Date of birth 10 October 1899 Died October 30, 1981, Israel 1951–1955 General Zionists Party General Zionists | Name Eliyahu Eliashar Books Living with Jews Role Politician | |
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Place of birth Jerusalem, Ottoman Empire Date of death 30 October 1981(1981-10-30) (aged 82) 1949–1951 Sephardim & Oriental Communities Knessets Israeli legislative election, 1949, Israeli legislative election, 1951 | ||
Eliyahu Eliashar (Hebrew: אליהו אלישר, 10 October 1899 - 30 October 1981) was an Israeli politician and writer.
Biography
Born in Jerusalem at a time when it was part of the Ottoman Empire, Eliashar studied medicine at the University of Beirut, as well as law in Cairo and Jerusalem. During World War I he served as a junior medical officer in the Ottoman Army.
After the British took control of Palestine, he started working for the Mandate government in 1922, eventually managing the Trade Bureau in the Department of Customs and Trade. In 1935 he left the civil service and went into business.
In 1938 he became a member of the Sephardi Community Committee in Jerusalem, and also served as a member of its presidium. In 1942 he was elected its president. In the same year he started publishing and editing the weekly newspaper Hed HaMizrah, which he continued to do until 1952.
A member of the Jewish National Council, he was amongst the leadership of the Haganah in Jerusalem and served as a member of the Defence Committee of the Provisional State Council after Israeli independence. In the first Knesset elections in 1949 he was placed second on the Sephardim and Oriental Communities list, and became a Knesset member when the party won four seats. He headed the party for the 1951 elections, in which it won two seats. Shortly after the elections the party merged into the General Zionists.
Prior to the 1955 elections Eliashar was amongst the party members who broke away to reform Sephardim and Oriental Communities. He again headed its list for the elections, but it received only 0.8% of the vote, failing to cross the 1% electoral threshold, resulting in Eliashar losing his seat.
In 1974, Eliashar was one of the founders of the Israeli Council for Israeli-Palestinian Peace.
Eliashar later published two books; Living with the Palestinians in 1975, and Living with the Jews in 1981. He died in October that year.