1984–2013 Likud Party Likud Education Tel Aviv University | Role Politician Name Michael Eitan | |
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Date of birth (1944-03-06) 6 March 1944 (age 71) Place of birth Tel Aviv, Mandatory Palestine 1997–1998 Minister of Science & Technology 2009–2013 Minister of Improvement of Government Services Knessets Israeli legislative election, 1984 | ||
Michael Eitan
Michael Eitan (Hebrew: מיכאל איתן; born 6 March 1944) is an Israeli politician. A member of the Knesset for Likud from 1984 until 2013, he also served as Minister of Science & Technology between July 1997 and July 1998 and Minister of Improvement of Government Services from 2009 until 2013.
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Biography
Born in Tel Aviv during the Mandate era, Eitan took legal studies at Tel Aviv University. He joined the Herut party, and was a chairman of its youth guard, before becoming a member of the party's central committee and chairman of its Ramat Gan branch.
He was elected to the Knesset on the Likud list (within which Herut was a faction until 1988) in 1984, and was re-elected in 1988, 1992 and 1996, becoming coalition chairman after the latter election, having been co-ordinator of the opposition between 1992 and 1996. In July 1997 he was appointed Minister of Science & Technology, but was replaced by Silvan Shalom in July the following year. He then served as a Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister's Office until the 1999 elections. During the Knesset term he chaired its sub-committee on communication and information and helped establish the Knesset's website.
Although he retained his seat in the 1999 elections, they were won by the Labor Party-led One Israel alliance and Eitan lost his place in the cabinet. He was re-elected in 2003, 2006 and 2009, after which he briefly served as temporary Knesset speaker due to him being the longest-serving MK alongside Binyamin Ben-Eliezer. He was later appointed Minister of Improvement of Government Services. He did not contest the 2013 elections.
Eitan is a resident of the town of Kokhav Ya'ir, and was a founder and director of the settlement project.