Yaakov Israel Neeman (; 16 September 1939 – 1 January 2017) was an Israeli lawyer who served as

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 ...

and

Minister of Finance A ministry of finance is a ministry or other government agency in charge of government finance, fiscal policy, and financial regulation. It is headed by a finance minister, an executive or cabinet position . A ministry of finance's portfolio ...

, although he was never 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 ...

Biography

Neeman was born to a religious

Zionist Zionism is an Ethnic nationalism, ethnocultural nationalist movement that emerged in History of Europe#From revolution to imperialism (1789–1914), Europe in the late 19th century that aimed to establish and maintain a national home for the ...

family 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 ...

during the Mandate era. He was educated at the Midrashiat Noam high-school

yeshiva A yeshiva (; ; pl. , or ) is a traditional Jewish educational institution focused on the study of Rabbinic literature, primarily the Talmud and halacha (Jewish law), while Torah and Jewish philosophy are studied in parallel. The stu ...

and completed his military service in the

Golani Brigade The 1st "Golani" Brigade (, ''Hativat Golani'') is an Israeli military infantry brigade. It is subordinated to the 36th Division and traditionally associated with the Northern Command. It is one of the five infantry brigades of the regular Is ...

. He went on to study law at

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. ...

, earning a LL.B in 1964. In 1965, he earned a

LL.M A Master of Laws (M.L. or LL.M.; Latin: ' or ') is a postgraduate academic degree, pursued by those either holding an undergraduate academic law degree, a professional law degree, or an undergraduate degree in another subject. In many jurisdi ...

from

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private university, private research university in New York City, New York, United States. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded in 1832 by Albert Gallatin as a Nondenominational ...

, and in 1968, a LL.D. After returning to Israel, in 1972 he founded the law firm

Herzog, Fox & Ne'eman Herzog or Herzog, Fox & Ne'eman ("HFN") is a full-service commercial law firm located in Tel Aviv, Israel. As of 2024, the firm employs over 470 lawyers, of whom more than 200 are partners. History The firm was founded in 1972 by three prominent ...

, along with future president of Israel

Chaim Herzog Chaim Herzog (; 17 September 1918 – 17 April 1997) was an Israeli politician, military officer, lawyer and author who served as the president of Israel between 1983 and 1993. Born in Belfast and raised primarily in Dublin, the son of Ireland' ...

. Neeman was appointed Director General of the Finance Ministry in 1979, serving until 1981. In June 1996 he was appointed to the Israeli cabinet as

by Prime Minister, Binyamin Netanyahu, despite not being a member of the

. Two months later he resigned from the cabinet, after

Attorney General In most common law jurisdictions, the attorney general (: attorneys general) or attorney-general (AG or Atty.-Gen) is the main legal advisor to the government. In some jurisdictions, attorneys general also have executive responsibility for law enf ...

Michael Ben-Yair opened a criminal investigation into allegations that Neeman had tried to suborn a witness in the trial of MK

Aryeh Deri Aryeh Makhlouf Deri (; ), also Arie Deri, Arye Deri, or Arieh Deri (born 17 February 1959), is an Israeli politician and one of the founders of the Shas political party who served as the Vice Prime Minister, Minister of Health, and Minister ...

. Neeman was eventually cleared of the charges and returned to the cabinet in July 1997 as

until the end of the Netanyahu premiership at the 1999 elections. In late March 2009, following Netanyahu's return to power as Prime Minister of Israel, Neeman was again appointed as Justice Minister. Neeman resided in

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 ...

in the

Talbiya Talbiya or Talbiyeh (; ), officially Komemiyut (), is an upscale neighborhood in Jerusalem, between Rehavia and HaMoshava HaGermanit. It is renowned for its eclectic architectural styles, and often regarded as one of the most beautiful neighborh ...

section. He is survived by his wife and six children.

Committee Membership

Neeman has chaired or been a member of numerous national and international committees, including the executive committee of

Bar-Ilan University Bar-Ilan University (BIU, , ''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 academic university institution. It has 20,000 ...

, the public committee appointed by the

Speaker of the Knesset The speaker of the Knesset (, ) is the presiding officer of the Knesset, the Unicameralism, unicameral legislature of Israel. The Speaker also acts as President of Israel when the President is incapacitated. The current speaker is Amir Ohana, who ...

to determine salaries and other payments to government officials, the public committee appointed by the cabinet for the Drafting of the Constitution, the Public Committee on Educational Centers, the Public Committee on Privatisation Issues of

El Al EL AL Israel Airlines Ltd. (), trading as EL AL (, "Upwards", "To the Skies", or "Skywards", stylized as ELAL; ) is the flag carrier of Israel. Since its inaugural flight from Geneva to Tel Aviv in September 1948, the airline has grown to serve ...

, the board of governors of

Bank of Israel The Bank of Israel (, ) is the central bank of Israel. The bank's headquarters is located in Kiryat HaMemshala in Jerusalem with a branch office in Tel Aviv. The current governor is Amir Yaron. The primary objective of the Bank of Israel is to ...

, the Committee for the Conversion Law, the National Committee for the Identification of Fallen Soldiers in Times of Emergency, Israel Atomic Energy Committee and the Central Committee of the

World Bank The World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans and Grant (money), grants to the governments of Least developed countries, low- and Developing country, middle-income countries for the purposes of economic development ...

Political views

On 8 December 2009, while serving as the Minister of Justice, Ne'eman was reported as saying that he believed that

Halakha ''Halakha'' ( ; , ), also Romanization of Hebrew, transliterated as ''halacha'', ''halakhah'', and ''halocho'' ( ), is the collective body of Judaism, Jewish religious laws that are derived from the Torah, Written and Oral Torah. ''Halakha'' is ...

should gradually be made binding law in Israel, with the ultimate goal of making Israel a

Halakhic state ''Halakha'' ( ; , ), also transliterated as ''halacha'', ''halakhah'', and ''halocho'' ( ), is the collective body of Jewish religious laws that are derived from the Written and Oral Torah. ''Halakha'' is based on biblical commandments ('' mit ...

. But he later denied this, emphasizing that "the Knesset is the legislator in Israel, and the interpretation of its laws is determined by the ivilcourts." He said that he advocated the use of religious courts only in an auxiliary role, to "resolve financial disputes in accordance with the principles of Jewish law. The court system in Israel is backed up, and therefore, cases should be transferred to an alternative system."

References

External links

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Herzog, Fox & NeemanSpeech that Yaakov Neeman gave at "Be A Mensch" book launch
{{DEFAULTSORT:Neeman, Yaakov 1939 births 2017 deaths Politicians from Tel Aviv Orthodox Jews in Mandatory Palestine Hebrew University of Jerusalem Faculty of Law alumni New York University School of Law alumni Israeli jurists Israeli chief executives Israeli people of Hungarian-Jewish descent Ministers of finance of Israel Ministers of justice of Israel 20th-century Israeli politicians 21st-century Israeli politicians Israeli Orthodox Jews Burials at the Jewish cemetery on the Mount of Olives Midrashiat Noam alumni