Gideon Ezra
Template:MKs Gideon Ezra (Hebrew: גדעון עזרא, born 30 June 1937) is an Israeli politician and member of the Knesset for Kadima. He is Minister of Environmental Protection in the current government.
Ezra was born in Jerusalem and served in the Israeli Defense Force between 1955 and1958 in the Nahal. He studied Geography and Political Science at the University of Haifa before starting work in Shabak in 1962.
After retiring from Shabak in 1995, he worked as an advisor to then Minister of Internal Security Moshe Shahal.
Ezra was elected to the Knesset in the 1996 elections and retained his seat in the 1999 and 2003 elections. After Ariel Sharon beat Ehud Barak in the 2001 election for Prime Minister, Ezra was appointed Deputy Minister of Internal Security.
In August 2002 Ezra opined about the approaching American invasion of Iraq: "The more aggressive the attack is, the more it will help Israel against the Palestinians." Military action against Iraq would "undoubtedly deal a psychological blow" to the Palestinians, added the Deputy Minister. [1]
He was given his first full ministerial position after the 2003 elections when appointed Minister in the Ministry of the Prime Minister's Office. When Binyamin Elon was sacked as Minister of Tourism in July 2004, Ezra replaced him, intitally as Acting Minister (the position was made permanent at the end of August). From September 2004 he also held the position of Acting Internal Security Minister after Tzachi Hanegbi resigned in the face of corruption allegations. This ministerial post was also made permanent in November, and Ezra oversaw the evacuation of the Amona settlement in February 2006. In November 2005 he was attacked during a rally in Sderot against Israel's unilateral disengagement plan over his support for it.[2]
In January 2005 he was replaced as Tourism Minister by Avraham Hirschson. When Sharon founded Kadima in late 2005, Ezra joined him, picking up the Environment Ministry portfolio from Likud's Shalom Simhon.
After the 2006 elections he was appointed Minister of Environmental Protection by new PM Ehud Olmert. In April 2007 he announced that he would oppose plans to build a solar energy plant near Dimona on the basis that it would affect a nature reserve.[3] He has also overseen the expansion of container deposit legislation to cover 1.5 litre bottles.[4]
References
- ^ Israel Sees Opportunity in Possible US Strike on Iraq The Christian Science Monitor, August 30, 2002
- ^ 'Anything is possible' Jerusalem Post, 8 November 2005
- ^ Environment chief: New clean energy site would harm rare species Haaretz, 20 April 2007
- ^ Government expands deposit law to include 1.5 liter bottles Haaretz, 4 February 2007