Benjamin Ben-Eliezer

(1936 - )

Benjamin Ben-Eliezer is an Israeli politician and former military leader who has served in the Israeli Cabinet.

Ben-Eliezer (born February 12, 1936) was born in Basra, Iraq, and immigrated to Israel in 1950.

Ben-Eliezer entered the Israel Defense Forces in 1954 and quickly became a career officer. He would later serve as a commander in the Six-Day War (1967) and the Yom Kippur War (1973). He was a member of the IDF Military Mission to Singapore (1970-73) and in 1977, he was appointed First Commanding Officer in Southern Lebanon, serving as the IDF liaison with the Christian community of Lebanon. Ben-Eliezer served as IDF Commander in Judea and Samaria (1978-81) and Government Coordinator of Activities in the Administered Areas (1983-84).

In 1984, Ben-Eliezer was first elected to the Knesset on the Yahad list headed by Ezer Weizman, which subsequently joined the Labor Alignment. He served in the Labor Party from 1984 through 1999, then was elected to Knesset for the One Israeli Party (1999-2001) and now again serves as a Labor member in Knesset since 2001.

Ben-Eliezer has held many ministerial positions in Israel's Cabinet, including Minister of Housing & Construction (1992-1996), Minister of Communication (1999-2001), Minister of Defense (2001-2002), Minister of National Infrastructure (2005-2009) and as a Deputy Prime Minister under Ehud Barak.

In March 2011, Ben-Eliezer contracted  pneumonia and was put into a medically induced coma from which he later recovered.

Sources: Israeli Foreign Ministry; Wikipedia