Yitzhak Klinghoffer

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Yitzhak Klinghoffer

Date of birth	17 February 1905
Place of birth	Galicia, Poland
Year of Aliyah	1953
Date of death	31 January 1990
Knesset(s)	5th, 6th, 7th
Party	Gahal
Former parties	Liberal Party

Yitzhak Hans Klinghoffer (Hebrew: יצחק הנס קלינגהופר‎, born 17 February 1905, died 31 January 1990) was an Israeli jurist and politician.

[edit] Biography

Klinghoffer was born in Galicia (today in Poland), but grew up in Vienna. He studied Law and Political Science at the University of Vienna, where he received Doctorate in Law in 1927 and in Political Science in 1930.

When Germany annexed Austria he moved to France but in 1940 he had to move again, this time to Brazil. In Brazil he was Science Advisor to the American Delegate in the International Jurisprudence Convention in Rio de Janeiro from 1946 to 1948 and Legal Advisor to the Austrian Embassy in Brazil between 1948 and 1953.

In 1953 he immigrated to Israel and landed a professor position in the Law Faculty of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, where he was Senior Lecturer (1953-1954), Associate Professor (1957-1968), Dean of Law Faculty (1959-1961) and Tenured Professor (1968-1974). He was Legal Advisor to the Comptroller of the Defense Establishment in the years 1975-1976. He was also President of the Association for Civil Rights in Israel from 1976 to 1982.^[1]

In 1961 he was one of the founders of the Liberal Party and was elected to the 5th Knesset. The party later merged with Herut into Gahal, for which he was elected to the 6th and 7th Knessets.

He is known for his contributions to Israeli Constitutional and Administrative Law. In 1964 he proposed to the Knesset an extensive Bill of Rights Act.^[2] Although it was turned down, it had an impact on later Basic Laws of Israel, especially Basic Law: Human Dignity and Liberty.