Haim Katz (; born 21 December 1947) is an Israeli politician. He currently serves as the Minister of Tourism. Katz was the Minister of Labor, Welfare and Social Services from 2015 to 2019, served as the Minister of National Security, Minister of Heritage and Minister of Development of the Periphery, the Negev and the Galilee in 2025, and 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 One Nation between 1999 and 2003, and for

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 ...

between 2003 and 2023.

Biography

Born in

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

in 1947, Katz emigrated to Israel in 1949. After finishing school and

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 ...

with the rank of

master sergeant A master sergeant is the military rank for a senior non-commissioned officer in the armed forces of some countries. Israel Defense Forces The (abbreviated "", master sergeant) is a non-commissioned officer () rank in the Israel Defense Force ...

, he worked as an electronics technician. He became involved with

trade union A trade union (British English) or labor union (American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers whose purpose is to maintain or improve the conditions of their employment, such as attaining better wages ...

s when he became a member of the workers' council at

Israel Aerospace Industries Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI; ), is Israel's major aerospace and aviation manufacturer, producing aerial and astronautic systems for both military and civilian usage. It has 14,000 employees as of 2021. IAI is state-owned by the government ...

in 1983, and was also chairman of the technicians and engineers' union. In 1993 he became secretary of the National Workers Union of Israel Aircraft Industries, and was appointed chairman of the pension funds policy team of the Histadrut in 1996. Katz founded the ''Oz'' () faction within the Histadrut. Katz lives in Shoham and is married with three children. He is also a member of the Israel Football Association.

Knesset

In 1999 Katz joined the new One Nation party. He was placed second on its list for the elections that year, and was elected to the Knesset when the party won two seats. Shortly before the 2003 election, he defected to

and was placed 37th on its list. He was re-elected as the party won 38 seats. As a Likud MK he was appointed Chairman of the Labour, Welfare and Health Committee. He also initiated a bill banning MKs from serving as head of the Histadrut, meaning Amir Peretz had to resign from his post as Histadrut leader. In the Likud primaries for the 2006 election, Katz gained thirteenth place on the party's list. Likud won only twelve seats and he lost his seat. However, when Natan Sharansky resigned from the

in November 2006, Katz replaced him as the next member on the list. He retained his seat in the 2009 elections, for which he was placed fourteenth on the Likud list. He was re-elected again in

2013 2013 was the first year since 1987 to contain four unique digits (a span of 26 years). 2013 was designated as: *International Year of Water Cooperation *International Year of Quinoa Events January * January 5 – 2013 Craig, Alask ...

and

2015 2015 was designated by the United Nations as: * International Year of Light * International Year of Soil __TOC__ Events January * January 1 – Lithuania officially adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the litas, and becomes ...

, after which he was appointed Minister of Welfare and Social Services in the 2015 Netanyahu government. On 15 December 2019 Katz announced that he would support Gideon Sa'ar in the Likud leadership election. Katz was appointed Minister of Tourism on 29 December 2022. He resigned from the Knesset on 6 January 2023 as part of the Norwegian Law. On 26 September 2023, Katz became the first Israeli cabinet member to publicly visit Saudi Arabia to attend a UN World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) conference. On 23 January 2025, he was appointed as interim minister for the Ministry of National Security, Heritage Ministry, and Ministry for the Development of the Periphery, the Negev and the Galilee, for a temporary term of three months after their previous ministers— Otzma Yehudit MKs Itamar Ben-Gvir, Amihai Eliyahu, and Yitzhak Wasserlauf—resigned from their positions in protest of the

2025 Gaza war ceasefire A List of Arab–Israeli prisoner exchanges, hostages-and-prisoners exchange and armistice between Israel and Hamas-led Palestinian militant groups in the Gaza Strip took effect from 19 January to 18 March 2025, during the Gaza war. It includ ...

. Katz also joined the Security Cabinet. Two months later, the three portfolios were given back to Otzma Yehudit after they rejoined the government.

Controversy

On 9 November 2021, Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit filed charges against Katz after Katz waived his parliamentary immunity and agreed to a plea deal. In December 2021 Katz admitted and was charged with conflict of interest and conspiracy to achieve a lawful purpose by improper means. He was expected to receive a suspended sentence and financial penalties.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Katz, Haim 1947 births Living people 20th-century German Jews One Nation (Israel) politicians Likud politicians German emigrants to Israel People from Givatayim Jewish Israeli politicians Members of the 15th Knesset (1999–2003) Members of the 16th Knesset (2003–2006) Members of the 17th Knesset (2006–2009) Members of the 18th Knesset (2009–2013) Members of the 19th Knesset (2013–2015) Members of the 20th Knesset (2015–2019) Members of the 21st Knesset (2019) Members of the 22nd Knesset (2019–2020) Members of the 23rd Knesset (2020–2021) Members of the 24th Knesset (2021–2022) Members of the 25th Knesset (2022–) Ministers of labour of Israel Ministers of tourism of Israel