Meir Sheetrit ( he, מאיר שטרית, born 10 October 1948) is an Israeli politician. He served as a member of the Knesset in two spells for Likud between 1981 and 1988, and again from 1992 until 2005, when he joined

Kadima Kadima ( he, קדימה, lit=''Forward'') was a centrist and liberal political party in Israel. It was established on 24 November 2005 by moderates from Likud largely following the implementation of Ariel Sharon's unilateral disengagement pl ...

. He remained a Knesset member for Kadima until joining

Hatnuah Hatnua ( he, הַתְּנוּעָה, lit=''The Movement'') was a liberal political party in Israel formed by former Israeli Foreign Minister and Vice Prime Minister Tzipi Livni to present an alternative to voters frustrated by the stalemate in ...

in 2012, for whom he served until 2015. He also held several ministerial posts, including being Minister of the Interior, Minister of Housing & Construction,

Minister of Finance A finance minister is an executive or cabinet position in charge of one or more of government finances, economic policy and financial regulation. A finance minister's portfolio has a large variety of names around the world, such as "treasury", " ...

Minister of Justice A justice ministry, ministry of justice, or department of justice is a ministry or other government agency in charge of the administration of justice. The ministry or department is often headed by a minister of justice (minister for justice in a ...

, Minister of Transportation and Minister of Education, Culture & Sport. He was also a candidate for

President of Israel The president of the State of Israel ( he, נְשִׂיא מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, Nesi Medinat Yisra'el, or he, נְשִׂיא הַמְדִינָה, Nesi HaMedina, President of the State) is the head of state of Israel. The posi ...

2014 File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wat ...

Early life

Sheetrit was born in Ksar es Souk (now

Errachidia Errachidia ( ar, الرشيدية, Berber: ⵉⵎⴻⵜⵖⴰⵔⵏ Imetɣaren) is a city in Morocco, located in the Errachidia Province, and is the capital of the Drâa-Tafilalet region. The city's residents speak Berber and Moroccan Arabic. ...

Morocco Morocco (),, ) officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is the westernmost country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It overlooks the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria t ...

. His family

immigrated Immigration is the international movement of people to a destination country of which they are not natives or where they do not possess citizenship in order to settle as permanent residents or naturalized citizens. Commuters, tourists, and ...

to Israel in 1957. He earned a BA and an MA in

Public Policy Public policy is an institutionalized proposal or a decided set of elements like laws, regulations, guidelines, and actions to solve or address relevant and real-world problems, guided by a conception and often implemented by programs. Public p ...

from

Bar-Ilan University Bar-Ilan University (BIU, he, אוניברסיטת בר-אילן, ''Universitat Bar-Ilan'') is a public research university in the Tel Aviv District city of Ramat Gan, Israel. Established in 1955, Bar Ilan is Israel's second-largest academi ...

Political career

Likud

Sheetrit began his political career in 1974 as mayor of the city of

Yavne Yavne ( he, יַבְנֶה) or Yavneh is a city in the Central District of Israel. In many English translations of the Bible, it is known as Jabneh . During Greco-Roman times, it was known as Jamnia ( grc, Ἰαμνία ''Iamníā''; la, Iamnia) ...

, a position he held until 1987. He was first elected to the Knesset in 1981 on the

Likud Likud ( he, הַלִּיכּוּד, HaLikud, The Consolidation), officially known as Likud – National Liberal Movement, is a major centre-right to right-wing political party in Israel. It was founded in 1973 by Menachem Begin and Ariel Sha ...

list. He was re-elected in 1984, but lost his seat in 1988. That year he was elected treasurer of the

Jewish Agency The Jewish Agency for Israel ( he, הסוכנות היהודית לארץ ישראל, translit=HaSochnut HaYehudit L'Eretz Yisra'el) formerly known as The Jewish Agency for Palestine, is the largest Jewish non-profit organization in the world. ...

and served in this position until 1992, when he returned to the Knesset. In 1998 he was appointed

, serving until the fall of

Benjamin Netanyahu Benjamin "Bibi" Netanyahu (; ; born 21 October 1949) is an Israeli politician who served as the ninth prime minister of Israel from 1996 to 1999 and again from 2009 to 2021. He is currently serving as Leader of the Opposition and Chairman of ...

's first government in 1999. Sheetrit unsuccessfully ran in the September 1999 Likud leadership election. He returned to the cabinet in 2001 as

. After being re-elected in 2003, he was appointed Minister in the Ministry of Finance, where he worked closely with then Minister of Finance Netanyahu who was spearheading a sweeping

privatization Privatization (also privatisation in British English) can mean several different things, most commonly referring to moving something from the public sector into the private sector. It is also sometimes used as a synonym for deregulation when ...

reform. He was appointed Minister of Transportation in 2004, and later served as Minister of Education, Culture and Sport until 2006.

Kadima

In 2005, Sheetrit left Likud and joined Ariel Sharon's new

party. He was re-elected in 2006 and appointed Minister of Housing and Construction, a post he held until July 2007, when he was appointed Minister of Internal Affairs. Between 23 August and 29 November 2006, he also served as Acting Justice Minister following

Haim Ramon Haim Ramon ( he, חיים רמון, born 10 April 1950) is an Israeli politician who served as a member of the Knesset between 1983 and 2009, and as both Vice Prime Minister and Minister in the Prime Minister's Office with responsibility for st ...

's resignation on 18 August over an indecent assault indictment. Sheetrit was replaced in the Justice portfolio by

Tzipi Livni Tziporah Malka "Tzipi" Livni ( he, ציפי (ציפורה) מלכה לבני, ; born 8 July 1958) is an Israeli politician, diplomat, and lawyer. A former member of the Knesset and leader in the center-left political camp, Livni is a former for ...

, who also continued to serve as Foreign Minister. In February 2008, whilst Israeli airstrikes in Gaza were ongoing, Sheetrit told

Army Radio Army Radio ( he, גלי צה"ל lit. IDF waves) or Galei Tzahal, known in Israel by its acronym Galatz ( he, גל"צ), is a nationwide Israeli radio network operated by the Israel Defense Forces. The station broadcasts news, music, traffic repor ...

that: "If it were up to me, I would hit everything that moves with weapons and ammunition", adding: "I don't think we have to show pity for anyone who wants to kill us." Following Ehud Olmert's resignation as party leader, Sheetrit ran for the party chairmanship. However, he came third out of the four candidates in the

election An election is a formal group decision-making process by which a population chooses an individual or multiple individuals to hold public office. Elections have been the usual mechanism by which modern representative democracy has opera ...

, receiving only 8.5% of the vote. Placed seventh on the party's list, he retained his seat in the 2009 elections In early 2011, he and another MK sprayed air freshener in the Knesset, complaining about the "stench of bad politics". Both MKs were escorted out and

speaker Speaker may refer to: Society and politics * Speaker (politics), the presiding officer in a legislative assembly * Public speaker, one who gives a speech or lecture * A person producing speech: the producer of a given utterance, especially: ** I ...

Reuven Rivlin Reuven "Ruvi" Rivlin ( he, רְאוּבֵן "רוּבִי" רִיבְלִין ; born 9 September 1939) is an Israeli politician and lawyer who served as the tenth president of Israel between 2014 and 2021. He is a member of the Likud party. R ...

condemned the actions. As head of the Knesset Science and Technology Committee, he spoke at the international

Wikimania Wikimania is the Wikimedia movement's annual conference, organized by volunteers and hosted by the Wikimedia Foundation. Topics of presentations and discussions include Wikimedia projects such as Wikipedia, other wikis, open-source software, f ...

conference held in Haifa in 2011.

Hatnuah

On 1 December 2012, Sheetrit joined

's new party,

. He disagreed with Livni's decision to run as part of the joint

Zionist Union The Zionist Union ( he, הַמַחֲנֶה הַצִיּוֹנִי, translit. ''HaMaḥaneh HaẒiyoni'', lit. ''the Zionist Camp'') was a centre-left political alliance in Israel. It was established in December 2014 by the Israeli Labor Party ...

list with the Labor Party in the 2015 elections, opted not to contest the elections. Sheetrit contested in the 2014 Israeli presidential election, coming second with 31 votes in the first round, and losing in the second round with 53 votes.

won with 63 votes.

Post-Knesset Career

Sheetrit ran for Mayor of Yavne in

2018 File:2018 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in PyeongChang, South Korea; Protests erupt following the Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi; March for Our Lives protests take place across the Unit ...

under a local electoral list, but was defeated by Zvi Gov-Ari, winning 20.4% of the vote to Gov-Ari's 58.4%. in November of 2021, Sheetrit was appointed to a committee formed to choose a new Attorney General, but decided to forego membership of the committee following public backlash.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Sheetrit, Meir 1948 births Living people People from Errachidia 20th-century Moroccan Jews Moroccan emigrants to Israel Israeli people of Moroccan-Jewish descent Likud politicians Kadima politicians Hatnua politicians Ministers of Education of Israel Ministers of Finance of Israel Ministers of Internal Affairs of Israel Ministers of Justice of Israel Ministers of Transport of Israel Members of the 10th Knesset (1981–1984) Members of the 11th Knesset (1984–1988) Members of the 13th Knesset (1992–1996) Members of the 14th Knesset (1996–1999) Members of the 15th Knesset (1999–2003) Members of the 16th Knesset (2003–2006) Members of the 17th Knesset (2006–2009) Members of the 18th Knesset (2009–2013) Members of the 19th Knesset (2013–2015) Mayors of places in Israel People from Yavne Bar-Ilan University alumni Candidates for President of Israel