Uriel Lynn

Uriel Lynn
Date of birth 2 April 1935
Place of birth Jerusalem, Mandatory Palestine
Knessets 11, 12
Faction represented in Knesset
1984–1992 Likud

Uriel Lynn (Hebrew אוריאל לין, born 2 April 1935) is an [Israeli] lawyer, former civil servant and politician. He is currently president of the Federation of the Israeli Chambers of Commerce and the Tel Aviv and Central Israel Chamber of Commerce. He is also member of the Board of the Eurochambres as well as member of the Council of the World Chambers Federation (WCF).

Biography

Born Uriel Asulin in Jerusalem during the Mandate era, Lynn attended the Nautical School in Haifa, and afterwards studied law at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and University of California, Berkeley. He received the degrees of Master of Law from both universities. He was certified as a lawyer devoting two years in litigation of cases related to traffic accidents and from 1965 until 1969 worked as secretary general and legal counsel of ATA textile company which at that time was the largest privately owned manufacturing enterprise in Israel.

Through the years 1969 to 1971 he held the position of deputy general manager in Isranyl, a vertical factory of textiles, which later on was transformed to Jerusalem Jersey Textile where he continued working as general manager until 1975, after which he established his own law firm.

In 1973 Lynn joined the Liberal Party and was politically active therein. In 1978, following the change of government in Israel, Lynn began his career as civil servant for the Israeli government, starting as director of the Israeli North American Investment Authority.

In 1979 he was appointed by the government as director of State Revenue, a position he held until 1982. During this period, Lynn initiated and led a wide reform in the Israeli tax system, abolishing no less than 10 major taxes such as property tax on structures, inheritance tax and capital gain tax on the sale of residential units. Most prominent was the abolishment of particularly high purchase taxes on basic household equipment such as frigidaires, washing machines, TV sets and consumer goods. This reform was one of the factors why the Likud party won the elections in 1981.

In 1982 he became director general of the Ministry of Energy and Infrastructure, a role he held until 1984. In this capacity, he led together with the late Yitzhak Modai, then Minister of Energy, the reform in the Israeli energy market, allowing competition between the major petroleum companies.

In 1984 Lynn was elected to the Knesset, the Israeli legislator on the Likud list (where he represented the Liberal Party until its dissolution in 1988). He was appointed chairman of the Subcommittee on Energy and of the Subcommittee for Road Safety, and also chaired the Parliamentary Inquiry Committee for Traffic Accidents.

He was re-elected in 1988 and chaired the Constitution, Law and Justice Committee till 1992. During his term as Chairman, he led some of the major constitutional changes in the legal and political systems in Israel such as the Basic Law of Human Dignity and Freedom; the Basic Law Freedom of Occupation; Basic Law: The Government; increase of the threshold of the factions in the parliament; the political party's law and the restriction of state employees to participate in the election of members of Knesset and ministers. He also vigorously initiated and passed a set of laws combatting crimes and a reform in the judicial system.

In 1992 he decided not to run again as candidate to the Israeli Knesset, and established again his own law firm, specializing in arbitration and government. He is also chairman of the family business Lynn Networks Ltd.

At the end of 2002 he was elected President of the Tel-Aviv & Central Israel Chamber of Commerce and of the Federation of Israeli Chambers of Commerce, a position he still holds to date. He also serves as member of the board of the Eurochambres and was elected member of the council of the World Chambers Federation (WCF), a worldwide organization of National Chambers of Commerce from 125 countries. Lynn is also the chairman of the family investment company.

Since 1972, Lynn has published over a thousand articles in all major newspapers such as Ha'aretz, Ma'ariv, Yedioth Acharonot and Jerusalem Post, relating to topics in economy, law, government, road safety and crime.

Recently Lynn published his book "The Cornerstone" describing the seven positions he held during his service to the public, and comprising many of the articles related to these positions.

References

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