Josef Lapid

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Josef Lapid (1961)

Josef "Tommy" Lapid ( Hebrew יוסף לפיד, English transcription Yosef Lapid; ) (* December 27, 1931 in Novi Sad , Kingdom of Yugoslavia ; † June 1, 2008 in Tel Aviv ) was chairman of the liberal-secular Shinui party and minister of justice and deputy prime minister of Israel .

Life

Early years

Lapid was born as Tomislav Lampel as a member of the Hungarian-Jewish minority of Vojvodina . At the age of 12 he saw his father and grandmother abducted by the National Socialists. Barely enough, his mother was able to flee with him to Budapest , where he survived the rest of the Second World War and the Holocaust in the ghetto in the Erzsébetváros district ; his father and grandmother were murdered in Mauthausen concentration camp shortly before it was liberated. This flight with the loss of his homeland was the moment for Josef Lapid when he said he became a Zionist .

Emigration to Israel and career as a journalist

In 1948, at the age of 17, he emigrated to Israel . There he did his military service as a mechanic in the Israeli armed forces . After his discharge from military service, he studied law at Tel Aviv University . Ephraim Kishon became aware there on Lapid and won him as an employee for the Hungarian -sprachige newspaper Új Kelet, at the time by the social democratic MAPAI party was issued. Kishon also introduced him to Ezriel Carlebach , the founding editor of the Hebrew daily Maariv . Carlebach advised him to Hebraise his name, whereupon he adopted the name Lapid . From 1955 Josef Lapid worked as a journalist at Maariv. For 44 years he worked in the service of this newspaper, the longest of which as editor-in-chief and member of the editorial staff.

Lapid later became the financial director of the Israel Broadcasting Authority and chairman of the Israeli Union of Cable Television. From 1979 to 1984 the journalist was director general of the Israeli state broadcaster Kol Israel .

The leading journalist Rudolf Rezső Israel Kasztner , who was murdered in 1957 after a controversial trial, was formative for his journalistic style . Lapid was one of the first to seek rehabilitation for Kasztner and was interviewed for the film Killing Kasztner (2008).

politics

From February 2003 until the break of the coalition in December 2004, he was Israeli Justice Minister and Deputy Prime Minister. As acting Minister of Justice, Josef Lapid caused outrage in the cabinet with his criticism of the Israeli military operation Operation Rainbow in the Gaza Strip ( Rafah ). The minister drew a parallel with the Holocaust and with it the wrath of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon . Lapid said in the cabinet that the picture of an old Palestinian woman in the ruins of her house reminded him "of my grandmother in the Holocaust". There is no forgiveness for people who treat an old woman like this. The remark aroused outrage among hardliners in the ruling Likud party.

As the Israeli opposition leader, Josef Lapid, the last survivor of the Holocaust in the Knesset , was still active as a politician. Under Lapid's chairmanship, the Shinui party experienced a notable rise.

After Yasser Arafat's death, when asked whether Arafat should be buried in Jerusalem, he said no, saying that Jerusalem was a city where Jewish kings were buried, not Arab terrorists.

Withdrawal from politics

In July 2006, Lapid Schewach Weiss replaced him as chairman of the Yad Vashem Council and held this office until his death.

Private

Lapid was married to the writer Shulamit Lapid , with whom he had two daughters and a son. The eldest daughter Michal was killed in a car accident in 1984. His son Yair Lapid is a journalist. Like his father, he switched to politics in 2012 and founded the Yesch Atid party .

He was president of the Israeli Chess Federation.

Prices

  • 1998: Sokolov Prize

Web links

Wikiquote: Josef Lapid  - Quotes

Footnotes

  1. ↑ Jerome A. Chanes: Kasztner: Hero or Devil? In: The Jewish Daily Forward . October 14, 2009
  2. ↑ Rafah mission: Israel's Justice Minister triggers outrage with Holocaust statement . In: Spiegel Online . May 23, 2004
  3. Jump up ↑ Do not kings terrorists: Difficult search for resting place for Arafat . In: Rheinische Post . November 5, 2004
  4. ^ Joseph (Tommy) Lapid Appointed Chairman of the Council. In: Yad Vashem Jerusalem Magazine. No. 43, autumn 2006, p. 13 ( PDF )
  5. ^ Yad Vashem: Yad Vashem Mourns the Passing of Chairman of the Yad Vashem Council Joseph (Tommy) Lapid . June 1, 2008
  6. ^ Former President of Israel Chess Federation Died . Article from June 5, 2008 on the website of the World Chess Federation FIDE (English)
personal data
SURNAME Lapid, Josef
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Lapid, Yosef; Lapid, Tommy; Lampel, Tomislav (maiden name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Israeli politician and Minister of Justice
DATE OF BIRTH December 27, 1931
PLACE OF BIRTH Novi Sad
DATE OF DEATH June 1, 2008
Place of death Tel Aviv