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Matan Vilnai (; born 20 May 1944) is an Israeli politician and a former major general in the
Israel Defense Forces The Israel Defense Forces (IDF; , ), alternatively referred to by the Hebrew-language acronym (), is the national military of the State of Israel. It consists of three service branches: the Israeli Ground Forces, the Israeli Air Force, and ...
(IDF). A former
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 ...
member and government minister, he was appointed ambassador to China in 2012. Since 2017 Vilnai serves as the president of th
Israel-Asia Chamber of Commerce


Biography

Matan Vilnai was born in
Jerusalem Jerusalem is a city in the Southern Levant, on a plateau in the Judaean Mountains between the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean and the Dead Sea. It is one of the List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest cities in the world, and ...
. His father was Prof. Zev Vilnay, a pioneer in the sphere of Israeli geography and Land of Israel studies, from whom he inherited a love of nature and hiking. Matan graduated from the Hebrew Reali School in 1962 and was drafted into the IDF, serving in the Paratroopers Brigade and the elite reconnaissance unit Sayeret Matkal. He holds a B.A. in history from
Tel Aviv University Tel Aviv University (TAU) is a Public university, public research university in Tel Aviv, Israel. With over 30,000 students, it is the largest university in the country. Located in northwest Tel Aviv, the university is the center of teaching and ...
. Vilnai lives in Mevasseret Zion and is married with three children.


Military career

Vilnai was deputy commande

of the assault force in Operation Thunderbolt, also known as the Entebbe Raid, to free Jewish and Israeli passengers taken hostage by Palestinian and German terrorists after their Air France plane was hijacked to Entebbe, Uganda. Vilnai led the assault team into the airport building, while another team secured the outside. As a major general, Vilnai was the head of the Manpower Directorate, as well as the Deputy Chief of Staff.


Political career

In the run up to the 1999 elections Vilnai joined the Labor Party (which was running as part of the One Israel alliance), and won a place on its Knesset list.
Ehud Barak Ehud Barak ( ; born Ehud Brog; 12 February 1942) is an Israeli former general and politician who served as the Prime Minister of Israel, prime minister from 1999 to 2001. He was leader of the Israeli Labor Party, Labor Party between 1997 and 20 ...
appointed him Minister of Science, Culture and Sport. Vilnai gave up his Knesset seat six months after the election (he was replaced by Colette Avital), but remained a minister. After Ariel Sharon beat Barak in the 2001 election for Prime Minister, Vilnai was reappointed to his post in the new government. He re-entered the Knesset after the 2003 elections second on Labor's list, but lost his ministerial post as Sharon formed a right-wing coalition that excluded Labor. However, when several parties left the coalition in the face of the disengagement plan, Labor was invited into the government in January 2005. Vilnai was initially appointed Minister in the Prime Minister's Office. In August 2005 he was appointed Acting Minister of Science and Technology, and the post was made permanent in November. In the run-up to the 2006 elections, Vilnai competed in the election for Labor Party leader alongside
Shimon Peres Shimon Peres ( ; ; born Szymon Perski, ; 2 August 1923 – 28 September 2016) was an Israeli politician and statesman who served as the prime minister of Israel from 1984 to 1986 and from 1995 to 1996 and as the president of Israel from 2007 t ...
and Binyamin Ben-Eliezer, but was beaten by Amir Peretz. However, he did retain his Knesset seat in the elections, placing 11th on Labor's list. After Barak won the party leadership election in 2007 he appointed Vilnai as Deputy Minister of Defense. In February 2008, whilst Israeli airstrikes in Gaza were ongoing, during interview on Army Radio, Vilnai threatened that Gazan
Palestinians Palestinians () are an Arab ethnonational group native to the Levantine region of Palestine. *: "Palestine was part of the first wave of conquest following Muhammad's death in 632 CE; Jerusalem fell to the Caliph Umar in 638. The indigenou ...
"will bring upon themselves a bigger () because we will use all our might to defend ourselves." A spokesman for Vilnai said he used the word in the sense of "disaster", saying "he did not mean to make any allusion to hegenocide." Vilnai won sixth place on the Labor list for the 2009 elections, and retained his seat in the subsequent election. In 2011 he was one of the five members to leave the Labor Party to establish
Independence Independence is a condition of a nation, country, or state, in which residents and population, or some portion thereof, exercise self-government, and usually sovereignty, over its territory. The opposite of independence is the status of ...
, and was appointed to the newly created post of Minister for the Home Front, having originally been made Minister of Minorities.


Diplomatic career

In February 2012 Vilnai was appointed Israel's ambassador to China. His Knesset seat was taken by Shachiv Shnaan. Vilnai served in office until January 2017. Vilnai serves since 2018 as the President of the Israel-Asia Chamber of Commerce.


References


External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Vilnai, Matan 1944 births Living people Deputy ministers of Israel Independence (Israeli political party) politicians Israeli generals Israeli Labor Party politicians Jewish Israeli politicians Jews from Mandatory Palestine 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) Ambassadors of Israel to China Ministers of culture of Israel Ministers of science of Israel Ministers of sport of Israel One Israel politicians Operation Entebbe Politicians from Jerusalem Military Boarding School for Command alumni