Aryeh Eldad

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Aryeh Eldad
Date of birth 1 May 1950 (1950-05-01) (age 58)
Knesset(s) 16th, 17th (current)
Party Moledet
(part of the National Union)

Prof. Aryeh Eldad, M.D. (Hebrew: אריה אלדד‎, also spelt Arie Eldad, born 1 May 1950) is an Israeli physician and politician, and a member of the Knesset for Moledet, part of the National Union. He is also head of the new Hatikva party, though he will remain a member of the National Union until the next election.[1]

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[edit] Biography

Eldad was born in Tel Aviv in 1950. He is married with five children. His father, Israel Eldad, was a well known Israeli public thinker and formerly one of the leaders of the underground group Lehi. He is a resident of Kfar Adumim and is a Brigadier-General (reserves) in the Israel Defense Forces.

[edit] Medical career

Eldad is a professor and head of the plastic surgery and burns unit at the Hadassah Medical Center hospital in Jerusalem. He studied medicine at Tel Aviv University, where he earned his doctorate. He served as the chief medical officer and was the senior commander of the Israeli Defense Forces medical corps for 25 years, and reached a rank of Tat Aluf (Brigadier General). He is renowned worldwide for his treatment of burns and won the Evans Award from the American Burns Treatment Association.

[edit] Political career

Eldad is the second member of parliament of the Moledet party (which is part of the National Union) and was hailed by the Israeli press (including Maariv and Yediot Aharonot) as an honest, hardworking, dedicated lawmaker. He heads the Ethics committee of the Knesset. Eldad is the only secular Member of Knesset in the National Union party.

Eldad is a Revisionist Zionist who believes in the ideas of Zionist philosopher Zeev Jabotinsky. Eldad supports the right of Jews to live in any part of the Land of Israel and opposes any surrender of Israeli sovereignty to the PLO. Eldad supports Moledet's plan to transfer the Palestinian Arabs to the Arab states. Eldad opposes the creation of any Palestinian Arab state west of the Jordan River and called its possibility a "disaster".

Prior to the scheduled Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza Strip and the northern West Bank in August 2005, Eldad was the only member of parliament to call for non-violent civil disobedience as a tactic in the struggle against the government. Eldad even walked the few hundred kilometres between the now evacuated community of Sa-Nur (in Northern Samaria) to Neve Dekalim in order to attract attention to the opposition of the Withdrawal plan.

In the February 2006 dismantlement of the Amona outpost Eldad was injured during the confrontation between demonstrators and police, as was his ally MK Effi Eitam. The event caused a storm of criticism on both sides, as interim Prime Minister Ehud Olmert accused them of inciting the crowd to attack the police, while they accused Olmert and the police of reckless use of force.

In August of 2007, a 10 member Homesh Knesset caucus met for the first time, headed by Eldad. The caucus' mandate is to work to promote the re-establishment of Homesh - as a first step towards the return to all the places from which Jews were expelled during 2005. In 2008 he submitted a bill to the Knesset proposing that Hebron's Arab residents be removed "in order to protect the settlers of Hebron".[2]

[edit] Hatikva

In November 2007 Eldad announced the formation of a new secular right-wing party named Hatikva. However, Eldad will remain a Knesset member for the National Union until the next elections, in which the new party may run as part of the Union.

[edit] References

  1. ^ Arye Eldad to head new secular Right party Jerusalem Post, 21 November 2007
  2. ^ Arab MK Tibi okays consideration of rightist MK's 'racist' bill Haaretz, 8 February 2008

[edit] See also

[edit] External links