kibbutz Givat Haim and after the 1952 split in the Kibbutz Movement, he joined the Mapam-affiliated Givat Haim (Meuhad), where he remained a member for the rest of his life.

From 1932-1938, he was Secretary of the Tel Aviv Workers' Council. In the summer of 1935, he served for a few months as the envoy for the Halutz organization in Nazi Germany until he was expelled by the Gestapo. From 1938-1939, he was Secretary of Mapai. In 1940, he enlisted in the British army to fight against Nazi Germany in World War II, where he reached the rank of Major. He was captured in the Greek front in 1941, along with other soldiers from the Yishuv, until they were released in 1945.

Political career

After the war, he joined Mapam and from 1948 became one of its leaders. After the split in Mapam in 1954, he became one of the leaders of its left-splinter, Ahdut HaAvoda party. From 1969-1973, he became General-Secretary of the Histadrut. He was a Knesset member seven times, and member of several parliamentary committees. From 1958-1962, he became the Minister of Transport, but resigned over what he called the government's anti-labour socioeconomic policy. In 1977, he retired from active political life, but continued to express critical, pro-socialist views for the rest of his life. He was the author of several books and articles, and in 1995 became a recipient of the Israel Prize for "special contribution to the Israeli State and society." On May 19, 2006, he died in his kibbutz. Ben-Aharon donated his body to science, so there was no burial.

Tributes

Responding to Ben-Aharon's death, President of Israel, Moshe Katzav stated that: "Israel has lost one of its builders and shapers of its social character." Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said that "the State of Israel has lost one of its giants, a true zionist and honest ideologue, who during tens of years did not hesitate to express his unique and penetrating views." Israel's Vice Prime Minister, Minister for the Development of the Negev and Galilee, Shimon Peres said that: "One of the spiritual fathers of the Israeli labour movement has left us." The Minister of Defense, Amir Peretz, said: "today, one the giants of the State of Israel has left us. If there is a man that can be said to have been one of the titans of the generation, it is Yitzhak Ben-Aharon."

References

* [http://www.knesset.gov.il/mk/eng/mk_eng.asp?mk_individual_id_t=294 Yitzhak Ben-Aharon on the Knesset website (in English)]
* [http://www.veterans.org.il/?p=179 Entry in the Israel War Veterans League]
* [http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1145961375544&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull "Jerusalem Post", "Labor founding member Ben-Aharon dies aged 99"] May 19 2006
* [http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/717885.html "Haaretz", "Labor Party veteran Yitzhak Ben Aharon dies at age 99"] , May 20 2006