Yuri Stern

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Israel
This article is part of the series: Politics and government of Israel

Basic Laws Jerusalem Law Law of Return Acting President Dalia Itzik Prime Minister Ehud Olmert Cabinet State Comptroller Knesset Speaker Dalia Itzik Members Elections: 2003, 2006 Parties Knesset Elections Law Judicial system Supreme Court Districts Regional council Local council Foreign affairs Israel and the UN Israel and the EU Ambassadors from Israel Israeli-Palestinian conflict Arab-Israeli conflict International Law Arab League
Other countries · Politics Portal view • talk • edit

Yuri Stern (Hebrew: יורי שטרן, March 29, 1949 - January 16, 2007) was an Israeli politician and journalist. He was a Member of the Knesset from 1996 until his death, first as a member of Israel Ba-Aliya and later on behalf of Israel Beytenu. In the 2006 elections he was second on Israel Beytenu's list.

[edit] Background

Born in Moscow, Stern was active in promoting Jewish immigration from the Soviet Union. He emigrated to Israel in 1981. He had a PhD in economics from Moscow University.

[edit] Political career

Stern was first elected to the Knesset in the 1996 elections on the list of Israel Ba-Aliya, a Russian immigrant party. However, after internal disagreements within the party he broke away with Michael Nudelman to form a new party, Aliya.

For the 1999 elections, Aliya ran together with Israel Beytenu, another Russian immigrant party, with Stern retaining his seat. Aliya was soon merged into Israel Beytenu and ceased to exist.

After Ariel Sharon beat Ehud Barak in a special election for Prime Minister in 2001, Israel Beytenu was added to Sharon's coalition government and Stern was appointed Deputy Minister in the Ministry in the Prime Minister's Office.

He retained his seat again in the 2003 elections, in which Israel Beytenu ran as part of the right-wing National Union alliance.

Whilst a Knesset Member, Stern served as chairman in two Knesset committees; the Internal Affairs and the Environment Committee, and the State Inspection Committee. He was also chairman of two Knesset lobbies; the Knesset Christian Allies Caucus, and the Knesset Forum on the Middle East.

He also wrote several articles for newspapers including The Wall Street Journal, The Jerusalem Post, and Ma'ariv, as well as several academic papers on economics of the USSR.

Stern was also a member of several other organisations, including the Zionist Forum (within of which he was a member of the management for the Israeli Zionist Forum), and others mostly related to immigration and immigrant absorption. He was a vehement opponent of land surrender to Palestinians.

Stern died of cancer on January 16, 2007.