Yuval Steinitz

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Yuval Steinitz

Date of birth	10 April 1958
Knesset(s)	15th, 16th, 17th (current)
Party	Likud

Dr Yuval Steinitz (Hebrew: יובל שטייניץ‎, born 10 April 1958), is an Israeli philosopher and politician who has been a Knesset member for the Likud party since 1999. In the years 2003–2006, he chaired the Knesset's Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee. He is married to Gila Cnafi-Steinitz, a judge in the District court of Jerusalem.

1 Academics
2 Political Activity
3 The Disengagement Plan
4 References
5 External links

[edit] Academics

Steinitz grew up in Ramot Hashavim and served in the army as an infantry soldier in the Golani Brigade. After finishing the army, he studied at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, earning a masters degree in Philosophy. Subsequently, he started his Doctorate work in Philosophy, writing about the topic: "From a Rationalistic point of view". He finished his doctorate at the "Cohen institution for History and Philosophy of the sciences and ideas", of Tel-Aviv University. In 1993, after finishing his studies, he was guaranteed an "Alon Scholarship". Steinitz also taught philosophy at the University of Haifa.

[edit] Political Activity

During his army service, Steinitz took an interest in the Israeli concept of security, and in military strategy and tactics, publishing articles on these topics in the Israel Defense Force journal Marachot.

Steinitz's earliest political activity was within left-wing organizations and parties, such as Peace Now. However, in 1993, as a result of the Oslo accords, he changed his views and became a member of right-wing organizations and parties, such as the Likud party. In 1996 he promoted the candidacy of the future Prime Minister of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu, and three years later during the 1999 elections, ran on the Likud list (in the 20th position). The elections were seen as a big disappointment for the Likud party, which earned only nineteen mandates (out of 120) and Steinitz did not get into the Knesset. However, when Netanyahu decided take responsibility for the party's poor results and resign from his seat, Steinitz replaced him as next in line to enter the Knesset. Steinitz served as the chairman of the Concept of Security Sub-committee, and as a member of the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, the Constitution, Law and Courts Committee and the Science and Technology Committee.

Steinitz became a prominent member of the party and re-entered the Knesset in the 2003 elections when the Likud regained power, serving as chairman of the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, the Security and Intelligence Sub-committee and the joint committee of the Security Committee, composed of members from the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committees and the American Congress.

Steinitz was elected in the 2006 elections, as number nine on the Likud list. He was nominated as a candidate to chair the "International Likud" but lost, in elections held in June 2006, to Dani Danon, the chair of the World Betar movement, which is historically tied with the values and norms of the Likud Party.

In 2008 Israel refused permission for Palestinian Fulbright students to leave Gaza and study in the United States. Steinitz strong supported this action, telling the New York Times “We are fighting the regime in Gaza that does its utmost to kill our citizens and destroy our schools and our colleges. So I don’t think we should allow students from Gaza to go anywhere. Gaza is under siege, and rightly so, and it is up to the Gazans to change the regime or its behavior.”^[1]

[edit] The Disengagement Plan

In the debate about Israel's unilateral disengagement plan, a move that was generally unpopular within Likud, Steinitz was firmly opposed to its aims, particularly the IDF's intention of transferring the Philadelphi Route, an important buffer zone between Egypt and the Gaza Strip, to Egyptian control. He claimed that Egypt would overlook the transfer of weapons and ammunition into the strip, by various Palestinian terrorist groups, and that the "demilitarized territory" of the Sinai Peninsula would be remilitarized by Egypt in the future.^[2] After the plan was implemented, Steinitz claimed that his previous comments had prevented the Egyptians taking greater control of the area. He added that the plan was an Israeli mistake, and that even if it had been needed for future peace agreements with the Palestinian people, the IDF should have first "cleared the Gaza Strip of terrorist groups".