Arie Eldad
Encyclopedia
Prof. Aryeh Eldad, M.D. is an Israel
i physician and politician, and a member of the Knesset
for the National Union
, within which he heads the Hatikva
faction.
in 1950. He is married with five children. His father, Israel Eldad
, was a well known Israeli public thinker and formerly one of the leaders of the underground group Lehi
. He is a resident of the Israeli settlement
of Kfar Adumim
and is a Brigadier-General (reserves) in the Israel Defense Forces
.
and head of the plastic surgery
and burns unit at the Hadassah Medical Center
hospital in Jerusalem. He studied medicine
at Tel Aviv University
, where he earned his doctorate. He served as the chief medical officer and was the senior commander of the Israeli Defense Forces medical corps for 25 years, and reached a rank of Tat Aluf (Brigadier General
). He is renowned worldwide for his treatment of burns and won the Evans Award from the American Burns Treatment Association.
from the Gaza Strip
and the northern West Bank
in August 2005, Eldad was the only member of parliament to call for non-violent civil disobedience as a tactic in the struggle against the government. Eldad even walked the few hundred kilometres between the now evacuated community of Sa-Nur
(in the northern West Bank
) to Neve Dekalim
in order to attract attention to the opposition of the Withdrawal plan.
In the February 2006 dismantlement of the Amona
outpost Eldad was injured during the confrontation between demonstrators and police, as was his ally MK Effi Eitam
. The event caused a storm of criticism on both sides, as interim Prime Minister
Ehud Olmert
accused them of inciting the crowd to attack the police, while they accused Olmert and the police of reckless use of force.
After being re-elected in 2006, in August 2007 Eldad established and headed a 10-member Homesh
Knesset caucus met for the first time. The caucus' mandate is to work to promote the re-establishment of Homesh - with the aim of eventually re-establishing all the settlements dismantled in 2005.
In November 2007 he announced the formation of a new secular right-wing party named Hatikva
. Ultimately the party ran as a faction of the National Union in the 2009 elections
, with Eldad in third place on the alliance's list. He retained his seat as the Union won four mandates.
In 2008 he submitted a bill to the Knesset proposing that Hebron
's Arab residents be removed "in order to protect the Jews of Hebron
". but his suggestion came to no avail.
Eldad's 2009 proposal that Palestinian Arabs be given Jordanian citizenship drew a formal protest from the Jordanian foreign minister.
who believes in the ideas of Zionist philosopher Zeev Jabotinsky. Eldad supports the right of Jews to live in any part of the Land of Israel
and opposes any surrender of Israeli sovereignty to the PLO. Eldad opposes the creation of any Palestinian Arab state west of the Jordan River and called its possibility a "disaster". The creation of a Palestinian state in Judea and Samaria would lead, Eldad believes, to a Hamas-run center of terror within three days of Israeli transfer of the land. Furthermore, Eldad believes that the State of Israel will never have peace with the Arabs.
On his Zionism, Eldad stated that "I belong to this part of the Jewish people that believes the Land of Israel belongs to the People of Israel." In a university lecture, he questioned, "how did we [the Jewish people] become so distorted as to say the Arabs have a right to our land?" On "occupation," he posits that "the only occupation I know of is the Arab occupation of the Land of Israel in the seventh century... If I am an occupier in Hebron, I am an occupier in Tel Aviv..." The Balfour Declaration, the White Papers, the United Nations recognition of the State of Israel - all these, Eldad believes, are not the sources of the Jewish right to the Land of Israel, but "only recognition of our right."
On his political goals, Eldad has stated: "When I wake up in the morning, I divide the day into two parts. In the first part of the day, I try to prevent the creation of a Palestinian state. It is not a full-time job, so in the second part of the day, I try to prevent corruption."
In March 2010, in response to David Miliband
's statement that the Israeli cloning of British passports is "intolerable", he commented: "I think the British are being hypocritical, and I do not wish to insult dogs here, since some dogs show true loyalty, [but] who gave the British the right to judge us on the war on terror?".
The canine theme was taken up by a second MP, Michael Ben-Ari, who said: "Dogs are usually loyal, the British may be dogs, but they are not loyal to us. They seem to be loyal to the anti-Semitic establishment".
During Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's visit to Lebanon
in October 2010, Eldad stated:
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
i physician and politician, and a member of the Knesset
Knesset
The Knesset is the unicameral legislature of Israel, located in Givat Ram, Jerusalem.-Role in Israeli Government :The legislative branch of the Israeli government, the Knesset passes all laws, elects the President and Prime Minister , approves the cabinet, and supervises the work of the government...
for the National Union
National Union (Israel)
The National Union is an alliance of nationalist political parties in Israel. In the 2009 elections the National Union consisted of four parties: Moledet, Hatikva, Eretz Yisrael Shelanu, and Tkuma.-Background:...
, within which he heads the Hatikva
Hatikva (political party)
Hatikva is a minor political party in Israel. A secular right-wing party, it is headed by Aryeh Eldad, and forms one of the factions of the National Union alliance.Formed in late 2007, it was officially registered on 9 December 2007...
faction.
Biography
Eldad was born in Tel AvivTel Aviv
Tel Aviv , officially Tel Aviv-Yafo , is the second most populous city in Israel, with a population of 404,400 on a land area of . The city is located on the Israeli Mediterranean coastline in west-central Israel. It is the largest and most populous city in the metropolitan area of Gush Dan, with...
in 1950. He is married with five children. His father, Israel Eldad
Israel Eldad
Israel Eldad , was a noted Israeli independence fighter and Revisionist Zionist philosopher...
, was a well known Israeli public thinker and formerly one of the leaders of the underground group Lehi
Lehi (group)
Lehi , commonly referred to in English as the Stern Group or Stern Gang, was a militant Zionist group founded by Avraham Stern in the British Mandate of Palestine...
. He is a resident of the Israeli settlement
Israeli settlement
An Israeli settlement is a Jewish civilian community built on land that was captured by Israel from Jordan, Egypt, and Syria during the 1967 Six-Day War and is considered occupied territory by the international community. Such settlements currently exist in the West Bank...
of Kfar Adumim
Kfar Adumim
Kfar Adumim is a communal Israeli settlement in the West Bank. Located in the Judean Desert, it falls under the jurisdiction of Mateh Binyamin Regional Council. In 2007 it had a population of 2,500...
and is a Brigadier-General (reserves) in the Israel Defense Forces
Israel Defense Forces
The Israel Defense Forces , commonly known in Israel by the Hebrew acronym Tzahal , are the military forces of the State of Israel. They consist of the ground forces, air force and navy. It is the sole military wing of the Israeli security forces, and has no civilian jurisdiction within Israel...
.
Medical career
Eldad is a professorProfessor
A professor is a scholarly teacher; the precise meaning of the term varies by country. Literally, professor derives from Latin as a "person who professes" being usually an expert in arts or sciences; a teacher of high rank...
and head of the plastic surgery
Plastic surgery
Plastic surgery is a medical specialty concerned with the correction or restoration of form and function. Though cosmetic or aesthetic surgery is the best-known kind of plastic surgery, most plastic surgery is not cosmetic: plastic surgery includes many types of reconstructive surgery, hand...
and burns unit at the Hadassah Medical Center
Hadassah Medical Center
Hadassah Medical Center is a medical organization that operates two University hospitals at Ein Kerem and Mount Scopus in Jerusalem, Israel, as well as schools of medicine, dentistry, nursing, and pharmacology affiliated with the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.The hospital was founded by Hadassah,...
hospital in Jerusalem. He studied medicine
Medicine
Medicine is the science and art of healing. It encompasses a variety of health care practices evolved to maintain and restore health by the prevention and treatment of illness....
at Tel Aviv University
Tel Aviv University
Tel Aviv University is a public university located in Ramat Aviv, Tel Aviv, Israel. With nearly 30,000 students, TAU is Israel's largest university.-History:...
, where he earned his doctorate. He served as the chief medical officer and was the senior commander of the Israeli Defense Forces medical corps for 25 years, and reached a rank of Tat Aluf (Brigadier General
Brigadier General
Brigadier general is a senior rank in the armed forces. It is the lowest ranking general officer in some countries, usually sitting between the ranks of colonel and major general. When appointed to a field command, a brigadier general is typically in command of a brigade consisting of around 4,000...
). He is renowned worldwide for his treatment of burns and won the Evans Award from the American Burns Treatment Association.
Political career
Eldad was first elected to the Knesset on the National Union list in 2003, and chaired the Ethics Committee. Prior to the scheduled Israeli withdrawalIsrael's unilateral disengagement plan
Israel's unilateral disengagement plan , also known as the "Disengagement plan", "Gaza expulsion plan", and "Hitnatkut", was a proposal by Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, adopted by the government on June 6, 2004 and enacted in August 2005, to evict all Israelis from the Gaza Strip and from...
from the Gaza Strip
Gaza Strip
thumb|Gaza city skylineThe Gaza Strip lies on the Eastern coast of the Mediterranean Sea. The Strip borders Egypt on the southwest and Israel on the south, east and north. It is about long, and between 6 and 12 kilometres wide, with a total area of...
and the northern West Bank
West Bank
The West Bank ) of the Jordan River is the landlocked geographical eastern part of the Palestinian territories located in Western Asia. To the west, north, and south, the West Bank shares borders with the state of Israel. To the east, across the Jordan River, lies the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan...
in August 2005, Eldad was the only member of parliament to call for non-violent civil disobedience as a tactic in the struggle against the government. Eldad even walked the few hundred kilometres between the now evacuated community of Sa-Nur
Sa-Nur
Sa-Nur was an Israeli settlement in the northern West Bank under the administrative jurisdiction of Shomron Regional Council. Prior to its demolition, Sa-nur was home to 43 families. In September 2005 its 105 residents were evicted and IDF soldiers began dismantling Sanur as part of Israel's...
(in the northern West Bank
West Bank
The West Bank ) of the Jordan River is the landlocked geographical eastern part of the Palestinian territories located in Western Asia. To the west, north, and south, the West Bank shares borders with the state of Israel. To the east, across the Jordan River, lies the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan...
) to Neve Dekalim
Neve Dekalim
Neve Dekalim was an Israeli settlement and a community in the Gush Katif settlement bloc in the Gaza Strip. It was founded in 1983 after the Israeli withdrawal from the Sinai Peninsula, on sand dunes that were previously uninhabited. The village served as a regional center for the Gush Katif...
in order to attract attention to the opposition of the Withdrawal plan.
In the February 2006 dismantlement of the Amona
Amona
Amona is an Israeli settlement in the central West Bank, on a hill overlooking Ofra. Located within the municipal boundaries of the Mateh Binyamin Regional Council, the village was founded in 1997 on a hilltop of privately owned Palestinian land and inhabited by young settlers from Ofra.By late...
outpost Eldad was injured during the confrontation between demonstrators and police, as was his ally MK Effi Eitam
Effi Eitam
Efraim "Effi" Eitam is an Israeli politician. A former leader of the National Religious Party, he later led a breakaway faction, Ahi, which merged into Likud in 2009. He served as a member of the Knesset between 2003 and 2009.-Biography:...
. The event caused a storm of criticism on both sides, as interim Prime Minister
Prime Minister of Israel
The Prime Minister of Israel is the head of the Israeli government and the most powerful political figure in Israel . The prime minister is the country's chief executive. The official residence of the prime minister, Beit Rosh Hamemshala is in Jerusalem...
Ehud Olmert
Ehud Olmert
Ehud Olmert is an Israeli politician and lawyer. He served as Prime Minister of Israel from 2006 to 2009, as a Cabinet Minister from 1988 to 1992 and from 2003 to 2006, and as Mayor of Jerusalem from 1993 to 2003....
accused them of inciting the crowd to attack the police, while they accused Olmert and the police of reckless use of force.
After being re-elected in 2006, in August 2007 Eldad established and headed a 10-member Homesh
Homesh
Homesh was an Israeli settlement in the northern Samarian Hills of the West Bank along Tulkarm and Route 60. The village fell under the administrative jurisdiction of the Shomron Regional Council...
Knesset caucus met for the first time. The caucus' mandate is to work to promote the re-establishment of Homesh - with the aim of eventually re-establishing all the settlements dismantled in 2005.
In November 2007 he announced the formation of a new secular right-wing party named Hatikva
Hatikva (political party)
Hatikva is a minor political party in Israel. A secular right-wing party, it is headed by Aryeh Eldad, and forms one of the factions of the National Union alliance.Formed in late 2007, it was officially registered on 9 December 2007...
. Ultimately the party ran as a faction of the National Union in the 2009 elections
Israeli legislative election, 2009
Elections for the 18th Knesset were held in Israel on 10 February 2009. These elections became necessary due to the resignation of Prime Minister Ehud Olmert as leader of the Kadima party, and the failure of his successor, Tzipi Livni, to form a coalition government...
, with Eldad in third place on the alliance's list. He retained his seat as the Union won four mandates.
In 2008 he submitted a bill to the Knesset proposing that Hebron
Hebron
Hebron , is located in the southern West Bank, south of Jerusalem. Nestled in the Judean Mountains, it lies 930 meters above sea level. It is the largest city in the West Bank and home to around 165,000 Palestinians, and over 500 Jewish settlers concentrated in and around the old quarter...
's Arab residents be removed "in order to protect the Jews of Hebron
Committee of The Jewish Community of Hebron
The Committee of the Jewish Community of Hebron is the municipal body of the Israeli settlers of the city of Hebron, on the West Bank. The community constitutes a Regional Committee, included the Har Hebron Regional Council. The mayor/spokesman of the community is David Wilder. Beit HaShalom, , was...
". but his suggestion came to no avail.
Eldad's 2009 proposal that Palestinian Arabs be given Jordanian citizenship drew a formal protest from the Jordanian foreign minister.
Political beliefs
Eldad is a Revisionist ZionistRevisionist Zionism
Revisionist Zionism is a nationalist faction within the Zionist movement. It is the founding ideology of the non-religious right in Israel, and was the chief ideological competitor to the dominant socialist Labor Zionism...
who believes in the ideas of Zionist philosopher Zeev Jabotinsky. Eldad supports the right of Jews to live in any part of the Land of Israel
Land of Israel
The Land of Israel is the Biblical name for the territory roughly corresponding to the area encompassed by the Southern Levant, also known as Canaan and Palestine, Promised Land and Holy Land. The belief that the area is a God-given homeland of the Jewish people is based on the narrative of the...
and opposes any surrender of Israeli sovereignty to the PLO. Eldad opposes the creation of any Palestinian Arab state west of the Jordan River and called its possibility a "disaster". The creation of a Palestinian state in Judea and Samaria would lead, Eldad believes, to a Hamas-run center of terror within three days of Israeli transfer of the land. Furthermore, Eldad believes that the State of Israel will never have peace with the Arabs.
On his Zionism, Eldad stated that "I belong to this part of the Jewish people that believes the Land of Israel belongs to the People of Israel." In a university lecture, he questioned, "how did we [the Jewish people] become so distorted as to say the Arabs have a right to our land?" On "occupation," he posits that "the only occupation I know of is the Arab occupation of the Land of Israel in the seventh century... If I am an occupier in Hebron, I am an occupier in Tel Aviv..." The Balfour Declaration, the White Papers, the United Nations recognition of the State of Israel - all these, Eldad believes, are not the sources of the Jewish right to the Land of Israel, but "only recognition of our right."
On his political goals, Eldad has stated: "When I wake up in the morning, I divide the day into two parts. In the first part of the day, I try to prevent the creation of a Palestinian state. It is not a full-time job, so in the second part of the day, I try to prevent corruption."
In March 2010, in response to David Miliband
David Miliband
David Wright Miliband is a British Labour Party politician who has been the Member of Parliament for South Shields since 2001, and was the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs from 2007 to 2010. He is the elder son of the late Marxist theorist Ralph Miliband...
's statement that the Israeli cloning of British passports is "intolerable", he commented: "I think the British are being hypocritical, and I do not wish to insult dogs here, since some dogs show true loyalty, [but] who gave the British the right to judge us on the war on terror?".
The canine theme was taken up by a second MP, Michael Ben-Ari, who said: "Dogs are usually loyal, the British may be dogs, but they are not loyal to us. They seem to be loyal to the anti-Semitic establishment".
During Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's visit to Lebanon
Lebanon
Lebanon , officially the Republic of LebanonRepublic of Lebanon is the most common term used by Lebanese government agencies. The term Lebanese Republic, a literal translation of the official Arabic and French names that is not used in today's world. Arabic is the most common language spoken among...
in October 2010, Eldad stated:
"History would have been different if in 1939 some Jewish soldier had succeeded in taking Hitler out. If Ahmadinejad can be in the crosshairs of an IDF rifle when he comes to throw rocks at us, he must not return home alive."
External links
- Arieh Eldad website
- Aryeh Eldad Moledet website
- Civil Disobedience - in the Context of the Current Policies of the Governernment of Israel Israel Resource Review, 2 May 2005