1. Nahum Nir-Rafalkes was a Zionist activist, Israeli politician and one of the signatories of the Israeli declaration of independence.
14 Facts About Nahum Nir
1. 2.
Nahum Nir was the only Speaker of the Knesset not to have been a member of the ruling party until Benny Gantz in 2020.
3.
Nahum Nir studied at a heder in the city before studying natural sciences at university in Warsaw, Zurich and St Petersburg.
4.
Nahum Nir studied law at St Petersburg and Dorpat, gaining a LL.
5.
Nahum Nir was offered the position of Commissar for Jewish Affairs but turned it down after consultation with the Central Committee of Poale Zion.
6.
Nahum Nir served as secretary of the Left World Union of Poale Zion, and was involved in negotiations to allow it to join Comintern.
7.
Nahum Nir continued to play a prominent role in Poale Zion and was a member of the Jewish National Council and the Assembly of Representatives prior to independence.
Related searches
Benny Gantz 8.
That same year, his party merged with Mapam and Nahum Nir was elected to the First Knesset in 1949.
9.
Nahum Nir served as Deputy Speaker of the Knesset and chaired the Constitution, Law and Justice Committee.
10.
In 1954, Ahdut HaAvoda broke away from Mapam, and Nahum Nir assumed membership of the new party.
11.
Nahum Nir was returned to the Knesset on its list, when Tzipora Laskov resigned from her seat in October 1955, and again chaired the Constitution, Law and Justice Committee.
12.
Nahum Nir was initially re-appointed Deputy Speaker of the Knesset, but following the death of the incumbent Yosef Sprinzak in January 1959, Nir stood in the election for a new speaker against a Mapai candidate.
13.
Nahum Nir won the election due to the support of the right-wing opposition and several minor left-wing parties, marking the first time in which a candidate not from the ruling party was elected Speaker, something not repeated until Benny Gantz was elected Speaker in 2020.
14.
Nahum Nir retained his seat in the November 1959 elections, and chaired the committee for public services, but resumed his position as Deputy Speaker when the Knesset reconvened.