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
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{{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