Role Israeli Politician | Name Geulah Cohen Children Tzachi Hanegbi | |
Date of birth (1925-12-25) 25 December 1925 (age 89) Knessets Israeli legislative election, 1973 Similar People Tzachi Hanegbi, Menachem Begin, Ariel Sharon | ||
Dov schperling interviewed in a documentry about geulah cohen
Geulah Cohen (Hebrew: גאולה כהן, born 25 December 1925) is former Israeli politician and activist who founded the Tehiya party. She won the Israel Prize in 2003.
Contents
- Dov schperling interviewed in a documentry about geulah cohen
- Former Knesset Member Geulah Cohen for Gilad Shalit
- Biography
- Political career
- Views and opinions
- Awards and recognition
- Published work
- References
Former Knesset Member, Geulah Cohen for Gilad Shalit
Biography
Geulah Cohen was born in Tel Aviv to a Mizrahi-Jewish family during the Mandate era. She studied at the Levinsky Teachers Seminary, and earned a master's degree in Jewish Studies, Philosophy, Literature and Bible at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
In 1942 she joined the Irgun, and moved to Stern gang (Lehi) the following year. A radio announcer for the group, she was arrested by the British authorities in 1946. She was imprisoned in Bethlehem, but escaped from jail in 1947. She was also editor of the Lehi newspaper Youth Front. After Israeli independence in 1948, she contributed to Sulam, a monthly magazine published by former Lehi leader Israel Eldad.
Cohen married former Lehi comrade Emanuel Hanegbi. From 1961 to 1973, she wrote for the Israeli newspaper Maariv and served on its editorial board. While working as a journalist, she came to New York to visit the Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson. Schneerson encouraged her to get involved with Israeli youth.
Political career
In 1972, Cohen joined Menachem Begin's Herut party, then part of the Gahal alliance, and was elected to the Knesset the following year, by which time Gahal had become Likud. She was re-elected in 1977.
As an opponent of the Camp David Accords and the return of Sinai to Egypt as a land-for-peace deal, even to the extent of being thrown out of the Knesset when Begin presented to it the deal, Cohen and Moshe Shamir left Likud in 1979 to found a new right-wing party Banai, later Tehiya-Bnai, and then Tehiya. The new party was a strong supporter of Gush Emunim and included prominent members of Israeli settlements in the West Bank and Gaza such as Hanan Porat and Elyakim Haetzni.
Cohen retained her seat in the 1981 elections, and despite their previous differences, Tehiya joined Begin's coalition. She retained her seat elections in 1984 and 1988, and in June 1990, following a coalition crisis, was appointed to the cabinet as Deputy Minister of Science and Technology.
Cohen lost her seat in the 1992 elections. That year, she rejoined Likud and remained active in right-wing politics. Her son, Tzachi Hanegbi, served as a Knesset member for Likud.
Views and opinions
Cohen opposes territorial concessions. She was a vocal critic of the Camp David Accords in 1978 and of disengagement plan from Gaza in 2005. She has described herself as a "woman of violence" in the pursuit of political ends.