Asher Ohana is an Israel

Israel

The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...

i civil servant who served as Minister of Religious Affairs between 2001 and 2003.

Born in Morocco in 1945, Ohana joined Shas

Shas

Shas is an ultra-orthodox religious political party in Israel, primarily representing Sephardic and Mizrahi Haredi Judaism.Shas was founded in 1984 by dissident members of the Ashkenazi dominated Agudat Israel, to represent the interests of religiously observant Sephardic and Mizrahi ...

 in 1992, and served on Beit Shemesh's local council. Between 1997 and 1998 he was director general of the Ministry of Religious Affairs, and in 1999 became Shas' secretary general.

When Shas joined Ariel Sharon

Ariel Sharon

Ariel Sharon is an Israeli statesman and retired general, who served as Israel’s 11th Prime Minister. He has been in a permanent vegetative state since suffering a stroke on 4 January 2006....

's national unity government

Twenty-ninth government of Israel

The twenty-ninth government of Israel was formed by Ariel Sharon on 7 March 2001, following his victory over Ehud Barak in the special election for Prime Minister in February...

 in 2001, Ohana was appointed Minister of Religious Affairs, despite not being 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...

. He remained in the post until the formation of a new government following the 2003 elections.

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