Nava Arad (; 4 December 1938 – 21 February 2022) 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 ...

between 1981 and 1992, and again from 1995 until 1996.

Life and career

Born in

kibbutz A kibbutz ( / , ; : kibbutzim / ) is an intentional community in Israel that was traditionally based on agriculture. The first kibbutz, established in 1910, was Degania Alef, Degania. Today, farming has been partly supplanted by other economi ...

Hulda 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 ...

, Arad served as a welfare sergeant in

Nahal Nahal () (acronym of ''Noar Halutzi Lohem'', lit. Fighting Pioneer Youth) is a program that combines military service with mostly social welfare and informal education projects such as youth movement activities, as well as training in entrepr ...

brigade during her

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 ...

in the IDF.Nava Arad: Particulars
Knesset website She gained a BA from the Beit Berl Teachers College, another bachelor's degree in social work from the

Hebrew University of Jerusalem The Hebrew University of Jerusalem (HUJI; ) is an Israeli public university, public research university based in Jerusalem. Co-founded by Albert Einstein and Chaim Weizmann in July 1918, the public university officially opened on 1 April 1925. ...

, and an MA in social administration and social policy from the

University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a collegiate university, federal Public university, public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The ...

. She worked as a teacher and social worker, and became national secretary of the Social Workers Union. She chaired the Committee for Income Maintenance in the Prime Minister's Advisory Council on Society and Welfare during

Yitzhak Rabin Yitzhak Rabin (; , ; 1 March 1922 – 4 November 1995) was an Israeli politician, statesman and general. He was the prime minister of Israel, serving two terms in office, 1974–1977, and from 1992 until Assassination of Yitzhak Rabin, his ass ...

's second spell as Prime Minister, as well as the Workers' Faction in the

Bituah Leumi Bituah Leumi (, ''HaMossad LeBituach Leumi'', the National Insurance Institute of Israel) is Israel's national social security agency. History Bituah Leumi was established in April 1954. It collects health insurance contributions which are tran ...

council. She was also a member of 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 ...

central committee, secretary general of

Na'amat Na'amat () is an Israeli and international women's organization affiliated with the Labor Zionism, Labour Zionist Movement. Na'amat was founded in 1921. Etymology Na'amat is an acronym for ''Nashim Ovdot U'Mitnadvot'' (), lit., "Working and Volu ...

, and vice-president and

Middle East The Middle East (term originally coined in English language) is a geopolitical region encompassing the Arabian Peninsula, the Levant, Turkey, Egypt, Iran, and Iraq. The term came into widespread usage by the United Kingdom and western Eur ...

representative of

Socialist International The Socialist International (SI) is a political international or worldwide organisation of political parties which seek to establish democratic socialism, consisting mostly of Social democracy, social democratic political parties and Labour mov ...

Women. In

1981 Events January * January 1 ** Greece enters the European Economic Community, predecessor of the European Union. ** Palau becomes a self-governing territory. * January 6 – A funeral service is held in West Germany for Nazi Grand Admiral ...

she was elected to the Knesset on the

Alignment Alignment may refer to: Archaeology * Alignment (archaeology), a co-linear arrangement of features or structures with external landmarks * Stone alignment, a linear arrangement of upright, parallel megalithic standing stones Biology * Struc ...

list. She was re-elected in

1984 Events January * January 1 – The Bornean Sultanate of Brunei gains full independence from the United Kingdom, having become a British protectorate in 1888. * January 7 – Brunei becomes the sixth member of the Association of Southeas ...

and 1988, but lost her seat in the 1992 elections. She returned to the Knesset on 5 November 1995 as a replacement for the

assassinated Assassination is the willful killing, by a sudden, secret, or planned attack, of a personespecially if prominent or important. It may be prompted by political, ideological, religious, financial, or military motives. Assassinations are orde ...

Rabin, but on 7 March the following year left the Labor Party to sit as an

independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in Pennsylvania, United States * Independentes (English: Independents), a Portuguese artist ...

. For the May 1996 elections she founded the Gil list, a pensioner's party, but it failed to cross the electoral threshold, and she lost her seat. She also headed the party in the 1999 elections, but it again failed to win a seat. Arad died on 21 February 2022, at the age of 83.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Arad, Nava 1938 births 2022 deaths 20th-century Israeli women politicians People from Hulda, Israel Jews from Mandatory Palestine Israeli schoolteachers Paul Baerwald School of Social Work and Social Welfare alumni Alumni of the University of London Israeli social workers Israeli trade unionists Women members of the Knesset Leaders of political parties in Israel Alignment (Israel) politicians Israeli Labor Party politicians Members of the 10th Knesset (1981–1984) Members of the 11th Knesset (1984–1988) Members of the 12th Knesset (1988–1992) Members of the 13th Knesset (1992–1996)