Yuli Edelstein

Yuli-Yoel Edelstein (Hebrew: יולי-יואל אדלשטיין, Russian: Юлий Эдельштейн, born 5 August 1958) is a Russian-Israeli politician who currently serves as a member of the Knesset for Likud and as the country's Minister of Information and Diaspora.

Biography

Born in Chernivtsi in the Soviet Union (today in Ukraine), Edelstein was an activist for Hebrew language learning. In 1984 was arrested for drugs possession, though the case was fabricated. He spent three and a half years in a labour camp in difficult conditions, and was seriously maimed. In 1987 he was released and allowed to immigrate to Israel.

After arriving in Israel he started to participate in political life. Initially a member of the National Religious Party and a vice-president of Zionist Forum, he founded the Yisrael BaAliyah party together with fellow Russian-Israeli dissident Nathan Sharansky. He was elected to the Knesset in 1996, and was appointed Minister of Immigrant Absorption in Binyamin Netanyahu's Likud-led government. He was re-elected in 1999, and was appointed Deputy Immigrant Absorption Minister by Ariel Sharon in 2001.

He retained his seat in the 2003 elections, shortly after which Yisrael BaAliyah merged into Likud. Although Edelstein lost his seat in the 2006 elections, in which Likud was reduced to 12 seats (Edelstein was 14th on the party's list), he re-entered the Knesset as a replacement for Dan Naveh in February 2007. He retained his seat in the 2009 elections after being placed twelfth on the party's list, and was appointed Minister of Information and Diaspora in the Netanyahu government.

The father of two, he lives in the settlement of Neve Daniel.

See also

• Refusenik

External links

Yuli Edelstein on the Knesset website