Ophir Pines-Paz

Ophir Pines-Paz (2005)

Ophir Pines-Paz ( Hebrew אופיר פינס-פז; * July 11, 1961 in Rishon leTzion ) is an Israeli politician. He was a member of the Knesset and was Minister for the Israeli Labor Party Avoda on several occasions . In October 2006 he resigned from his former ministerial post in protest against the admission of the far-right Jisra'el Beitenu ( Israel - Our Home ) to the ruling coalition.

life and work

Ophir Pines-Paz was born in 1961 in Rishon leTzion , the son of a Dutchman . After completing school and studying at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem (BA in International Relations ) and Tel Aviv University (MA in Public Policy ), he devoted himself to a political career.

From 1996 he was a member of the Knesset as an Avoda MP. From January to November 2005 he was Israeli Minister of the Interior and from May to October 2006 Minister for Science, Technology, Culture and Sport. When the far-right Jisra'el Beitenu was accepted into the coalition by Avigdor Lieberman , nine Knesset MPs, including Ophir Pines-Paz, protested against a coalition of the Labor Party with Jisra'el Beitenu, as this party campaigns for the ethnic cleansing of all Arabs Israel and the occupied territories enters. In protest, Pines-Paz resigned his ministerial office in October 2006 when a coalition between the Avoda and Jisra'el Beitenu was agreed. Pines-Paz resigned from the Knesseth in 2010.

Ophir Pines-Paz is married and has two children.

Web links

• Official biography of the Israeli Foreign Ministry of Ophir Pines-Paz (Engl.)