Binyamin Ben-Eliezer |
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Brigadier-General (Res.) Binyamin "Fuad" Ben-Eliezer (Hebrew: בנימין "פואד" בן אליעזר; Arabic: بنيامين بن إليعازر, born 12 February 1936) is an Israeli politician and former soldier of Iraqi origin. He currently serves as a member of the Knesset for the Israeli Labor Party, and as the country's Minister of Industry, Trade & Labour. He previously held the posts of Minister of Defense, Deputy Prime Minister and several other ministerial portfolios.
Born in Basra in southern Iraq, Ben-Eliezer made aliyah to Israel in 1950. He entered the Israel Defense Forces in 1954, and became a career soldier. A native and fluent Arabic-speaker, he earned the nickname Fuad while in the army. 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 the West Bank (1978-81) and was Government Coordinator of Activities in the Israeli-occupied territories from 1983 until 1984.
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.