Mordechai Namir (; born Mordechai Nemirovsky; 23 February 1897 – 22 February 1975) was an Israeli politician, who served as the mayor of

Tel Aviv Tel Aviv-Yafo ( or , ; ), sometimes rendered as Tel Aviv-Jaffa, and usually referred to as just Tel Aviv, is the most populous city in the Gush Dan metropolitan area of Israel. Located on the Israeli Mediterranean coastline and with a popula ...

(1959–1969), a

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 A minister is a politician who heads a ministry, making and implementing decisions on policies in conjunction with the other ministers. In some jurisdictions the head of government is also a minister and is designated the ' prime minister', ' p ...

, as well as being one of the heads of the

Labour Zionist Labor Zionism () or socialist Zionism () is the left-wing, socialist variant of Zionism. For many years, it was the most significant tendency among Zionists and Zionist organizations, and was seen as the Zionist faction of the historic Jewish ...

movement.

Biography

Mordechai Namir was born in

Nemyriv Nemyriv ( ; ) is a historic city in Vinnytsia Oblast (province) in Ukraine, located in the historical region of Podolia. It was the administrative center of former Nemyriv Raion (district). Population: Nemyriv is one of the oldest cities in Vin ...

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 ...

(today in

Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...

) and studied at a

heder A ''cheder'' (, lit. 'room'; Yiddish pronunciation: ''khéyder'') is a traditional primary school teaching the basics of Judaism and the Hebrew language. History ''Cheders'' were widely found in Europe before the end of the 18th century. L ...

before graduating from the

Odessa University The Odesa I.I.Mechnykov National University (), often referred to as Odesa National University ( ONU, ), located in Odesa, Ukraine, is one of that country's major state-sponsored universities, named after the scientist Élie Metchnikoff (1845- ...

, where he studied law and economics. In 1924 he was arrested by the Soviet authorities for his work for

Zionism Zionism is an Ethnic nationalism, ethnocultural nationalist movement that emerged in History of Europe#From revolution to imperialism (1789–1914), Europe in the late 19th century that aimed to establish and maintain a national home for the ...

, and upon his release made

aliyah ''Aliyah'' (, ; ''ʿălīyyā'', ) is the immigration of Jews from Jewish diaspora, the diaspora to, historically, the geographical Land of Israel or the Palestine (region), Palestine region, which is today chiefly represented by the Israel ...

. In

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 ...

, he worked for the

Davar ''Davar'' (, lit. ''Speech, Word'') was a Hebrew-language daily newspaper published in the British Mandate of Palestine and Israel between 1925 and May 1996. A similarly named website was launched in 2016, under the name ''Davar Rishon'' as an ...

newspaper. He was married to former Knesset Member and Minister

Ora Namir Ora Namir (; 1 September 1930 – 7 July 2019) was an Israeli politician and diplomat who served as a member of the Knesset from 1974 until 1996, as well as holding the posts of Minister of the Environment and Minister of Labour and Social Welfa ...

Political career

Namir became the secretary of the

Ahdut HaAvoda Ahdut HaAvoda () was the name used by a series of List of political parties in Israel, political parties in Israel. Ahdut HaAvoda in its first incarnation was led by David Ben-Gurion. It was first established during the period of Mandatory Pales ...

party in 1926, a position he held until 1930. From 1929 to 1935 he also served as the director of the statistics department in the

Histadrut Histadrut, fully the New General Workers' Federation () and until 1994 the General Federation of Labour in the Land of Israel (, ''HaHistadrut HaKlalit shel HaOvdim B'Eretz Yisrael''), is Israel's national trade union center and represents the m ...

. From 1935 he was a member of

's city council and from 1936, secretary of the workers' union in the city. Additionally, he was a member of the

Haganah Haganah ( , ) was the main Zionist political violence, Zionist paramilitary organization that operated for the Yishuv in the Mandatory Palestine, British Mandate for Palestine. It was founded in 1920 to defend the Yishuv's presence in the reg ...

command in the city and later in all of Mandatory Palestine. Between 1949 and 1950 he was also on a diplomatic mission to

Eastern Europe Eastern Europe is a subregion of the Europe, European continent. As a largely ambiguous term, it has a wide range of geopolitical, geographical, ethnic, cultural and socio-economic connotations. Its eastern boundary is marked by the Ural Mountain ...

and

Moscow Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...

, about which he wrote a book in 1971 (''A Mission in Moscow: A Honeymoon and Years of Wrath''). From 1950 to 1956, Namir served as the general secretary of the Histadrut. He was elected to the Knesset on behalf of

Mapai Mapai (, an abbreviation for , ''Mifleget Poalei Eretz Yisrael'', ) was a Labor Zionist and democratic socialist political party in Israel, and was the dominant force in Israeli politics until its merger into the Israeli Labor Party in January ...

in 1951 and remained an MK until 1969, when the 6th Knesset was disbanded. During this time he was also the CEO of the government-owned construction company

Amidar ''Amidar'' is a video game developed by Konami and released in arcades in 1982 by Stern. The format is similar to that of ''Pac-Man'': the player moves around a fixed rectilinear lattice, attempting to visit each location on the board while av ...

(1959-59) and

Minister of Labour Minister of labour (in British English) or labor (in American English) is typically a cabinet-level position with portfolio responsibility for setting national labour standards, labour dispute mechanisms, employment, workforce participation, traini ...

from 1956 until 1959. Namir served as mayor of

between 1960 and 1969, when he was succeeded as mayor by

Yehoshua Rabinovitz Yehoshua Rabinovitz (; 12 November 1911 – 14 August 1979) was an Israeli politician who served as a government minister and mayor of Tel Aviv. Biography Born in Vishneva in the Russian Empire (today in Belarus), Rabinovitz attended high schoo ...

Commemoration

Part of a major expressway in Tel Aviv, ( Highway 2, is called ''Derekh Namir'') and the city has a square bearing his name.Mordechai Namir
Tel Aviv Millennium

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Namir, Mordechai 1897 births 1975 deaths People from Nemyriv People from Bratslavsky Uyezd Jews from the Russian Empire Soviet Jews Soviet emigrants to Mandatory Palestine Israeli people of Ukrainian-Jewish descent Prisoners and detainees of the Soviet Union Jewish Israeli politicians Jewish socialists Ahdut HaAvoda politicians Mapai politicians Alignment (Israel) politicians Israeli Labor Party politicians Odesa University alumni Jews from Mandatory Palestine General secretaries of Histadrut Mayors of Tel Aviv-Yafo Members of the 2nd Knesset (1951–1955) Members of the 3rd Knesset (1955–1959) Members of the 4th Knesset (1959–1961) Members of the 5th Knesset (1961–1965) Members of the 6th Knesset (1965–1969) Burials at Trumpeldor Cemetery City councillors of Tel Aviv-Yafo Immigrants of the Fourth Aliyah