Yitzhak Ben-Aharon
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Yitzhak Ben-Aharon (יצחק בן אהרון in Hebrew) (July 17, 1906 – May 19, 2006) was an Israeli socialist politician. He was a Knesset member from the first to the fifth Knessets and in the seventh and eighth, former Minister of Transport and former General secretary of the Histadrut.
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[edit] Early life and career
Ben-Aharon was born in the Bukovina region of the Austro-Hungarian Empire (today Romania). He attended high school in Cernăuţi and studied at the Advanced School for Political Science in Berlin. He became a leader in Hashomer Hatzair in Romania, and in 1928 he emigrated to the Land of Israel (then the British Mandate of Palestine). In 1933, he became a member in Kibbutz Giva'at Haim and after the 1952 split in the Kibbutz Movement, he stayed in the original, anti-revisionist Kibbutz, Giva'at Haim Meuchad, where he remained a kibbutz member for the rest of his life.
From 1932-1938, he was Secretary of the Tel Aviv Workers' Council. In the summer of 1935, he served for a few months as the envoy for the Halutz organization in Nazi Germany until he was expelled by the Gestapo. From 1938-1939, he was Secretary of Mapai. In 1940, he enlisted in the British army to fight against Nazi Germany in World War II, where he reached the rank of Major. He was captured in the Greek front in 1941, along with other soldiers from the Yishuv, until they were released in 1945.
[edit] Political career
After the war, he joined Mapam and from 1948 became one of its leaders. After the split in Mapam in 1954, he became one of the leaders of its left-splinter, Labour Unity party. From 1969-1973, he became General-Secretary of the Histadrut. He was a Knesset member seven times, and member of several parliamentary committees. From 1958-1962, he became the Minister of Transport, but resigned over what he called the government's anti-labour socioeconomic policy. In 1977, he retired from active political life, but continued to express critical, pro-socialist views for the rest of his life. He was the author of several books and articles, and in 1995 became a recipient of the Israel Prize for "special contribution to the Israeli State and society." On May 19, 2006, he died in his kibbutz. Ben-Aharon donated his body to science, so there was no burial.
[edit] Tributes
Responding to Ben-Aharon's death, President of Israel, Moshe Katzav stated that: "Israel has lost one of its builders and shapers of its social character." Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said that "the State of Israel has lost one of its giants, a true zionist and honest ideologue, who during tens of years did not hesitate to express his unique and penetrating views." Israel's Vice Prime Minister, Minister for the Development of the Negev and Galilee, Shimon Peres said that: "One of the spiritual fathers of the Israeli labour movement has left us." The Minister of Defense, Amir Peretz, said: "today, one the giants of the State of Israel has left us. If there is a man that can be said to have been one of the titans of the generation, it is Yitzhak Ben-Aharon."
