| Salah Tarif | |
|---|---|
| Date of birth | 9 February 1954 |
| Place of birth | Julis, Israel |
| Knessets | 12, 13, 14, 15, 16 |
| Party | Labor Party (1992-99, 2001-03, 2005-06) |
| Former parties | One Israel (1999-2001) |
| Ministerial posts (current in bold) |
Minister without Portfolio |
Salah Tarif (Arabic: صالح طريف; Hebrew: סאלח טריף, born 9 February 1954) is a Druze Israeli politician who served as a member of the Knesset between 1992 and 2006. When appointed Minister without Portfolio by Ariel Sharon in 2001, he became Israel's first non-Jewish government minister.[1]
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Born in the Druze village of Julis, Tarif served in parachute and tank in the IDF, before graduating from the University of Haifa with a BA. Whilst at university he served as deputy chairman of the student union.
Tarif later became mayor of Julis, and chaired the board of Druze and Circassian mayors. A member of the Labor Party, he was on the Alignment list (largely composed of Labor Party members) for the 1988 Knesset elections. Although he failed to win a seat, he entered the Knesset on 3 February 1992 as a replacement for Ezer Weizman.[2] He retained his seat in the June 1992 elections, and in November 1995 was appointed Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs in Shimon Peres' government. He was re-elected in 1996, after which he was appointed Deputy Speaker of the Knesset.
He was re-elected in 1999 (in which Labor ran under the One Israel umbrella), and in 2001 was appointed a Minister without Portfolio in Ariel Sharon's national unity government, making him the first non-Jew to hold a full ministerial position. However, he left the cabinet in January 2002 when he resigned following the decision to prosecute him on charges of bribery and breach of trust,[3] though he did remain a Knesset member.
He lost his seat in the 2003 elections as Labour won only 19 seats, but re-entered the Knesset in November 2005 as a replacement for Amram Mitzna who resigned to take over as mayor of Yeruham. In January 2006 Tel Aviv district court upheld his conviction on these charges [4] and in March he lost his seat again following fresh elections.