Yoram Aridor (; born 24 October 1933) is an Israeli former 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 ...

from 1969 until 1988, as well as holding two ministerial posts.

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 ...

, Aridor studied law at 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 practiced law while being active in the

Herut Herut () was the major conservative nationalist political party in Israel from 1948 until its formal merger into Likud in 1988. It was an adherent of Revisionist Zionism. Some of their policies were compared to those of the Nazi party. Early y ...

movement. He was first elected to the Knesset in

1969 1969 ( MCMLXIX) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar, the 1969th year of the Common Era (CE) and ''Anno Domini'' (AD) designations, the 969th year of the 2nd millennium, the 69th year of the 20th century, and the ...

as a member of

Gahal Gahal (, an acronym for ''Gush Herut–Liberalim'' (Hebrew: ), ''lit.'' ''Freedom–Liberals Bloc'') was the main right-leaning political alliance in Israel, ranging from the centre-right to right-wing, from its founding in 1965 until the establi ...

, an alliance of Herut and the

Liberal Party The Liberal Party is any of many political parties around the world. The meaning of ''liberal'' varies around the world, ranging from liberal conservatism on the right to social liberalism on the left. For example, while the political systems ...

. Following the

1977 elections The following elections occurred in the year 1977. Africa * 1977 Afars and Issas Constituent Assembly election * 1977 Algerian legislative election * 1977 Gambian general election * 1976–1977 Guinea-Bissau legislative election * 1977 Malagasy ...

he became a deputy minister in

Menachem Begin Menachem Begin ( ''Menaḥem Begin'', ; (Polish documents, 1931–1937); ; 16 August 1913 – 9 March 1992) was an Israeli politician, founder of both Herut and Likud and the prime minister of Israel. Before the creation of the state of Isra ...

government A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a State (polity), state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive (government), execu ...

. Aridor's first ministerial appointment was the Minister of Communications, in 1981. In this position, Aridor immediately restored television color broadcasting. In the 1970s, color bursts (the signals encoding colors) were actively removed from IBA transmissions, in an attempt to discourage the population from buying new television sets. Aridor's action led to an increase of his popularity, and boosted his political career. Two weeks later he was appointed the

Minister of Finance A ministry of finance is a ministry or other government agency in charge of government finance, fiscal policy, and financial regulation. It is headed by a finance minister, an executive or cabinet position . A ministry of finance's portfolio ...

, and again took a populist approach, lowering taxes on automobiles and household appliances. As such, his days as finance minister were called the ''"Merry Aridor Days"''. The lowering of inflation in Israel during his first years in office is attributed in part to this policy, leading to an increase in government's income from taxes. In subsequent years however, the inflation rose sharply (from 102% in 1981 to 191% in 1983), and as a countermeasure Aridor proposed to peg the Israeli

shekel A shekel or sheqel (; , , plural , ) is an ancient Mesopotamian coin, usually of silver. A shekel was first a unit of weight—very roughly 11 grams (0.35 ozt)—and became currency in ancient Tyre, Carthage and Hasmonean Judea. Name The wo ...

to the

US dollar The United States dollar (symbol: $; currency code: USD) is the official currency of the United States and several other countries. The Coinage Act of 1792 introduced the U.S. dollar at par with the Spanish silver dollar, divided it int ...

at a

fixed exchange rate A fixed exchange rate, often called a pegged exchange rate, is a type of exchange rate regime in which a currency's value is fixed or pegged by a monetary authority against the value of another currency, a currency basket, basket of other currenc ...

. He resigned his position on 15 October 1983 due to widespread criticism of his "dollarization plan". Between 1990 and 1992, Aridor served as the

Permanent Representative of Israel to the United Nations The permanent representative of Israel to the United Nations is the de facto Israel ambassador to the United Nations, with the rank and status of ambassador extraordinary and plenipotentiary. The permanent mission of Israel to the United Nations ...

. In 2002, he was appointed to the board of directors of

Bezeq Bezeq () is an Israeli telecommunications company. Bezeq and its subsidiaries offer a range of telecom services, including fixed-line, mobile telephony, high-speed Internet, transmission, and pay TV (via Yes (Israel), Yes). The company is tra ...

, by then Minister of Communications

Reuven Rivlin Reuven "Ruvi" Rivlin ( ; born 9 September 1939) is an Israeli politician and lawyer who served as the president of Israel between 2014 and 2021. He is a member of the Likud party. Rivlin was Minister of Communications from 2001 to 2003, and su ...

. In February 2004, Aridor was appointed chairman of a commission examining state assistance to public institutions, created by the Ministerial Committee on State Audit Affairs.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Aridor, Yoram 1933 births Living people Deputy ministers of Israel Gahal politicians Hebrew University of Jerusalem Faculty of Law alumni Jews from Mandatory Palestine Likud politicians Members of the 7th Knesset (1969–1974) Members of the 8th Knesset (1974–1977) Members of the 9th Knesset (1977–1981) Members of the 10th Knesset (1981–1984) Members of the 11th Knesset (1984–1988) Ministers of finance of Israel Politicians from Tel Aviv Ministers of communications of Israel Permanent representatives of Israel to the United Nations