Abraham Hirschson (; 11 February 1941 – 7 March 2022) was an Israeli politician. He served as a member of the Knesset for Likud and Kadima between 1981 and 1984, and again from 1992 until 2009. He also held the posts of Minister of Communications, Minister of Finance and Minister of Tourism. He resigned following allegations of

corruption Corruption is a form of dishonesty or a criminal offense that is undertaken by a person or an organization that is entrusted in a position of authority to acquire illicit benefits or abuse power for one's gain. Corruption may involve activities ...

, and was ultimately convicted of stealing close to 2 million

shekel A shekel or sheqel (; , , plural , ) is an ancient Mesopotamian coin, usually of silver. A shekel was first a unit of weight—very roughly 11 grams (0.35 ozt)—and became currency in ancient Tyre, Carthage and Hasmonean Judea. Name The wo ...

s from the National Workers Labor Federation while he was its chairman.

Background

Hirschson was born in Tel Mond and later resided in

Tel Aviv Tel Aviv-Yafo ( or , ; ), sometimes rendered as Tel Aviv-Jaffa, and usually referred to as just Tel Aviv, is the most populous city in the Gush Dan metropolitan area of Israel. Located on the Israeli Mediterranean coastline and with a popula ...

. From 1970 to 1992, he was secretary-general for the National Youth League (the youth branch of the National Histadrut). He has been the chairman of the National Histadrut since 1995 and chairman of the National Health Fund since 1996 (the revisionist counterparts to the larger General Histadrut and General Health Fund respectively). He helped found the

March of the Living The March of the Living (, ; ) is an annual educational program which brings students from around the world to Poland, where they explore the remnants of the Holocaust. On Holocaust Memorial Day observed in the Jewish calendar (), thousands of p ...

programme in 1988, but has not been involved in the organization for a number of years. During his involvement with the March of the Living the organization was accused of handling donations in a non-transparent manner.

Political career

As a member of the

Likud Likud (, ), officially known as Likud – National Liberal Movement (), is a major Right-wing politics, right-wing, political party in Israel. It was founded in 1973 by Menachem Begin and Ariel Sharon in an alliance with several right-wing par ...

Party, Hirschson joined the Knesset as a mid-term replacement in June 1983 and served until the end of the 10th Knesset in July 1984. He rejoined the Knesset in 1992, having been elected to the 13th Knesset, and has served since then. On 10 January 2005, he replaced Gideon Ezra as Minister of Tourism. In late November 2005, he resigned from the Likud and joined Kadima. On 18 January 2006, he was appointed Minister of Communications while retaining the Tourism ministry. That appointment filled one of the vacancies left by the resignation of all Labour Party ministers in November 2005, the act that resulted in the calling of elections for March 2006. Following the 2006 elections, Hirschson became Minister of Finance as part of the Kadima-led 31st Government, which took office on 4 May 2006. Hirschson, who has been a strong advocate for the privatization of Israeli state-owned services, stunned his audience at the 2006 Caesarea Forum with allegations that anonymous individuals opposed to his reforms have attempted to bring harm to his person. He was quoted by ''Haaretz'' in its 23 June 2006 edition saying, "There are people who are trying to harm me and my family, by means of pressure and threats ... Detectives are following me, with the aim of harming me. This will not work with me; even if the threats intensify, I will continue to promote the reforms that are so important for the people of Israel." On 20 March 2007, Hirschson was investigated for seven hours by Israeli police regarding an alleged

embezzlement Embezzlement (from Anglo-Norman, from Old French ''besillier'' ("to torment, etc."), of unknown origin) is a type of financial crime, usually involving theft of money from a business or employer. It often involves a trusted individual taking ...

at a non-profit organization while serving as the chairman of the National Workers Labor Federation. He suspended himself from May to July while Israeli police investigated him for embezzlement, before resigning on 1 July. In May 2008, Israeli Attorney General Menachem Mazuz announced that Hirschson would be indicted with a string of crimes including breach of trust, aggravated fraud,

theft Theft (, cognate to ) is the act of taking another person's property or services without that person's permission or consent with the intent to deprive the rightful owner of it. The word ''theft'' is also used as a synonym or informal shor ...

forgery Forgery is a white-collar crime that generally consists of the false making or material alteration of a legal instrument with the specific mens rea, intent to wikt:defraud#English, defraud. Tampering with a certain legal instrument may be fo ...

of corporate documents and

money laundering Money laundering is the process of illegally concealing the origin of money obtained from illicit activities (often known as dirty money) such as drug trafficking, sex work, terrorism, corruption, and embezzlement, and converting the funds i ...

. In February 2009, Hirschson lost his Knesset seat in the 2009 elections. On 8 June 2009, Hirschson was convicted of embezzling millions of shekels from the National Workers Labor Federation while he was its chairman. The conviction by the District Court of Tel Aviv-Yafo case 40138/08 also cited financial abuses in the

for Hirschson's private travel. In July, he was sentenced to five years and five months of jail and a fine of 450,000 shekels. He began serving his sentence on 1 September 2009. He submitted an appeal to the

Supreme Court In most legal jurisdictions, a supreme court, also known as a court of last resort, apex court, high (or final) court of appeal, and court of final appeal, is the highest court within the hierarchy of courts. Broadly speaking, the decisions of ...

on 24 September 2009. He served his sentence until January 2013.

Personal life

Hirschson was widowed and had three sons: Ofer (born 1968), Elroi (born 1982), and Barak (born 1984). He died on 7 March 2022, at the age of 81.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Hirschson, Avraham 1941 births 2022 deaths Forgers Israeli fraudsters Kadima politicians Likud politicians Israeli prisoners and detainees Jewish Israeli politicians Jews from Mandatory Palestine Israeli people of Romanian-Jewish descent Members of the 10th Knesset (1981–1984) Members of the 13th Knesset (1992–1996) Members of the 14th Knesset (1996–1999) Members of the 15th Knesset (1999–2003) Members of the 16th Knesset (2003–2006) Members of the 17th Knesset (2006–2009) Ministers of finance of Israel Ministers of tourism of Israel People convicted of money laundering People convicted of theft People from Tel Mond Prisoners and detainees of Israel Israeli politicians convicted of crimes La'am politicians Ministers of communications of Israel

Background

Political career

Personal life

See also

References

External links