- Ran Cohen
MKs
Date of birth = Birth date and age|1937|6|20|df=y
Year of Aliyah = 1950
Date of death =
Knesset(s) = 11th, 12th, 13th, 14th, 15th,
16th, 17th (current)
Party =Meretz-Yachad
Former parties = Ratz
Gov't roles = Minister of Industry and TradeRan Cohen ( _he. רן כהן, born
20 June 1937 ) is anIsrael i politician andKnesset member forMeretz-Yachad . He is a resident ofMevaseret Zion and married with four children.Born in
Baghdad ,Iraq , Cohen was 13 years old when he immigrated toIsrael throughIran . He grew inkibbutz Gan Shmuel , where he absorbed Socialist and Zionist ideologies. During his military service he rose to the rank ofColonel (Aluf Mishne). After the military he obtained aB.A. inphilosophy andEconomics atTel Aviv University .Political career
In 1984 he was first elected to the
Knesset as a member of Ratz (headed byShulamit Aloni ) after he headed theLeft Camp of Israel peace movement.Since 1992, he has been a member of Meretz, a dovish
left wing party which resulted from the merger ofMapam , Ratz andShinui . He was Minister of Industry and Trade inEhud Barak 's government. He headed several Knesset committees, including the Security and Foreign Affairs committee.Cohen is most identified with "Law of Public Housing", which allowed residents of houses supplied by the state to assume ownership on the house. He also managed to pass a law regulating
minimum wages .Cohen's political focus is on social-economic issues rather than
foreign affairs and theIsraeli-Palestinian peace process .After Meretz merged with
Yossi Beilin 's Shachar movement and renamed itself Yachad in 2004, Ran Cohen ran for the chairmainship of the new party, but lost to Beilin. Supporters of Ran Cohen blamed his defeat on anti-Mizrahi racism within the party and pointed out that he was the only non-Ashkenazi to reach a senior position within it.External links
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