Avraham Hirschson

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Avraham Hirschson (Hebrew: אברהם הירשזון) (born: February 11, 1941) is an Israeli politician, currently a member of the Kadima party, and as of May 4, 2006, serves as the Finance Minister of Israel.

Hirschson was born in Tel Mond and currently resides in Tel Aviv. From 1970 to 1992, he was secretary-general for the National Youth League (the youth branch of the National Histadrut). He has been the chairman of the National Histadrut since 1995 and chairman of the National Health Fund since 1996 (the revisionist counterparts to the larger General Histadrut and General Health Fund respectively). He helped found and currently heads the March of the Living programme, from which has had been accused of misappropriating funds.

As a member of the Likud Party, Hirschson joined the Knesset as a mid-term replacement in June 1983 and served until the end of the 10th Knesset in July 1984. He rejoined the Knesset in 1992, having been elected a member of the 13th Knesset, and has served since then. On January 10, 2005, he replaced Gideon Ezra as Minister of Tourism. In late November 2005, he resigned from the Likud and joined Kadima. On January 18, 2006, he was appointed Minister of Communication while retaining the Tourism ministry. That appointment filled one of the vacancies left by the resignation of all Labour Party ministers in November 2005, the act that resulted in the calling of elections for March 2006.

Following the 2006 elections, Hirschson became Minister of Finance as part of the Kadima-led 31st Government, which took office on May 4, 2006.

Hirschson, who has been a strong advocate for the privatization of Israeli state-owned services, stunned his audience at the 2006 Caesarea Forum with allegations that anonymous individuals opposed to his reforms have attempted to bring harm to his person. He was quoted by Haaretz in its June 23, 2006 edition saying, "There are people who are trying to harm me and my family, by means of pressure and threats ... Detectives are following me, with the aim of harming me. This will not work with me; even if the threats intensify, I will continue to promote the reforms that are so important for the people of Israel."

On March 20, 2007, Hirschson was investigated for seven hours by Israeli police regarding an alleged embezzlement at a non-profit organization while serving as the chairman of the National Workers Labor Federation.^[1]