Eliyahu Meridor (; 20 July 1914 – 16 October 1966) was an Israeli 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

Herut Herut () 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. Some of their policies were compared to those of the Nazi party. Early y ...

and

Gahal Gahal (, an acronym for ''Gush Herut–Liberalim'' (Hebrew: ), ''lit.'' ''Freedom–Liberals Bloc'') was the main right-leaning political alliance in Israel, ranging from the centre-right to right-wing, from its founding in 1965 until the establi ...

from 1959 until his death in 1966.

Biography

Born Elijhu Wierzbolowski on 20 July 1914 in

Saint Petersburg Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the List of cities and towns in Russia by population, second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the Neva, River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland ...

in the

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire that spanned most of northern Eurasia from its establishment in November 1721 until the proclamation of the Russian Republic in September 1917. At its height in the late 19th century, it covered about , roughl ...

(now in Russia), Meridor was educated at a

Tarbut The word Tarbut (תרבות) means "Culture" in Hebrew. The Tarbut movement was a network of secular, Hebrew-language schools in parts of the former Jewish Pale of Settlement, specifically in Poland, Romania and Lithuania. It operated primarily bet ...

school in

Grajewo Grajewo (; ) is a town in north-eastern Poland with 21,499 inhabitants (2016). It is the capital of Grajewo County within the Podlaskie Voivodeship. It is located within the historic region of Masovia, near the border with Podlachia and Masuria. H ...

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

, before studying law at the

University of Warsaw The University of Warsaw (, ) is a public university, public research university in Warsaw, Poland. Established on November 19, 1816, it is the largest institution of higher learning in the country, offering 37 different fields of study as well ...

. He also became a member of the local branch of

Betar The Betar Movement (), also spelled Beitar (), is a Revisionist Zionism, Revisionist Zionist youth movement founded in 1923 in Riga, Latvia, by Ze'ev Jabotinsky, Vladimir (Ze'ev) Jabotinsky. It was one of several right-wing youth movements tha ...

. In 1936 he

emigrated Emigration is the act of leaving a resident country or place of residence with the intent to settle elsewhere (to permanently leave a country). Conversely, immigration describes the movement of people into one country from another (to permanentl ...

Mandatory Palestine Mandatory Palestine was a British Empire, British geopolitical entity that existed between 1920 and 1948 in the Palestine (region), region of Palestine, and after 1922, under the terms of the League of Nations's Mandate for Palestine. After ...

, where he worked as a lawyer. He joined the

Irgun The Irgun (), officially the National Military Organization in the Land of Israel, often abbreviated as Etzel or IZL (), was a Zionist paramilitary organization that operated in Mandatory Palestine between 1931 and 1948. It was an offshoot of th ...

, and was a commander in Jerusalem, as well as being a member of the organisation's command. He was arrested by the British authorities and exiled to Africa. In 1948 he was amongst the founders of the Herut movement, and chaired its Jerusalem branch. In

1959 Events January * January 1 – Cuba: Fulgencio Batista flees Havana when the forces of Fidel Castro advance. * January 2 – Soviet lunar probe Luna 1 is the first human-made object to attain escape velocity from Earth. It reaches the ...

he was elected to the Knesset on the party's list. He was re-elected in

1961 Events January * January 1 – Monetary reform in the Soviet Union, 1961, Monetary reform in the Soviet Union. * January 3 ** United States President Dwight D. Eisenhower announces that the United States has severed diplomatic and cons ...

and

1965 Events January–February * January 14 – The First Minister of Northern Ireland and the Taoiseach of the Republic of Ireland meet for the first time in 43 years. * January 20 ** Lyndon B. Johnson is Second inauguration of Lynd ...

, but died in 1966 at the age of 52. His seat was taken by Shlomo Cohen-Tzidon.Knesset Members of the Sixth Knesset
Knesset Meridor had four children;

Dan Dan or DAN may refer to: People * Dan (name), including a list of people with the name ** Dan (king), several kings of Denmark * Dan people, an ethnic group located in West Africa ** Dan language, a Mande language spoken primarily in Côte d'Ivo ...

, also a politician, Haggit (Hurvitz), Head of Pediatrics at the

Bikur Holim Hospital Bikur Cholim Hospital () was a 200-bed general hospital in West Jerusalem, established in the 19th century and closed around 2020. Until then, it was the oldest hospital in the country still operating. Bikur Cholim had obstetrics and cardiac depa ...

, Avital (Darmon), Director of the Applied Research Initiative in Education, and Sallai, former chairman of the Jewish Agency and Israeli ambassador to the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

between 2006 and 2009. His grandchildren included Eli Hurvitz, Executive Director of the Trump Foundation, and Shaul Meridor, Deputy Director of Allocation at the Ministry of Finance. A street in

Pisgat Ze'ev Pisgat Ze'ev (, lit. ''Ze'ev's Peak'') is an Israeli settlement in East Jerusalem and the largest residential neighborhood in Jerusalem with a population of over 50,000. Pisgat Ze'ev was established by Israel as one of the city's five Ring Neig ...

(East) is named after him.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Meridor, Eliyahu 1914 births 1966 deaths People from Grajewo University of Warsaw alumni 20th-century Israeli Jews Jewish Russian politicians Israeli lawyers Betar members Irgun members Soviet emigrants to Mandatory Palestine Herut politicians Gahal politicians 20th-century Israeli lawyers Members of the 4th Knesset (1959–1961) Members of the 5th Knesset (1961–1965) Members of the 6th Knesset (1965–1969) Prisoners and detainees of the British military Burials at Har HaMenuchot Immigrants of the Fifth Aliyah