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Moshe Gafni

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Moshe Gafni (Template:Lang-he, born 5 May 1952) is an Israeli politician and Member of the Knesset for the ultra-orthodox party Degel HaTorah.

Biography

Born in Bnei Brak, Gafni was educated in a yeshiva and later worked as head of a Kollel, avoiding national service in the IDF. He was first elected to the Knesset on Degel HaTorah's list in 1988, and was appointed Deputy Minister of Religious Affairs in Yitzhak Shamir's government in 1990. For the 1992 elections the party joined Agudat Israel in forming an alliance called United Torah Judaism, which won four seats. Although he initially lost his seat, Gafni entered the Knesset in 1994 as part of a rotation agreement between the two factions. A similar arrangement operated after the 1996 elections, with Gafni taking the seat for the first half of the session (i.e. until 1998).

Early elections in 1999 meant that Gafni reappeared in the Knesset sooner than expected. This time no rotation agreement was in place, so he served his full term, and was re-elected in both 2003 and 2006. When Degel HaTorah split from Agudat Israel during the latter stages of the 16th Knesset, Gafni was appointed the party's Parliamentary Group Chairman.

Gafni was strongly opposed to the Supreme Court ruling that the state must recognise gay marriages carried out abroad, stating "We don't have a Jewish state here. We have Sodom and Gomorrah here."[1] However, he was one of the few ultra-orthodox public figures to condemn the violence carried out by members of the community over plans for the 2006 Jerusalem gay pride parade.[2]

Today Gafni is the very powerful chairman of the knesset's financial committee.

Moshe Gafni was attacked in Mea Shearim on 24th of June 2010 as he emerged from a synagogue.

The two United Torah Judaism MKs (Uri Maklev and Moshe Gafni) had paid a visit to the Slonim rabbi, who lives in Mea Shearim and then entered a synagogue to pray. When they emerged they were set upon by young extremists from Neturei Karta who spat at them and assaulted them with stones, blows and a chair.

References

  1. ^ In precedent-setting ruling court says state must recognize gay marriage Haaretz, 21 November 2006
  2. ^ Study Torah or be drafted Haaretz, 2006

Moshe Gafni on the Knesset website

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