Dan Meridor ( he, דן מרידור, born 23 April 1947) is an Israeli politician and minister. A longtime member of the

Likud Likud ( he, הַלִּיכּוּד, HaLikud, The Consolidation), officially known as Likud – National Liberal Movement, is a major centre-right to right-wing political party in Israel. It was founded in 1973 by Menachem Begin and Ariel S ...

party, in the late 1990s he became one of the founders of the Centre Party. He rejoined Likud a decade later, and returned to the Knesset following the 2009 elections. Meridor served at various times as

Deputy Prime Minister A deputy prime minister or vice prime minister is, in some countries, a government minister who can take the position of acting prime minister when the prime minister is temporarily absent. The position is often likened to that of a vice president, ...

Minister of Finance A finance minister is an executive or cabinet position in charge of one or more of government finances, economic policy and financial regulation. A finance minister's portfolio has a large variety of names around the world, such as "treasury", ...

, Minister of Justice and Minister of Intelligence and Atomic Energy in the

Israeli Cabinet The Cabinet of Israel (officially: he, ממשלת ישראל ''Memshelet Yisrael'') exercises executive authority in the State of Israel. It consists of ministers who are chosen and led by the prime minister. The composition of the governmen ...

. In 2014, Meridor succeeded

Avi Primor Avraham "Avi“ Primor ( he, אבי פרימור, born 8 April 1935 in Tel Aviv) is an Israeli publicist and former diplomat. From 1987 to 1993, he served as Ambassador to the European Union, and from 1993 to 1999 as Ambassador to Germany. Aft ...

as president of the

Israel Council on Foreign Relations The Israel Council on Foreign Relations (ICFR) is an independent, non-partisan forum for the study and debate of foreign policy issues, especially those relating to the State of Israel and the Jewish people. The ICFR publishes a triannual policy a ...

, an institute of international affairs which operates under the auspices of the World Jewish Congress.

Biography

Born in

Jerusalem Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...

towards the end of the Mandate era, Meridor is the son of Eliyahu Meridor, a longtime political associate of Menachem Begin in the

Irgun Irgun • Etzel , image = Irgun.svg , image_size = 200px , caption = Irgun emblem. The map shows both Mandatory Palestine and the Emirate of Transjordan, which the Irgun claimed in its entirety for a future Jewish state. The acronym "Etzel" i ...

and

Herut Herut ( he, חֵרוּת, ''Freedom'') was the major conservative nationalist political party in Israel from 1948 until its formal merger into Likud in 1988. It was an adherent of Revisionist Zionism. History Herut was founded by Menachem Begin ...

(which he represented in the Knesset), and Ra'anana Meridor, an associate professor of Classics at the

Hebrew University of Jerusalem The Hebrew University of Jerusalem (HUJI; he, הַאוּנִיבֶרְסִיטָה הַעִבְרִית בִּירוּשָׁלַיִם) is a public research university based in Jerusalem, Israel. Co-founded by Albert Einstein and Dr. Chaim Weiz ...

. He served in the

armored corps An armoured corps (also mechanized corps or tank corps) is a specialized military organization whose role is to conduct armoured warfare. The units belonging to an armoured corps include military staff, and are equipped with tanks and other armou ...

and then studied law at the

, gaining an LL.B. He then worked as an attorney at the Tel Aviv law firm of Haim Zadok & Co.

Political career

After serving as Cabinet Secretary between 1982 and 1984 (under Begin and Yitzhak Shamir), Meridor ran for the

Knesset The Knesset ( he, הַכְּנֶסֶת ; "gathering" or "assembly") is the unicameral legislature of Israel. As the supreme state body, the Knesset is sovereign and thus has complete control of the entirety of the Israeli government (wit ...

in the Likud list for the 1984 election. As a freshman member, he was appointed chairman of two legislative subcommittees. He was re-elected in 1988, and was appointed Minister of Justice in Shamir's unity government of 1988–90 and in Shamir's Likud government of 1990–92. He retained his seat in the 1992 and 1996 elections, and was appointed

by Binyamin Netanyahu in 1996. After successive clashes with Netanyahu, Meridor left the cabinet in June 1997. His public image suffered during that period, when he was compared to

Hamlet ''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play, with 29,551 words. Set in Denmark, the play depicts ...

(for his indecisiveness) and to a fraidy cat on a popular TV show, " Hartzufim". In 1998, together with several other Likud and Labor Party members, he co-founded ''Israel in the Centre'', which later became the Centre Party. He was elected as a Centre Party MK in the 1999 elections, and was appointed chairman of the Knesset's Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee. After Ariel Sharon became Prime Minister in 2001, Meridor was made a

Minister without Portfolio A minister without portfolio is either a government minister with no specific responsibilities or a minister who does not head a particular ministry. The sinecure is particularly common in countries ruled by coalition governments and a cabinet ...

. During his time in the Knesset he also served as the Knesset observer to the Council of Europe. Meridor lost his seat following the 2003 elections. After leaving the Knesset, Meridor served as international chair of the Jerusalem Foundation. In the run-up to the 2006 elections, Meridor received offers by Labor and Yisrael Beiteinu, but he seemed to harbor hopes of being called to Kadima's list. However, his inclusion was vetoed by Ariel Sharon's sons, Gilad and Omri Sharon. He later rejoined Likud, and won seventeenth place on the party's list for the 2009 elections. He returned to the Knesset after the party won 27 seats. In the Netanyahu cabinet formed after that election, Meridor was appointed Minister of Intelligence and Atomic Energy, and Deputy Prime Minister. Meridor ran in the Likud primaries for the 2013 elections, but he failed to win a realistic place on the Likud list.

Family

Meridor's father was Eliyahu Meridor, a member of the

. Meridor's wife Liora is a senior economist, who held several posts in the Bank of Israel, the private sector, and government-sponsored panels.Tamir, students union announce cancellation of university strike
Haaretz, 24 February 2007 They have four children. Their son Shaul Meridor is the deputy director of the Allocation Branch at the Ministry of Finance. Dan Meridor has three younger siblings. Haggit Hurvitz is Head of Pediatrics at the Bikur Holim Hospital. Avital Darmon is Director of the Applied Research Initiative in Education.

Sallai Meridor Sallai Meridor ( he, סלי מרידור; born 1955) is an Israeli politician. He was the Israeli Ambassador to the United States between 2005–2009, appointed by Prime Minister Ehud Olmert. Career Meridor was an aide to Moshe Arens when he wa ...

was Chairman of the Jewish Agency for Israel and the World Zionist Organization from 1999 to 2005, and was appointed as Israeli

ambassador An ambassador is an official envoy, especially a high-ranking diplomat who represents a state and is usually accredited to another sovereign state or to an international organization as the resident representative of their own government or s ...

to the United States in 2006.

References

External links

*
Dan Meridor debates Saeb Erakat at the International Peace Institute, 25 June 2010 (video)

Deputy Prime Minister Dan Meridor
interviewed by the

British Broadcasting Corporation #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...

...