Elyakim Haetzni (; 22 June 1926 – 18 September 2022) was a German-born Israeli lawyer, settlement activist and politician who served as a member of 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 ...

for Tehiya from 1990 until 1992.

Biography

Born Georg Bombach in

Kiel Kiel ( ; ) is the capital and most populous city in the northern Germany, German state of Schleswig-Holstein. With a population of around 250,000, it is Germany's largest city on the Baltic Sea. It is located on the Kieler Förde inlet of the Ba ...

in 1926, Haetzni emigrated to

Mandatory Palestine Mandatory Palestine was a British Empire, British geopolitical entity that existed between 1920 and 1948 in the Palestine (region), region of Palestine, and after 1922, under the terms of the League of Nations's Mandate for Palestine. After ...

in 1938 with his parents and sister,Elyakim Haetzni
Israel Unity Coalition settling in the Kerem Avraham neighbourhood of

Jerusalem Jerusalem is a city in the Southern Levant, on a plateau in the Judaean Mountains between the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean and the Dead Sea. It is one of the List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest cities in the world, and ...

. He studied at the Mizrachi Teachers' Seminary in Jerusalem, and was a member of the Haganah. He was severely wounded in the 1948 Arab-Israeli War and spent eighteen months in hospital. He went on to attend the

Hebrew University of Jerusalem The Hebrew University of Jerusalem (HUJI; ) is an Israeli public university, public research university based in Jerusalem. Co-founded by Albert Einstein and Chaim Weizmann in July 1918, the public university officially opened on 1 April 1925. ...

, graduating with a law degree in 1954. Whilst a student he established the ''Sherut HaMitnavdim'' volunteer organisation, which helped new immigrants and protested government corruption, with Haetzni himself renouncing his membership of the ruling Mapai party. In 1961 he established a law firm in

Tel Aviv Tel Aviv-Yafo ( or , ; ), sometimes rendered as Tel Aviv-Jaffa, and usually referred to as just Tel Aviv, is the most populous city in the Gush Dan metropolitan area of Israel. Located on the Israeli Mediterranean coastline and with a popula ...

. After Israel's victory in the

Six-Day War The Six-Day War, also known as the June War, 1967 Arab–Israeli War or Third Arab–Israeli War, was fought between Israel and a coalition of Arab world, Arab states, primarily United Arab Republic, Egypt, Syria, and Jordan from 5 to 10June ...

in 1967, he was involved in Jewish settlement in the

West Bank The West Bank is located on the western bank of the Jordan River and is the larger of the two Palestinian territories (the other being the Gaza Strip) that make up the State of Palestine. A landlocked territory near the coast of the Mediter ...

, including the re-establishment of the Etzion Bloc and a Jewish community in

Hebron Hebron (; , or ; , ) is a Palestinian city in the southern West Bank, south of Jerusalem. Hebron is capital of the Hebron Governorate, the largest Governorates of Palestine, governorate in the West Bank. With a population of 201,063 in ...

. In 1972 he moved from

Ramat Gan Ramat Gan (, ) is a city in the Tel Aviv District of Israel, located east of the municipality of Tel Aviv, and is part of the Gush Dan, Gush Dan metropolitan area. It is home to a Diamond Exchange District (one of the world's major diamond exch ...

to the new Kiryat Arba settlement near Hebron. He later opened a law practice in the settlement. He became a member of the Yesha Council's Steering Committee, and joined the right-wing Tehiya party. He was on the party's list for the 1988 Knesset elections, but failed to win a seat. However, he entered the Knesset on 31 January 1990 as a replacement for Eliezer Waldman.Knesset Members in the Twelfth Knesset
Knesset Haetzni was married, with four children. He died on 18 September 2022 at the age of 96.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Haetzni, Elyakim 1926 births 2022 deaths German Zionists Israeli people of German-Jewish descent Jewish emigrants from Nazi Germany to Mandatory Palestine Haganah members Israeli military personnel of the 1948 Arab–Israeli War Israeli people wounded in the 1947–1949 Palestine war Israeli soldiers Hebrew University of Jerusalem Faculty of Law alumni 20th-century Israeli lawyers Israeli activists Israeli settlers Tehiya politicians People from Kiryat Arba Members of the 12th Knesset (1988–1992) Burials at Old Jewish cemetery in Hebron Immigrants of the Fifth Aliyah