Dan Meridor

Dan Meridor (

Born in Jerusalem towards the end of the Mandate era, Meridor is the son of Eliyahu Meridor, a longtime political associate of Menachem Begin in the Irgun and Herut (which he represented in the Knesset), and Ra'anana Meridor, an associate professor of Classics at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.^[1][2]

He served in the armored corps and then studied law at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, gaining an LL.B. He then worked as an attorney at the Tel Aviv law firm of Haim Zadok & Co.

Political career

After serving as

After successive clashes with Netanyahu, Meridor left the cabinet in June 1997. His public image suffered during that period, when he was compared to Hamlet (for his indecisiveness) and to a fraidy cat on a popular TV show, "Hartzufim".^[3]

In 1998, together with several other Likud and

Meridor lost his seat following the 2003 elections.

After leaving the Knesset, Meridor served as international chair of the Jerusalem Foundation.

In the run-up to the 2006 elections, Meridor received offers by Labor and Yisrael Beiteinu, but he seemed to harbor hopes of being called to Kadima's list. However, his inclusion was vetoed by Ariel Sharon's sons, Gilad and Omri Sharon.^[4] He later rejoined Likud, and won seventeenth place on the party's list for the 2009 elections. He returned to the Knesset after the party won 27 seats. In the Netanyahu cabinet formed after that election, Meridor was appointed Minister of Intelligence and Atomic Energy, and Deputy Prime Minister.

Meridor ran in the Likud primaries for the 2013 elections, but he failed to win a realistic place on the Likud list.^[5]

Family

Meridor's father was Eliyahu Meridor, a member of the Knesset.

Meridor's wife Liora is a senior economist, who held several posts in the Bank of Israel, the private sector, and government-sponsored panels.^[6] They have four children. Their son Shaul Meridor was the deputy director of the Allocation Branch at the Ministry of Finance until 2020.

Dan Meridor has three younger siblings. Haggit Hurvitz is Head of Pediatrics at the

References

External links

• Dan Meridor on the Knesset website
• Dan Meridor debates Saeb Erakat at the International Peace Institute, 25 June 2010 (video)
• Deputy Prime Minister Dan Meridor interviewed by the
  British Broadcasting Corporation on HARDtalk