Ran Cohen
Ran Cohen ( Hebrew רן כהן, Born June 20, 1937 in Baghdad ) is a former member of the Meretz and former Minister for Trade and Economics in Israel . He is a socialist and a Zionist .
Life
At the age of 13 he immigrated to Israel and lived in Kibbutz Gan Shmuel . Cohen studied philosophy and economics at Tel Aviv University .
From 1977 to 1983, the former paratrooper officer belonged to the left-wing party "Sheli" (Shalom Le-Israel), which also included prominent peace activists such as Matti Peled and Uri Avnery , and who advocated negotiations with the PLO from Yasser Arafat , as the latter was officially considered "Public Enemy No. 1" in Israel. In 1983 there was a break with Peled over the question of whether the Sheli party should support Yesh Gvul , an association of Israeli reservists who did military service during the 1982-1983 Lebanon War , which was viewed by some critics in Israel and abroad as a war of aggression refused and were imprisoned for it. Former Deputy Chief of Staff Matti Peled was in favor of this, while Cohen, himself a reserve colonel, was against it. He went to what was then the Ratz party, led by Shulamit Aloni , which was absorbed into the Meretz party in 1996.
From 1984 Cohen was a member of the Ratz and later the Meretz parties. In 1992 he was Deputy Housing Minister in the Rabin Cabinet , and in 1999/2000 Minister of Industry and Trade in the Ehud Barak Cabinet . During his time as a member of the Knesset, Cohen was less involved in foreign policy issues and more in social policy issues, especially in view of the massive social cuts, especially by the Likud governments. The introduction of the minimum wage and improvements in social housing in the 1990s were the result of his initiatives. Cohen saw himself as an advocate for the “ Mizrahim ”, the Jews who immigrated to Israel from Arab countries from Morocco to Iraq and Yemen, who were often found in the lower social classes and who often felt excluded and discriminated against from positions of power in Israeli society.
In 2008 he resigned from his political offices. In the Meretz party, the Iraqi-born Cohen often criticized the dominance of the left-wing parties in particular by Ashkenazi Jews from Eastern Europe, and attributed to this in particular his defeats in several ballots for the Meretz chairmanship.
Since 2011 Cohen has headed the Standards Institute of Israel, the national organization for technical standardization comparable to the German DIN .
Today he lives in Mewasseret Zion , is married and has four children.
Web links
- Amnon Meranda: Ran Cohen to resign from politics Ynetnews, January 11, 2008, accessed April 19, 2013
- Knesset Members: Ran Cohen
swell
- ↑ Meretz MK Ran Cohen quits politics Jerusalem Post, November 1, 2008
- ^ Standards Institute of Israel (website)
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Cohen, Ran |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Israeli politician and Minister for Trade and Economy |
| DATE OF BIRTH | June 20, 1937 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Baghdad |