Year of aliyah 1956 | Name Eli Ben-Dahan Role Israeli Politician | |
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Date of birth (1954-02-11) 11 February 1954 (age 61) Knessets Israeli legislative election, 2013, Israeli legislative election, 2015 Similar People Uri Ariel, Naftali Bennett, Ayelet Shaked, Nissan Slomiansky, Moti Yogev Profiles | ||
CLEARCUT | Eli Ben Dahan at AIPAC
Limmud FSU Israel 2016 - Deputy Minister of Defence Eli Ben Dahan's Message
Eliyahu Michael "Eli" Ben-Dahan (Hebrew: אלי בן דהן, born 11 February 1954) is an Israeli Orthodox rabbi and politician. He was Deputy Minister of Religious Services from 2013 to 2015. He currently serves as a member of the Knesset for the Jewish Home and is the Deputy Minister of Defense. In that position, he is responsible for "pre-military training academies, hesder program which combine military service and yeshiva study, military conversion programs, legislation between Israeli law and the military rule in Judea-Samaria, and to deal with public infrastructure in Judea-Samaria".
Contents
- CLEARCUT Eli Ben Dahan at AIPAC
- Limmud FSU Israel 2016 Deputy Minister of Defence Eli Ben Dahans Message
- Early life
- Career
- Personal life
- Controversy
- References
Early life
The eldest of five boys, Ben-Dahan was born in Casablanca, Morocco, and immigrated to Israel in 1956 at the age of two, his family settling in Beersheba. He studied at the Nativ Meir and Mercaz HaRav yeshivas, and is an ordained rabbi. During his national service in the IDF, he became a major in the Artillery Corps. He later went on to gain a teaching certificate, a bachelor's degree in business administration from Touro College, and a master's degree in public policy from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. He was ordained by Rabbis Chalom Messas, Avraham Shapira, and Mordechai Eliyahu.
Career
In 1978, Ben-Dahan was amongst the founders of the Haspin settlement in the Golan Heights. In 1983, he moved to Beit El settlement in the West Bank after being asked by Mordechai Eliyahu to manage his office. He became Director-General of the Chief Rabbinate of Israel's Rabbinical Court system in 1989, holding the post for 21 years. During his tenure as director of the rabbinical courts, he promoted legislation to enact punitive sanctions on husbands who refused their wives a get (bill of divorce), had the divorce process streamlined, and promoted the introduction of female advocates into the rabbinical courts.
Prior to the 2013 Knesset elections, he was placed fourth on the Jewish Home list, entering the Knesset, as the party won twelve seats. Following the elections he was appointed Deputy Minister of Religious Services in the new government. He was re-elected in 2015 after being placed fourth on the party's list again. He was subsequently appointed Deputy Minister of Defense in the new government.
In remarks to graduates of a pre-military academy, Ben-Dahan said, "Your most important task is to increase the spiritual strength and protection of the IDF."
Personal life
Ben-Dahan lives in Har Homa in East Jerusalem, and is married, with nine children.
Controversy
Ben-Dahan has stirred controversy with some of his statements, which were cited after his appointment to administer the IDF's civil administration in the West Bank, with jurisdiction over Palestinians resident there:
In 2013, while discussing the resumption of peace talks in a radio interview, Ben-Dahan said: "To me, they [Palestinians] are like animals, they are not human."
In June 2015, Ben-Dahan also spoke out after a Wall Street Journal report claimed Israel used a computer virus to spy on nuclear negotiations with Iran. "The deputy defense minister called the allegations 'nonsense,' and assured the interviewer that Israel had other ways of gathering intelligence, and didn’t need to resort to hacking."
In July 2015, after a Palestinian youth was shot dead for throwing stones, Ben-Dahan spoke out in defense of the IDF commander, "Throwing stones is terrorism. Stones kill. The Binyamin Brigade commander was acting in self-defense."
In August 2016, after soldiers were ordered to no longer assist migrants in conjunction with NGO Elifelet, Ben-Dahan spoke out in defense of the order, "There people have infiltrated into Israel, taken Israelis' jobs, and made south Tel Aviv an impossible place to live.”