24 Facts About Binyamin Ben-Eliezer

Binyamin "Fuad" Ben-Eliezer was an Iraqi-born Israeli politician and general.

Binyamin Ben-Eliezer served as a member of the Knesset between 1984 and 2014, and held several ministerial posts, including Minister of Industry, Trade and Labour; Minister of Defense; and Deputy Prime Minister.

Binyamin Ben-Eliezer served as leader of the Israeli Labor Party between 2001 and 2002.

Binyamin Ben-Eliezer immigrated to Israel in 1950, where his name was Hebraized to Binyamin Ben-Eliezer.

Binyamin Ben-Eliezer was drafted into the Israel Defense Forces in 1954 and became a career soldier.

Binyamin Ben-Eliezer lived in Rishon LeZion and was married with five children.

Binyamin Ben-Eliezer was drafted into the IDF in 1954 and served in the Golani Brigade.

Binyamin Ben-Eliezer served in the Brigade as a soldier and as a squad leader.

Binyamin Ben-Eliezer served as a Commander of sayerert shaked in the Six-Day War and was wounded in the War of Attrition.

Binyamin Ben-Eliezer was Military Governor of the Israeli-occupied West Bank and was Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories from 1983 until 1984.

Binyamin Ben-Eliezer completed his military service with the rank of Brigadier General.

Binyamin Ben-Eliezer was first elected to the Knesset in 1984 on the Yahad list, which merged into the Alignment during his first term.

Binyamin Ben-Eliezer was re-elected in 1988 and 1992, by which time the Alignment had become the Labor Party.

Binyamin Ben-Eliezer retained his seat in the 1996 elections, but lost his place in the cabinet as Labor went into opposition.

Binyamin Ben-Eliezer left the post on 2 October 2002 when Labor withdrew from the coalition.

Re-elected again in 2003, Binyamin Ben-Eliezer served as Minister of National Infrastructure from 10 January 2005 until 23 November, when Labor left the government.

Binyamin Ben-Eliezer retained his seat again in the 2006 elections, and was appointed Minister of National Infrastructure in Ehud Olmert's government.

In March 2007, Binyamin Ben-Eliezer was forced to cancel a trip to Egypt after being warned by Egyptian intelligence that he could be arrested, when Egyptian media and opposition implicated him in the 'massacre' of 250 Egyptian POWs during the Six-Day War following an Israeli documentary.

Binyamin Ben-Eliezer resigned from the cabinet after Ehud Barak left the Labor Party to establish Independence in January 2011.

Binyamin Ben-Eliezer contracted pneumonia in March 2011 and was put into a medically induced coma, eventually making a full recovery.

Binyamin Ben-Eliezer was re-elected in the 2013 elections, but resigned from the Knesset for health reasons in December 2014, and was replaced by Raleb Majadele.

Binyamin Ben-Eliezer was a candidate to succeed Shimon Peres as President of Israel in 2014, but withdrew after allegations of corruption surfaced against him.

Binyamin Ben-Eliezer was considered a hawk on foreign policy and was one of the main architects of the invasion of Lebanon as well as a strong proponent for Operation Defensive Shield.

Binyamin Ben-Eliezer advocated halting peace talks with Palestinians until there was an end to violence against Israelis, although he believed once their leadership is able to put a stop to terrorism and abandon it as a political tool there should be "compromise" in final status talks with the Palestinian Authority.