Daniel "Danny" Atar (; born 5 January 1958) is an Israeli politician.

Biography

Daniel Atar was born in

Afula Afula () is a city in the Northern District of Israel, often known as the "Capital of the Valley" due to its strategic location in the Jezreel Valley. As of , the city had a population of . Afula's ancient tell (settlement mound) suggests habit ...

Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

, to

Jewish Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...

parents who had immigrated from

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 ...

in 1956. During his IDF

national service National service is a system of compulsory or voluntary government service, usually military service. Conscription is mandatory national service. The term ''national service'' comes from the United Kingdom's National Service (Armed Forces) Act ...

he served 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 ...

. He fought in the

1982 Lebanon War The 1982 Lebanon War, also called the Second Israeli invasion of Lebanon, began on 6 June 1982, when Israel invaded southern Lebanon. The invasion followed a series of attacks and counter-attacks between the Palestine Liberation Organization ...

. He continued to serve in the army reserves, becoming a lieutenant colonel.

Gilboa Regional Council

In 1994 he was elected leader of

Gilboa Regional Council Gilboa Regional Council (, ''Mo'atza Azorit (ha)Gilbo'a'') is a Regional council (Israel), regional council in northern Israel, located on the slopes of the Mount Gilboa, Gilboa mountain range. There are more than 22,000 residents in 38 settlements ...

. While serving in that role he ran for the interim leadership of the Labor Party in

2003 2003 was designated by the United Nations as the International Year of Fresh water, Freshwater. In 2003, a Multi-National Force – Iraq, United States-led coalition 2003 invasion of Iraq, invaded Iraq, starting the Iraq War. Demographic ...

, winning 21.9% of the vote. In 2009, Atar was detained and investigated along with five other municipal workers for fraudulently receiving goods and mismanagement of campaign funds.

Knesset

He was placed 16th on the Labor Party list for the 2013 Knesset elections, a spot reserved for the agricultural sector, but did not become a Knesset member as the party won only 15 seats. Although he was next in line to replace

Binyamin Ben-Eliezer Binyamin "Fuad" Ben-Eliezer (, ; 12 February 1936 – 28 August 2016) was an Iraqi-born Israeli politician and general. He served as a member of the Knesset between 1984 and 2014, and held several ministerial posts, including Minister of Indust ...

following his retirement from politics, he gave up his seat for Raleb Majadele. Prior to the

2015 elections Africa * 2015 Beninese parliamentary election 26 April 2015 * 2015 Burkinabé general election 29 November 2015 * 2015 Burundian legislative election 29 June 2015 * 2015 Burundian presidential election 21 July 2015 * 2015-16 Central African gene ...

he was placed 15th on the Zionist Union list, an alliance of Labor and Hatnuah. He was elected to the Knesset as the alliance won 24 seats.

Jewish National Fund

In October 2015, Atar was elected head of the Jewish National Fund. He was replaced in the Knesset by Yael Cohen Paran, the head of the

Green Movement Green politics, or ecopolitics, is a political ideology that aims to foster an ecologically sustainable society often, but not always, rooted in environmentalism, nonviolence, social justice and grassroots democracy. Wall 2010. p. 12-13. It ...

. In 2020, Atar was accused of being party to the illegal spending of 100 million shekels to purchase lands in the West Bank, without the permission of the Jewish National Fund Board.

Personal life

Atar is married with three children and lives in Gan Ner. After years of enforcement efforts, he was fined in 2020 and forced to return public lands adjacent to his Gan Ner home, that he had commandeered and used to construct an illegal private swimming pool.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Atar, Danny 1958 births Living people Israeli Labor Party politicians Zionist Union politicians Israeli people of Moroccan-Jewish descent Israeli Mizrahi Jews Israeli Sephardi Jews Jewish Israeli politicians Mayors of places in Israel Members of the 20th Knesset (2015–2019) People from Afula