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Israel Katz

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This article is about the current Israeli Minister of Defense. For the former Minister of Labor and Social Affairs, see Yisrael Katz.

Israel Katz
יִשְׂרָאֵל כַּ״ץ
Katz in 2024
Ministerial portfolios
2003–2006Agriculture
2009–2019Transport
2015–2020Intelligence
2019–2020Foreign Affairs
2020–2021Finance
2022–2024Energy
2024Foreign Affairs
2024–Defense
Faction represented in the Knesset
1998–Likud
Personal details
Born (1955-09-21) 21 September 1955 (age 69)
Ashkelon, Israel
EducationHebrew University of Jerusalem (BA, MA)

Israel Katz (Hebrew: יִשְׂרָאֵל כַּ״ץ , born 21 September 1955) is an Israeli politician and member of the Knesset for Likud currently serving as Minister of Defense and a member of the Security Cabinet of Israel. Katz has been recognized for his role in modernizing Israel’s transportation infrastructure, including the expansion of highways, the development of high-speed rail, and reforms to Israel’s ports that increased competition and reduced shipping costs.[1][2][3] Katz has previously served as Minister of Agriculture, Minister of Transport, Minister of Intelligence, Minister of Energy, Minister of Finance, and twice as Minister of Foreign Affairs. On 5 November 2024, it was announced that he would be nominated by Prime Minister Netanyahu as Defense Minister after Yoav Gallant was dismissed.[4]

Biography

Israel Katz was born in Ashkelon.[5] His parents, Meir Katz and Malka ((Nira) née Deutsch), were Holocaust survivors from the region of Maramureș, Romania.[6] He was raised on Moshav Kfar Ahim. He was drafted into the Israel Defense Force in 1973 and served in the Paratroopers Brigade as a soldier and squad leader. In 1976, he completed Officer Candidate School and returned to the Paratroopers Brigade as a platoon leader. After his discharge in 1977, he studied at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and graduated with a BA and MA.[5] In the early 1980s, he was the chairman of the students' union. In March 1981, he was suspended for a year for his participation in a protest against Arab violence on campus that included locking the rector, Raphael Mechoulam, in his room.[7]

Katz is married and has two children.[8]

Political career

Katz was first listed on 45th on Likud list on 1992 Israeli legislative election, but missed out when Likud only won 32 seats. Katz won 34th place on the Likud-Gesher-Tzomet list for the 1996 elections, but missed out on a place in the Knesset when the alliance won only 32 seats. However, he entered the Knesset in November 1998 as a replacement for Ehud Olmert. He was re-elected in 1999 and 2003, and was appointed Minister of Agriculture in Ariel Sharon's government in 2003. Katz left the cabinet in January 2006 after the Likud–Kadima split, and was re-elected in the 2006 elections.[9]

In January 2004, Katz announced a plan to substantially increase the number of settlers in the Golan Heights.[10] In March 2004, he suggested making a referendum among all registered members of Likud, which allowed Ariel Sharon, intent on mobilising public opinion to back his Gaza disengagement plan, to get round opposition within the Likud convention, dominated by Israeli settler pressure groups.[11] Katz along with Benjamin Netanyahu, Silvan Shalom and Limor Livnat announced that they would resign from the government within two weeks if Sharon did not agree to hold a national referendum on the pull out plan.[12] In the same period, he lobbied, together with the World Zionist Organization, to have $32 million set aside to provide incentives and subsidies for settlements in the West Bank.[13]

In March 2007, the Israel Police recommended indicting Katz on charges of fraud and breach of trust linked to political appointments at the Ministry of Agriculture during his tenure as minister. The report found 24 seasonal ministry employees were members of the Likud Central Committee or were children of committee members. The police transferred their investigative material to the central district prosecution,[14] which subsequently declined to prosecute.[citation needed]

Katz with US Ambassador to Israel David M. Friedman (right) in August 2019

Katz ran for Leader of the Likud in December 2005, winning 8.7% of the vote.[15][16]

In the 2009 elections and after winning 11th place on the Likud list, Katz retained his seat and was appointed Minister of Transportation in the Netanyahu government.[17] In July 2009, he decided to replace existing road signs in Israel with new ones so that all the names appearing on them in English and Arabic would be a direct transliteration of their Hebrew names, instead of being directly in English and Arabic.[18][19]

In February 2010, Katz was ordered by the High Court of Justice to issue instructions based on a committee's findings that gender segregation in public buses was illegal and that separate seating could not be coerced, as Haredis were doing. Katz, undertaking to implement the recommendations, responded that the buses could carry signs suggesting that gender segregation was voluntary. The Haredi community considered this failure of enforcement a victory.[20][21] Judges from the High Court of Justice criticized Katz's decision to allow continued operation of sex-segregated buses.[22]

Katz with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken in Tel Aviv, Israel, 9 January 2024

In July 2011, Katz confirmed that the state subsidizes bus tickets within West Bank settlements, causing them to be cheaper than tickets for rides within the Green Line. According to Katz, the move was intended to incentivize settlers to use armor-protected public transportation within the West Bank, which would ostensibly reduce state spending on stationing military and security escorts for non-armored, private vehicles.[23]

Katz was re-elected in 2013 and remained Minister of Transportation in the new government.[24] After being placed fourth on the Likud list,[25] he was re-elected in 2015, after which he was appointed Minister of Intelligence in the new government, as well as remaining Minister of Transportation.[26]

In February 2019, Katz assumed the position of Minister of Foreign Affairs.[27]

On 17 May 2020, Katz became Minister of Finance when the Thirty-fifth government of Israel was sworn in.[28][29]

Katz with UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy in Jerusalem, Israel, 15 July 2024

On 1 January 2024, Katz assumed the role of the Minister of Foreign Affairs for the second time, following the Knesset's approval of a power-sharing agreement that led to the replacement of Eli Cohen.[30]

In July 2024, he attended the 2024 NATO Summit in Washington, D.C.[31] Katz warned of the Iran-Russia alliance and the dangers posed by Iran and China, and also met with the foreign ministers of Denmark, the Netherlands, the Czech Republic, the United States, Germany, South Korea and Canada.[32]

Views and opinions

Peace and security

On peace and security matters, Katz is considered to be a hardliner in the Israeli government.[33][34] He takes an annexationist view of the West Bank: he supports continued settlement construction,[citation needed] extending full Israeli sovereignty to the West Bank, and severing all relations with the Palestinian Authority.[35][36] He opposes the two-state solution and the creation of a Palestinian state in any form, which he regards as unacceptable considering "our rights to this land". Instead, Katz favors the creation of an autonomous Palestinian entity "with Jordanian civil and political affiliation", and connecting the Gaza Strip to Egypt.[37] He opposes any territorial retreat from the Golan Heights, captured from Syria during the Six-Day War, deeming it "an integral part of Israel and vital for its security and protection."[38]

In 2024, Katz declared United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres persona non grata in Israel for not condemning the October 2024 Iranian strikes against Israel in a statement on the Middle East conflict.[39]

On 5 November 2024, it was announced he would be nominated to the role of Defense Minister by Netanyahu, replacing Yoav Gallant, who was fired.[40]

Terrorism and deterrence

In the aftermath of the 2016 Brussels bombings, Katz caused some controversy when he made "harsh"[41] comments on Israel Radio about the inability of Belgium and the Western world to fight Islamic terrorism effectively. The Jerusalem Post quoted Katz as saying that, "The first rule of war is know your enemy, and Europe and the current American government are unwilling to define this war as against Islamist terrorism. If in Belgium they continue eating chocolate and enjoying life, and continue to appear as great democrats and liberals, they won't be aware that some Muslims in their country are organising terror, they won't be able to fight them."[41][42] The "chocolate-eating Belgians" remark was widely quoted in the Western media and ridiculed on Twitter,[43] and Katz was accused[by whom?] of giving Israel a bad image abroad as a result.[44]

In March 2016, Katz introduced a bill to the Knesset to enable the Israeli government to deport the families of terrorists, if they are found to have been aware of, to have encouraged, or to have aided the act. The measure received broad support from the ruling coalition and key opposition MKs.[45]

In March 2016, Katz argued that Israel should employ "targeted civil eliminations" against leaders of Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS). The expression puns on the Hebrew word for targeted assassinations.[46]

Polish anti-semitism

During an interview on Israeli TV, Katz quoted Yitzhak Shamir by saying that Poles "suckled anti-Semitism from their mothers' breasts," allegedly causing Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki to cancel his visit to Israel in February 2019.[47] Morawiecki said the remarks were unacceptable and racist.[48]

Dispute with Turkey

In August 2014, after Turkey's Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan accused Israel of attempting a "systematic genocide" of Palestinian Arabs in Gaza, on account of Israel's Operation Protective Edge military campaign, Katz publicly reminded Erdoğan of the 1915 Armenian genocide, rejecting any accusations for defending Israel against those he termed Erdoğan's "friends in the Islamic movement".[49]

In 2024, Ömer Çelik, the former Turkish Minister of European Union Affairs and spokesperson of the Justice and Development Party, likened Katz to Nazi leader Adolf Hitler's top diplomat Joachim von Ribbentrop due to his radical and provocative remarks during the 2023 Invasion of the Gaza Strip.[50][51]

See also

References

  1. ^ Staff, ToI. "Transportation minister takes high-speed Tel Aviv-Jerusalem train for test". www.timesofisrael.com. Retrieved 24 December 2024.
  2. ^ Staff, ToI. "Minister: Railway network is Israel's answer to Nazi trains". www.timesofisrael.com. Retrieved 24 December 2024.
  3. ^ "Netanyahu to Port Unions: The Monopoly is Over". www.israelnationalnews.com. 3 July 2013. Retrieved 24 December 2024.
  4. ^ "Netanyahu fires Gallant amid US elections as Israel braces for Iran attack". The Jerusalem Post. 5 November 2024.
  5. ^ a b Yisrael Katz: Particulars Knesset
  6. ^ "אבל בליכוד: אמו של השר כץ הלכה לעולמה - בחדרי חרדים". bhol.co.il. 2 March 2019. Retrieved 28 July 2024.
  7. ^ "A Hebrew title someone needs to find". Davar (in Hebrew). 28 April 1981. p. 8 – via Press Collection, National Library of Israel.
  8. ^ Yisrael Katz, Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs
  9. ^ Yisrael Katz: Knesset activities Knesset
  10. ^ "MEED". Vol. 48, no. 1–12. Economic East Economic Digest. 2004. p. 33.
  11. ^ Pedahzur, Ami (2012). The Triumph of Israel's Radical Right. Oxford University Press. p. 177. ISBN 978-0199744701.
  12. ^ Singer, David; Grossman, Lawrence (2006). American Jewish. American Jewish Committee. p. 223. ISBN 9780874951356.
  13. ^ Zelnick, Robert (2006). Israel's Unilaterialism: Beyond Gaza. Hoover Press. p. 106. ISBN 9780817947729.
  14. ^ "Police: Indict Ex-minister Katz for Cronyism". Haaretz. 23 March 2007. Retrieved 26 August 2008.
  15. ^ "כץ על עזיבת מופז: "מכה לאמינות הפוליטיקאים"" [Katz on Mofaz's departure: "A blow to trust in politicians"]. Ynet (in Hebrew). 11 December 2005. Retrieved 7 June 2022.
  16. ^ "נתניהו ניצח בבחירות בליכוד עם 44.4%" [Netanyahu won the Likud elections with 44.4%]. Walla! (in Hebrew). 20 December 2005. Retrieved 26 June 2022.
  17. ^ "Netanyahu sworn in as Israel's prime minister". Haaretz. 1 April 2009. Archived from the original on 2 January 2010. Retrieved 28 July 2009.
  18. ^ Suleiman, Yasir (2011). Arabic, Self and Identity: A Study in Conflict and Displacement. Oxford University Press. p. 199. ISBN 978-0199747016.
  19. ^ LeVine, Mark Andrew; Shafir, Gershon (2012). Struggle and Survival in Palestine/Israel. University of California Press. p. 199. ISBN 978-0520262539.
  20. ^ Sztokman, Elana Maryles (2014). The War on Women in Israel: A Story of Religious Radicalism and the Women Fighting for Freedom. Sourcebooks, Inc. pp. 16–17. ISBN 978-1492604594.
  21. ^ Meydani, Assaf (2014). The Anatomy of Human Rights in Israel: Constitutional Rhetoric and State Practice. Cambridge University Press. p. 126. ISBN 978-1107054578.
  22. ^ Friedman, Ron (5 February 2010). "Court slams Katz for his approach to sex-segregated buses". The Jerusalem Post. Retrieved 28 April 2016.
  23. ^ Lis, Jonathan (26 July 2011). "Israeli Minister Admits State Subsidizes Public Transportation for Settlers". Haaretz. Retrieved 19 May 2016.
  24. ^ "Thirty-Third Government". knesset.gov.il. Retrieved 6 November 2020.
  25. ^ Likud list CEC
  26. ^ "Thirty-Fourth Government". knesset.gov.il. Retrieved 6 November 2020.
  27. ^ "Netanyahu gives up role as Israel's foreign minister". Reuters. 17 February 2019. Retrieved 17 February 2019.
  28. ^ "The ministers of Israel's 35th government". The Times of Israel. 17 May 2020. Retrieved 6 November 2020.
  29. ^ Scheer, Steven (18 May 2020). "Israel Katz takes over as Israeli finance minister". Reuters. Retrieved 6 November 2020.
  30. ^ "Israel Katz becomes Israel's 22nd Foreign Minister". The Jerusalem Post. 1 January 2024. Retrieved 6 January 2024.
  31. ^ "FM Israel Katz meets Blinken and Austin at NATO Summit". The Times of Israel. 10 July 2024.
  32. ^ "Katz warns against Iran, China at NATO summit". The Jerusalem Post. 10 July 2024.
  33. ^ Boudreaux, Richard (8 September 2009). "Settlement permits placate Israeli hawks". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 20 May 2016.
  34. ^ "Israel hawks stage march against peace talks". i24news. 14 February 2014. Retrieved 20 May 2016.
  35. ^ "Yisrael Katz Warns PA Against Declaring a State". Arutz Sheva. 6 May 2011. Retrieved 29 April 2016.
  36. ^ "Yisrael Katz: Israeli Sovereignty in Judea and Samaria". Arutz Sheva. 22 December 2011. Retrieved 29 April 2016.
  37. ^ Lazaroff, Tovah; Harkov, Lahav (11 July 2013). "Ariel, Katz oppose Palestinian state in West Bank". The Jerusalem Post. Retrieved 20 April 2016.
  38. ^ Mearsheimer, John J; Walt, Stephen M (2014). The Israel Lobby and US Foreign Policy. Penguin Books. p. 454. ISBN 978-0141031231.
  39. ^ Sheils McNamee, Michael. "UN chief banned from Israel in row over Iran". BBC News. Retrieved 1 October 2024.
  40. ^ Eliav Breuer; Tovah Lazaroff (5 November 2024). "Netanyahu fires Gallant amid US elections as Israel braces for Iran attack". The Jerusalem Post.
  41. ^ a b Noack, Rick; Eglash, Ruth (23 March 2016). "Belgians should stop eating chocolate and focus on fighting terror, says Israeli minister". The Washington Post. Retrieved 28 April 2016.
  42. ^ Harkov, Lahav (23 March 2016). "Israeli minister: Belgians who continue to eat chocolate, enjoy life can't fight terror". The Jerusalem Post. Retrieved 28 April 2016.
  43. ^ Snowdon, Kathryn (23 March 2016). "Israeli Minister Yisrael Katz Blames 'Chocolate Eating' Belgians For Brussels Attack". The Huffington Post. Retrieved 28 April 2016.
  44. ^ Rapoport, Meron (28 March 2016). "Israel seeks to exploit Brussels attacks as it did with 'war on terror'". Middle East Eye. Retrieved 15 May 2016.
  45. ^ Newman, Marissa; Ahren, Raphael (9 March 2016). "Likud minister submits bill to deport terrorists' families". The Times of Israel. Retrieved 17 May 2016.
  46. ^ Zonszein, Mairav (28 March 2008). "In Israel, BDS is winning". +972 Magazine. Retrieved 15 May 2016.
  47. ^ Halbfinger, David M.; Santora, Marc (17 February 2019). "Poland and Israel Try to Improve Ties, but History Intrudes". The New York Times. Retrieved 18 February 2019.
  48. ^ Holmes, Oliver (18 February 2019). "Summit cancelled as Israel and Poland row over Holocaust". The Guardian. Retrieved 18 February 2019.
  49. ^ Benari, Elad (18 August 2014). "Katz Hits Back at Erdogan: What About the Armenian Genocide?". Israel National News. Retrieved 19 May 2016.
  50. ^ "Israeli FM Katz carbon copy of Hitler's FM Ribbentrop: Çelik". Daily Sabah. 6 August 2024. Retrieved 8 August 2024.
  51. ^ Tétrault-Farber, Gabrielle (6 December 2023). "UN rights chief warns of heightened risk of 'atrocity crimes' in Gaza". Reuters. Retrieved 8 August 2024.
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