Daniel Ben-Simon (; born 29 April 1954) is an Israeli journalist and politician, who served as a member of the

Knesset The Knesset ( , ) is the Unicameralism, unicameral legislature of Israel. The Knesset passes all laws, elects the President of Israel, president and Prime Minister of Israel, prime minister, approves the Cabinet of Israel, cabinet, and supe ...

for the Labor Party between 2009 and 2013.

Biography

Born in

Meknes Meknes (, ) is one of the four Imperial cities of Morocco, located in northern central Morocco and the sixth largest city by population in the kingdom. Founded in the 11th century by the Almoravid dynasty, Almoravids as a military settlement, Mekne ...

Morocco Morocco, officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It has coastlines on the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to Algeria–Morocc ...

, Ben-Simon made

aliyah ''Aliyah'' (, ; ''ʿălīyyā'', ) is the immigration of Jews from Jewish diaspora, the diaspora to, historically, the geographical Land of Israel or the Palestine (region), Palestine region, which is today chiefly represented by the Israel ...

to Israel in 1969. He did his national service in the

Golani Brigade The 1st "Golani" Brigade (, ''Hativat Golani'') is an Israeli military infantry brigade. It is subordinated to the 36th Division and traditionally associated with the Northern Command. It is one of the five infantry brigades of the regular Is ...

between 1972 and 1976. He later attended the

University of Haifa The University of Haifa (, ) is a public research university located on Mount Carmel in Haifa, Israel. Founded in 1963 as a branch of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, the University of Haifa received full academic accreditation as an inde ...

, where he gained a BA in Sociology and political science, and

Boston University Boston University (BU) is a Private university, private research university in Boston, Massachusetts, United States. BU was founded in 1839 by a group of Boston Methodism, Methodists with its original campus in Newbury (town), Vermont, Newbur ...

, where he gained an MSc in journalism. He worked for ''

Davar ''Davar'' (, lit. ''Speech, Word'') was a Hebrew-language daily newspaper published in the British Mandate of Palestine and Israel between 1925 and May 1996. A similarly named website was launched in 2016, under the name ''Davar Rishon'' as an ...

'' for over a decade and later for ''

Haaretz ''Haaretz'' (; originally ''Ḥadshot Haaretz'' – , , ) is an List of newspapers in Israel, Israeli newspaper. It was founded in 1918, making it the longest running newspaper currently in print in Israel. The paper is published in Hebrew lan ...

''. He taught journalism at Sapir College and Rupin College and also wrote four books, and was involved in the making of documentary films based on two of his books. He is a recipient of the Sokolov Prize. Prior to the 2009 elections he joined the Labor Party, saying "I felt I had reached the limit of my ability to wield influence as a journalist. I reached the conclusion that you can score goals only on the playing field and not from the reporters' box". He won eleventh place on the party's list, and entered the Knesset as Labor won 13 seats. He initially objected to Labor's entrance into the

Binyamin Netanyahu Benjamin Netanyahu (born 21 October 1949) is an Israeli politician who has served as the prime minister of Israel since 2022, having previously held the office from 1996 to 1999 and from 2009 to 2021. Netanyahu is the longest-serving prime min ...

's government, but was elected chairman of Labor's Knesset faction on April 1, saying "the moment the party convention voted in favor f joining my resistance faded. I turned from an objector to one who obeys". However, in October 2009 he resigned as chairman, and began pressuring the party to leave the coalition. In January 2011 he announced that he was leaving the Labor Party to establish an independent single-member faction in response to his failure to persuade the party to leave the government. However, he ultimately remained in the party, and was placed 21st on its list for the 2013 elections.Labor Party
Central Elections Committee He subsequently left the Knesset as the party won only 15 seats.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Ben-Simon, Daniel 1954 births 20th-century Moroccan Jews People from Meknes University of Haifa alumni Boston University College of Communication alumni Israeli journalists Israeli educators Members of the 18th Knesset (2009–2013) Living people Haaretz people Israeli Labor Party politicians Academic staff of Sapir Academic College Sokolov Award recipients