Zevulun Orlev

MKs


Date of birth = Birth date and age|1945|11|9|df=y
Year of Aliyah =
Date of death =
Knesset(s) = 15th, 16th, 17th (current)
Party = National Religious Party
Former parties =
Gov't roles = Minister of Welfare & Social Services

Zevulun Orlev ( _he. זבולון אורלב, born 9 November 1945) is an Israeli politician and leader of the National Religious Party. Orlev is a decorated war hero who received the Medal of Distinguished Service in the Yom Kippur War.

Biography

Orlev was born in Rehovot. He lives in Jerusalem's Givat Mordechai neighborhood with his wife, Nira. They have four children. Orlev is a graduate of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and Moreshet Yaakov College, with a degree in education and the social sciences. He became a Knesset member in 1999.

Political career

Orlev is a member of the National Religious Party, previously, the major political institution of the Religious Zionist Movement. As a Knesset member, Orlev has focused on social and economic issues. He was voted "best legislator" and contributed greatly to the lawmaking record of his party.Fact|date=January 2008

Minister of Social Welfare

After the 2003 elections for the 16th Knesset, Orlev was appointed Minister of Welfare and Social Services in Ariel Sharon's second government. However, the two major economic key positions - the Finance Minister and the Interior Minister- were given to Benjamin Netanyahu and Avraham Poraz, staunch liberal-capitalists in the Israeli political scene. Orlev fought unsuccessfully against Netanyahu's economic plan, which called for budget-slashing, downsizing of bureaucratic and government bodies, and privatization of governmental industries.Fact|date=January 2008

Orlev vs Eitam

Orlev is considered the leader of the pragmatic faction of the NRP and was the main opposition against Effi Eitam when Eitam was leader of the party. Orlev and Eitam were bitter rivals on political issues with Eitam seen as an ideological hardliner and Orlev as a pragmatist. While Eitam's background is military rather than political, Orlev is a long-time party member with strong support among the "center" members.Fact|date=January 2008

During the rivalry, Orlev was critical of Eitam's emphasis on the Israeli settlements issue, while Eitam accused Orlev of backing down on Gush Katif, and failing to solve Israel's socio-economic problems. Eitam called Orlev a "Meimadnik" (member of left wing Religious Zionism) and a "chair-addict." Orlev claimed the only way to thwart Israel's unilateral disengagement plan of 2004 was to stay in the government and work from the inside. ( [http://www.nrg.co.il/online/11/ART/782/089.html The letter of Eitam versus the letter of Orlev]

When Eitam and Rabbi Yitzhak Levi quit Ariel Sharon's government in 2004 as a protest over the disengagement plan, Orlev and many NRP members refused to leave the coalition. After Orlev succeeded in taking control of the party, Eitam and Levi left and formed the Renewed Religious National Zionist Party (since renamed Ahi), which would later join the National Union - a Knesset list of nationalist parties. The NRP and National Union ultimately participated on a joint slate for the 2006 elections for the seventeenth Knesset and Orlev and Eitam still sit in Israel's parliament as part of the same list.

Public offices

*Director General, Ministry of Religious Affairs
*Director General, Ministry of Education and Culture
*Secretary General, National Religious Party
*Minister of Labor and Social Welfare (from March 2003)

External links