Yuri Stern ( he, יורי שטרן, russian: Юрий Штерн, Yuriy Shtern, 29 March 1949 – 16 January 2007) was a

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-ei ...

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

i politician and journalist. He was a member of the

Knesset The Knesset ( he, הַכְּנֶסֶת ; "gathering" or "assembly") is the unicameral legislature of Israel. As the supreme state body, the Knesset is sovereign and thus has complete control of the entirety of the Israeli government (wit ...

from 1996 until his death, first as a member of

Yisrael BaAliyah Yisrael BaAliyah ( he, ישראל בעלייה, ; lit., ''Israel on the up'') was a political party in Israel between its formation in 1996 and its merger into Likud in 2003. It was formed to represent the interests of Russian immigrants by forme ...

and later on behalf of

Yisrael Beiteinu Yisrael Beiteinu ( he, יִשְׂרָאֵל בֵּיתֵנוּ, russian: Наш Дом Израиль, lit. ''Israel Our Home'') is a secularist, nationalist right-wing political party in Israel. The party's base was originally secular Russia ...

Background

Born in

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...

, Stern was active in promoting

Jew Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""T ...

ish immigration from the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nationa ...

. He emigrated to Israel in 1981. He had a PhD in economics from

Moscow University M. V. Lomonosov Moscow State University (MSU; russian: Московский государственный университет имени М. В. Ломоносова) is a public research university in Moscow, Russia and the most prestigious ...

Political career

Stern was first elected to the Knesset in the 1996 elections on the list of Yisrael BaAliyah, a Russian immigrant party. However, after internal disagreements within the party he broke away with

Michael Nudelman Michael Nudelman ( he, מיכאל נודלמן, 30 June 1938 – 14 February 2019) was an Israeli politician who served as a member of the Knesset for Yisrael BaAliyah, Aliyah, the National Union, Yisrael Beiteinu and Kadima between 1996 and 2 ...

to form a new party,

Aliyah Aliyah (, ; he, עֲלִיָּה ''ʿălīyyā'', ) is the immigration of Jews from the diaspora to, historically, the geographical Land of Israel, which is in the modern era chiefly represented by the State of Israel. Traditionally descri ...

. For the 1999 elections, Aliyah ran together with Yisrael Beiteinu, another Russian immigrant party, with Stern retaining his seat. Aliyah was soon merged into

and ceased to exist. After

Ariel Sharon Ariel Sharon (; ; ; also known by his diminutive Arik, , born Ariel Scheinermann, ; 26 February 1928 – 11 January 2014) was an Israeli general and politician who served as the 11th Prime Minister of Israel from March 2001 until April 2006. S ...

beat

Ehud Barak Ehud Barak ( he-a, אֵהוּד בָּרָק, Ehud_barak.ogg, link=yes, born Ehud Brog; 12 February 1942) is an Israeli general and politician who served as the tenth prime minister from 1999 to 2001. He was leader of the Labor Party until Jan ...

in a special election for Prime Minister in 2001, Yisrael Beiteinu was added to Sharon's coalition government and Stern was appointed Deputy Minister in the Ministry in the Prime Minister's Office. He retained his seat again in the 2003 elections, in which Yisrael Beiteinu ran as part of the National Union alliance. He was re-elected in the 2006 elections in second place on Yisrael Beiteinu's list (the party ran alone in the election). Whilst a Knesset Member, Stern served as chairman in two Knesset committees; the Internal Affairs and the Environment Committee, and the State Inspection Committee. He was also chairman of two Knesset lobbies; the

Knesset Christian Allies Caucus The Israel Allies Foundation (IAF, also known as the International Israel Allies Caucus Foundation) educates and empowers an international network of pro-Israel legislators. IAF works with politicians around the world to mobilize support for Isra ...

, which he helped form, and the Knesset Forum on the Middle East. He also wrote several articles for newspapers including ''

The Wall Street Journal ''The Wall Street Journal'' is an American business-focused, international daily newspaper based in New York City, with international editions also available in Chinese and Japanese. The ''Journal'', along with its Asian editions, is published ...

'', ''

The Jerusalem Post ''The Jerusalem Post'' is a broadsheet newspaper based in Jerusalem, founded in 1932 during the British Mandate of Palestine by Gershon Agron as ''The Palestine Post''. In 1950, it changed its name to ''The Jerusalem Post''. In 2004, the pap ...

'', and ''

Ma'ariv ''Maariv'' or ''Maʿariv'' (, ), also known as ''Arvit'' (, ), is a Jewish prayer service held in the evening or night. It consists primarily of the evening ''Shema'' and ''Amidah''. The service will often begin with two verses from Psalms ...

'', as well as several academic papers on economics of the

USSR The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nati ...

. Stern was also a member of several other organisations, including the Zionist Forum (within of which he was a member of the management for the Israeli Zionist Forum), and others mostly related to immigration and immigrant absorption. He was a vehement opponent of land surrender to

Palestinian Authority The Palestinian National Authority (PA or PNA; ar, السلطة الوطنية الفلسطينية '), commonly known as the Palestinian Authority and officially the State of Palestine,

. Stern died of

cancer Cancer is a group of diseases involving abnormal cell growth with the potential to invade or spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Possible signs and symptoms include a lump, abnormal b ...

on January 16, 2007. The Yuri Shtern Holist Center was created in his memory which helps cancer patients. The Yuri Stern Prize for the Arts is awarded every year. A street was named after him in Jerusalem and a monument was created in Dimona.

References

External links

*
Yuri Stern's memorial web site
Haaretz, 25 January 2007 {{DEFAULTSORT:Stern, Yuri 1949 births 2007 deaths Economists from Moscow Israeli Jews Israeli people of Russian-Jewish descent Russian emigrants to Israel Russian Jews National Union (Israel) politicians Yisrael BaAliyah politicians Yisrael Beiteinu politicians Yisrael HaMithadeshet politicians Deaths from cancer in Israel 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) Deputy ministers of Israel