Yoram Aridor
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| Yoram Aridor | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Date of birth | 24 October 1933 |
| Knesset(s) | 7th, 8th, 9th, 10th, 11th |
| Party | Likud |
| Former parties | Gahal |
| Gov't roles (current in bold) |
Minister of Finance Minister of Communications |
Yoram Aridor (Hebrew: יורם ארידור, born 24 October 1933) is a former right-wing Israeli politician, Knesset member and minister.
Aridor studied law in the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and practiced law while being active in the Herut movement. He was first elected a Knesset member in 1969 as a member of Gahal, a merger of Herut and the Liberal Party. Following the 1977 elections he became a deputy minister in Menachem Begin's government.
Aridor's first ministerial appointment was the Minister of Communications, in 1981. In this position, Aridor immediately restored television color broadcasting.[1] In the 1970s, color bursts (the signals encoding colors) were actively removed from IBA transmissions, in an attempt to discourage the population from buying new television sets.[2] Aridor's action led to an increase of his popularity, and boosted his political career.
Only two weeks later he was appointed the Minister of Finance,[3] and again took a populist approach, lowering taxes on automobiles and household appliances.[4] As such, his days as finance minister were called the "Merry Aridor Days". The lowering of inflation in Israel during his first years in office is attributed in part to this policy, leading to an increase in government's income from taxes. In subsequent years however, the inflation rose sharply (from 102% in 1981 to 191% in 1983), and as a countermeasure Aridor proposed to peg the Israeli shekel to the US dollar at a fixed exchange rate. He resigned his position on October 15, 1983 due to widespread criticism of his "dollarization plan".[5]
Between 1990 and 1992, Aridor served as the Israeli Ambassador to the UN.[6] In 2002, he was appointed to the board of directors of Bezeq, by then Minister of Communications Reuven Rivlin.[7] In February 2004, Aridor was appointed chairman of a commission examining state assistance to public institutions, created by the Ministerial Committee on State Audit Affairs.[8]
[edit] References
- ^ Lior, Gad. Israeli Economic Figures (PDF). Miksam. Retrieved on 2007-06-23. “Attorney Yoram Aridor, who served as Minister of Finance from 1981, is remembered for the important reforms he initiated, but mostly for approving the first color broadcast, which led to a dramatic increase in the number of TV sets purchased.”
- ^ Eden, Vivian. "Bird with Bound Feet", The Jerusalem Post, 1989-12-01. Retrieved on 2007-06-23.
- ^ "Israeli Cabinet Names New Finance Minister", The New York Times, 1981-01-20. Retrieved on 2007-06-23.
- ^ "Familiar Field", Time, 1981-04-20. Retrieved on 2007-06-23.
- ^ "Unhatched Egg", Time, 1983-10-24. Retrieved on 2007-06-23.
- ^ "Israel Approves Ex-Minister As Envoy to United Nations", The New York Times, 1990-09-17. Retrieved on 2007-06-23.
- ^ Yoram Aridor and Galit Bar'on are Appointed to the Bezeq Board of Directors (Hebrew) (2002-08-13). Retrieved on 2007-06-23.
- ^ Ilan, Shahar. "Baby, it's cold outside", Haaretz, 2005-09-29.
[edit] External links
- Yoram Aridor Knesset website (English)
| Diplomatic posts | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Johanan Bein |
Israeli Ambassador to the UN 1990—1992 |
Succeeded by Gad Yaacobi |
| Political offices | ||
| Preceded by Yigael Hurvitz |
Finance Minister of Israel 1981—1983 |
Succeeded by Yigal Cohen-Ograd |
| Preceded by Yitzhak Moda'i |
Communications Minister of Israel January 1, 1981—August 5, 1981 |
Succeeded by Mordechai Tzipori |
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