Topic: Binyamin Ben-Eliezer

Binyamin Fuad Ben-Eliezer Hebrew: בנימין פואד בן אליעזר‎, Arabic: بنيامين فواد بن العذر‎, born 12 February 1936) is an Israeli politician and former military officer of Iraqi origin. He currently serves as a member of the Knesset for the Labor Party, and as the country's Minister of Industry, Trade and Labour. He previously held the posts of Minister of Defense, Deputy Prime Minister and several other ministerial portfolios.

Born in Basra in southern Iraq, as Fuad, Son of Saleh and Farha .Ben-Eliezer made aliyah to Israel in 1950, hebraizing his First name to Binyamin. He entered the Israel Defense Forces in 1954, and became a career soldier. He served as a Commander in the Six-Day War and the Yom Kippur War, and was wounded in the War of Attrition. In 1977, he was appointed First Commanding Officer in Southern Lebanon, serving as the army liaison between the Lebanese Christian militias and Israel. He was Military Governor of Judea and Samaria (1978–81) and was Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories from 1983 until 1984. He completed his military service with the rank of Brigadier General.

He was first elected to the Knesset in 1984 on the Yahad list, which merged into the Alignment during his first term. He was re-elected in 1988 and 1992, by which time the Alignment had become the Labor Party. On 13 July 1992 he was appointed Minister of Housing and Construction in Yitzhak Rabin's government. He retained his seat in the 1996 elections, but lost his place in the cabinet as Labor went into opposition. Following Ehud Barak's victory in the 1999 Prime Minister election, Ben-Eliezer returned to the cabinet as Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Communications. From 11 October 2000 until 3 March 2001 he also served as Minister of Housing and Construction. After Ariel Sharon's victory in the special election for Prime Minister in 2001, Ben-Eliezer was appointed Minister of Defense in the national unity government, and served as Labor Party leader following Barak's resignation until Amram Mitzna was elected in 2002. He left the post on 2 October 2002 when Labor withdrew from the coalition.