David Tal (; born 26 January 1950) is an Israeli

politician A politician is a person who participates in Public policy, policy-making processes, usually holding an elective position in government. Politicians represent the people, make decisions, and influence the formulation of public policy. The roles ...

and a former 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 ...

. He was a member of the

Kadima Kadima () was a centrist and liberal political party in Israel. It was established on 24 November 2005 by moderates from Likud largely following the implementation of Ariel Sharon's unilateral disengagement plan in August 2005, and was soon ...

faction.

Biography

Born in

Rehovot Rehovot (, / ) is a city in the Central District (Israel), Central District of Israel, about south of Tel Aviv. In it had a population of . Etymology Israel Belkind, founder of the Bilu (movement), Bilu movement, proposed the name "Rehovot ...

, Tal studied at an ORT high school in that city. He served as a First Sergeant during his national service in the IDF and afterwards worked as a mechanic. He speaks English,

Arabic Arabic (, , or , ) is a Central Semitic languages, Central Semitic language of the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family spoken primarily in the Arab world. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) assigns lang ...

and Tunisian. He lives in

Rishon LeZion Rishon LeZion ( , "First to Zion") is a city in Israel, located along the central Israeli coastal plain south of Tel Aviv. It is part of the Gush Dan metropolitan area. Founded in 1882 by Jewish immigrants from the Russian Empire who were ...

with his wife. He has six children.

Political career

He joined the

Sephardi Sephardic Jews, also known as Sephardi Jews or Sephardim, and rarely as Iberian Peninsular Jews, are a Jewish diaspora population associated with the historic Jewish communities of the Iberian Peninsula (Spain and Portugal) and their descendant ...

Haredi Haredi Judaism (, ) is a branch of Orthodox Judaism that is characterized by its strict interpretation of religious sources and its accepted (Jewish law) and traditions, in opposition to more accommodating values and practices. Its members are ...

party

Shas Shas () is a Haredi Judaism, Haredi religious List of political parties in Israel, political party in Israel. Founded in 1984 by Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, a former Israeli Sephardic Jews, Sephardi chief rabbi, who remained its spiritual leader until ...

, and began his political career as a member of the

municipal council. In 1996 he was elected to the Knesset on the Shas list and became a Deputy Speaker of the Knesset. He retained his seat in the 1999 elections and was reappointed Deputy Speaker, also becoming chairman of the Labour, Welfare, and Health Committee and the Joint Committee for Automobile Insurance Arrangements. He resigned from the Knesset in November 2002 and joined

Amir Peretz Amir Peretz (; born 9 March 1952) is an Israeli politician who served as a member of the Knesset for the Israeli Labor Party, Labor Party. A Knesset member almost continuously from 1988 to 2021, he has served as Ministry of Defense (Israel), ...

's new One Nation party, where he was third on the list. He returned to the Knesset with One Nation following the January 2003 elections. When Peretz agreed to merge One Nation into the Labour Party, Tal broke away, and founded his own, one-man faction, Noy, on 23 May 2005. On 23 November 2005, 14 MKs split off from 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 ...

faction and formed the Achrayut Leumit (National Responsibility) faction. Tal dissolved Noy to join this faction, which renamed itself

on 17 January 2006. In the run-up to the 2006 elections Tal was placed 23rd on Kadima's list. With the party winning 29 seats, he returned to the Knesset for a fourth term, and was reappointed Deputy Speaker. He also chaired the House Committee, the Joint Committee for Discussion on the Law and Governance Order Bill, the Subcommittee for the

Shmita The sabbath year (''shmita''; , literally "release"), also called the sabbatical year or ''shǝvi'it'' (, literally "seventh"), or "Sabbath of The Land", is the seventh year of the seven-year agricultural cycle mandated by the Torah in the Lan ...

Year, the Subcommittee for Examining the Security Measures for Knesset Members, and the Lobby for Closing the Social Gaps. He lost his seat in the 2009 elections.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Tal, David (Israeli politician) 1950 births People from Rehovot Living people Tunisian Jews Tunisian emigrants to Israel Shas politicians One Israel politicians Noy (political faction) politicians Kadima politicians Israeli people of Tunisian-Jewish descent 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)