12 Facts About Ophir Pines-Paz

Ophir Pines-Paz was born in Rishon LeZion, the eldest of three children.

Ophir Pines-Paz's father, Yehuda, was an optician and technologist and the Weizmann Institute of Science, who had been born in the Netherlands.

Ophir Pines-Paz had survived the Holocaust and was a member of the Dutch resistance during World War II.

Ophir Pines-Paz served as a Staff Sergeant in the Israel Defense Forces from 1979 to 1982.

Ophir Pines-Paz is currently married with two children, and lives in Ra'anana, Israel.

Ophir Pines-Paz is a member of the Masorti congregation in Ramot, Jerusalem.

Ophir Pines-Paz retained his seat in the 1999 elections, and served as chairman of the parliamentary ruling coalition and as the chairman of the One Israel faction between 1999 and 2001.

Ophir Pines-Paz was re-elected again in 2003, and in 2005 was appointed Internal Affairs Minister, serving in the cabinet until Labor pulled out of the government.

Ophir Pines-Paz came second in the party's primary elections prior to the 2009 Knesset elections, and took third place on the party list.

In January 2010 Ophir Pines-Paz announced he was retiring from politics and leaving the Labor Party, which he said "had abandoned its values over the past 15 years".

Ophir Pines-Paz is a former chairman of the Authority for Rehabilitation of Prisoners.

Ophir Pines-Paz served as deputy director-general of the Immigration and Absorption Department of the Jewish Agency for Israel.