Yigal Hurvitz
Encyclopedia
Yigal Hurvitz was 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 politician who served as a government minister in the late 1970s and 1980s.

Biography

Hurvitz was born in Nahlat Yehuda (today part of Rishon LeZion) in 1918. Between 1938 and 1941 he was a member of the secretariat of HaNoar HaOved VeHaLomed
Hanoar Haoved Vehalomed
Histadrut HaNoar HaOved VeHaLomed , sometimes abbreiviated to No'al is an Israeli youth movement, a sister movement of Habonim Dror, the Labor Zionist movement....

, and served in the Jewish Brigade
Jewish Brigade
The Jewish Infantry Brigade Group was a military formation of the British Army that served in Europe during the Second World War. The brigade was formed in late 1944, and its personnel fought the Germans in Italy...

 during World War II. In 1961 he joined Mapai
Mapai
Mapai was a left-wing political party in Israel, and was the dominant force in Israeli politics until its merger into the Israeli Labor Party in 1968...

 and became a member of the party's central committee. He also served as a member of the Moshavim Movement
Moshavim Movement
The Moshavim Movement is one of the main settlement movements in Israel, whose members are cooperative villages organized as moshavim and moshavim shitufiim...

's secretariat between 1961 and 1965.

In 1965 he joined David Ben-Gurion
David Ben-Gurion
' was the first Prime Minister of Israel.Ben-Gurion's passion for Zionism, which began early in life, led him to become a major Zionist leader and Executive Head of the World Zionist Organization in 1946...

's new Rafi party, and followed Ben-Gurion to the new National List
National List
The National List , sometimes translated as the State List, was a political party in Israel. Despite being founded by David Ben-Gurion, one of the fathers of the Israeli left, the party is an ancestor of the modern-day Likud, Israel's largest right-wing bloc.-Background:The National List had been...

 in 1969. In that year he was elected to 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...

 on the party's list. Following its merger into the new Likud
Likud
Likud is the major center-right political party in Israel. It was founded in 1973 by Menachem Begin in an alliance with several right-wing and liberal parties. Likud's victory in the 1977 elections was a major turning point in the country's political history, marking the first time the left had...

 alliance in 1973, Hurvitz was re-elected on Likud's list. He was re-elected in 1977, and was appointed Minister of Industry & Tourism
Industry, Trade and Labour Minister of Israel
The Industry, Trade and Labour Minister of Israel is the political head of the Israeli Ministry of Industry, Trade and Labour and a position in the Israeli cabinet....

, a role he held until October 1978. In November 1979 he was appointed Minister of Finance, but left the cabinet again on 13 January 1981. On 26 January he and two other Likud MKs broke away from the Likud to form Rafi – National List
Ometz (political party)
Ometz , originally Rafi – National List , then the National List was a small right-wing political party in Israel, which existed briefly in 1981, and then from 1983 until 1987...

. On 19 May he left the new faction to join Moshe Dayan
Moshe Dayan
Moshe Dayan was an Israeli military leader and politician. The fourth Chief of Staff of the Israel Defense Forces , he became a fighting symbol to the world of the new State of Israel...

's Telem
Telem (political party)
Telem , lit. Movement for National Renewal) was a political party in Israel.-Background:Telem was formed on 19 May 1981 during the ninth Knesset by Moshe Dayan and two ex-Likud MKs. Dayan had been elected to the Knesset as an MK for the Alignment, which had lost the election for the first time in...

.

After being placed third on Telem's list, he lost his seat in the 1981 elections
Israeli legislative election, 1981
Elections for the tenth Knesset were held in Israel on 30 June 1981. Despite last minute polls suggesting a victory for Shimon Peres's Alignment, Menachem Begin's Likud won by just one seat...

 when the party won only two seats. However, following Dayan's death in October 1981, Hurvitz re-entered the Knesset as his replacement. In June 1983 he left Telem and re-formed Rafi – National List. Shortly before the 1984 elections
Israeli legislative election, 1984
Elections for the eleventh Knesset were held in Israel on 23 July 1984. Voter turnout was 78.8%. The results saw the Alignment return to being the largest party in the Knesset, a status it had lost in 1977...

 he renamed it Ometz
Ometz (political party)
Ometz , originally Rafi – National List , then the National List was a small right-wing political party in Israel, which existed briefly in 1981, and then from 1983 until 1987...

 (lit. Courage).

Although the party won only a single seat in the elections (taken by Hurvitz), it joined the national unity government
National unity government
A national unity government, government of national unity, or national union government is a broad coalition government consisting of all parties in the legislature, usually formed during a time of war or other national emergency.- Canada :During World War I the Conservative government of Sir...

, and Hurvitz was appointed Minister without Portfolio
Minister without Portfolio
A minister without portfolio is either a government minister with no specific responsibilities or a minister that does not head a particular ministry...

, a role he held until 1988. In 1987 he re-joined Likud. He won re-election on Likud's list in the 1988 elections
Israeli legislative election, 1988
Elections for the twelfth Knesset were held in Israel on 1 November 1988. Voter turnout was 79.7%.-Results:1 Five members of the Likud left to form the Party for the Advancement of the Zionist Idea; after two returned, the party was renamed the New Liberal Party...

, but lost his seat in 1992.

External links

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