Professor Yair Sprinzak (; 8 November 1911 – 6 September 1999) was an Israeli scientist and politician who served as 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 ...

for

Moledet Moledet () was a minor right-wing to far-right political party in Israel. History Moledet was established by Rehavam Ze'evi in 1988. It won two seats in the Knesset elections later that year, taken by Ze'evi and Yair Sprinzak. It joined Yi ...

between 1988 and 1992.

Biography

Born in

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 ...

during the

Ottoman era The Ottoman Empire (), also called the Turkish Empire, was an imperial realm that controlled much of Southeast Europe, West Asia, and North Africa from the 14th to early 20th centuries; it also controlled parts of southeastern Central Euro ...

, Sprinzak went to high school 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 ...

and studied chemistry at the University of Brussels. He worked as a senior researcher in the organic chemistry department at the

Weizmann Institute The Weizmann Institute of Science ( ''Machon Weizmann LeMada'') is a Public university, public research university in Rehovot, Israel, established in 1934, fourteen years before the State of Israel was founded. Unlike other List of Israeli uni ...

before becoming a professor at

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 ...

. He was particularly involved in work on desalinisation.

Political career

His father, Yosef Sprinzak, was a politician in the early days of the state, and was a member of the Knesset for the left-wing

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 ...

, as well as being the first Knesset speaker. In contrast, Yair became involved in right-wing politics, joining the

Movement for Greater Israel The Movement for Greater Israel (, ''HaTnu'a Lema'an Eretz Yisrael HaSheleima''), also known as the Land of Israel Movement, was a political organisation in Israel during the 1960s and 1970s which subscribed to an ideology of Greater Israel. The ...

and becoming a member of its directorate. He was active in the

Tehiya Tehiya (), originally known as Banai (, an abbreviation for ''Land of Israel Loyalists' Alliance''), then Tehiya-Bnai (), was an ultranationalist Ultranationalism, or extreme nationalism, is an extremist form of nationalism in which a co ...

party, and was one of the founders of

in 1988. In the same year he was elected to the Knesset on Moledet's list. Having been elected at the age of 76, Sprinzak was at the time the oldest person ever elected to the Knesset for the first time. This record was broken by

Rafi Eitan Rafael Eitan (; 23 November 1926 – 23 March 2019) was an Israeli politician and intelligence officer. He also led Gil and served as Minister of Senior Citizens. He was in charge of the Mossad operation that led to the arrest of Adolf Eichma ...

, who was elected at the age of 79 in the 2006 election. As the eldest member of Knesset, Sprinzak also served temporarily as Speaker of the Knesset until a permanent replacement could be elected. Because of his hawkish views, a number of Knesset members refused to appear during his tenure. However, he lost his seat in the 1992 election. He died in 1999 at the age of 87.

External links

* 1911 births 1999 deaths Scientists from Tel Aviv Politicians from Tel Aviv Israeli chemists Israeli educators Academic staff of Tel Aviv University Movement for Greater Israel politicians Tehiya politicians Moledet politicians Members of the 12th Knesset (1988–1992) {{israel-politician-stub