Ra'anan Cohen (; born 28 February 1941) is an Israeli former politician who served as a government minister during the early 2000s.

Biography

Born in

Baghdad Baghdad ( or ; , ) is the capital and List of largest cities of Iraq, largest city of Iraq, located along the Tigris in the central part of the country. With a population exceeding 7 million, it ranks among the List of largest cities in the A ...

Iraq Iraq, officially the Republic of Iraq, is a country in West Asia. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to Iraq–Saudi Arabia border, the south, Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq border, the east, the Persian Gulf and ...

, Cohen emigrated to Israel in 1951. During his youth he was a counsellor in the HaNoar HaOved VeHaLomed youth movement, and was secretary of the Labor Party youth guard in Bnei Brak until 1970. He took Middle Eastern studies at

Tel Aviv University Tel Aviv University (TAU) is a Public university, public research university in Tel Aviv, Israel. With over 30,000 students, it is the largest university in the country. Located in northwest Tel Aviv, the university is the center of teaching and ...

, gaining a BA, MA and PhD in the subject. He served as chairman of Labor Party's Arab and Druze branch between 1975 and 1986, and from 1986 to 1992 chaired the party's elections branch. In 1988 he was elected to the

Knesset The Knesset ( , ) is the Unicameralism, unicameral legislature of Israel. The Knesset passes all laws, elects the President of Israel, president and Prime Minister of Israel, prime minister, approves the Cabinet of Israel, cabinet, and supe ...

on the Alignment list. He was re-elected in

1992 1992 was designated as International Space Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 – Boutros Boutros-Ghali of Egypt replaces Javier Pérez de Cuéllar of Peru as United Nations Secretary-General. * January 6 ** The Republ ...

(by which time the Alignment had merged into the Labor Party) and 1996. In December 1997 he was elected secretary-general of the party with 76% of the vote.Ra'anan Cohen is new Labor secretary
The Jerusalem Post, 29 December 1997 He retained his seat in the 1999 elections (on the One Israel list) and in August 2000 was appointed Minister of Labor and Social Welfare in

Ehud Barak Ehud Barak ( ; born Ehud Brog; 12 February 1942) is an Israeli former general and politician who served as the Prime Minister of Israel, prime minister from 1999 to 2001. He was leader of the Israeli Labor Party, Labor Party between 1997 and 20 ...

government A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a State (polity), state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive (government), execu ...

following

Shas Shas () is a Haredi Judaism, Haredi religious List of political parties in Israel, political party in Israel. Founded in 1984 by Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, a former Israeli Sephardic Jews, Sephardi chief rabbi, who remained its spiritual leader until ...

' departure from the coalition government. When Ariel Sharon formed a

national unity government A national unity government, government of national unity (GNU), or national union government is a broad coalition government consisting of all parties (or all major parties) in the legislature, usually formed during a time of war or other na ...

following the special election for Prime Minister in 2001, Cohen became a

Minister without Portfolio A minister without portfolio is a government minister without specific responsibility as head of a government department. The sinecure is particularly common in countries ruled by coalition governments and a cabinet with decision-making authorit ...

. He left the cabinet on 18 August 2002 and resigned from the Knesset three days later, retiring from politics. Cohen has written several books, including ''Strangers in their Homeland: A Critical Study of Israel's Arab Citizens''.

Books

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Cohen, Ra'anan 1941 births Living people Iraqi Jews in Israel Politicians from Baghdad Iraqi emigrants to Israel Members of the 12th Knesset (1988–1992) Members of the 13th Knesset (1992–1996) Members of the 14th Knesset (1996–1999) Members of the 15th Knesset (1999–2003) Tel Aviv University alumni Israeli Labor Party politicians Alignment (Israel) politicians One Israel politicians Israeli chairpersons of corporations Ministers without Portfolio of Israel 20th-century Israeli Jews 21st-century Israeli Jews 20th-century Iraqi Jews 21st-century Iraqi Jews