19 Facts About Yisrael Katz

Yisrael Katz was an Israeli scholar, civil servant and politician who served as Minister of Labor and Social Affairs.

Yisrael Katz was one of the most influential people in Israel in the creation and development of the Israeli welfare state over several decades.

Yisrael Katz arrived in Palestine as part of a Youth Aliyah group of children, which were organized with the consent of parents eager to have their children saved from being arrested and deported to Nazi concentration camps.

Yisrael Katz originally studied agriculture at the Ahava youth village until 1944, while simultaneously through intense self-study, completing his matriculation in an outstanding manner.

Yisrael Katz returned to the Hebrew University between 1948 and 1949 to study humanities, before joining the Columbia University School of Social Work in New York City in 1951, where he studied psychiatric social work.

Yisrael Katz later headed Kiryat Ye'arim Youth Village for distressed youth who were unable to adjust to regular educational frameworks.

Yisrael Katz became the first Israeli dean of the Paul Baerwald School of Social Work at the Hebrew University, which was the first university-affiliated school of social work in Israel.

Yisrael Katz held this position until 1968, during which time schools of social work were established at Haifa and Tel Aviv universities with the support of the Paul Baerwald School.

In 1968 Yisrael Katz was appointed Director-General of the National Insurance Institute where he served until 1973.

Yisrael Katz prepared the groundwork for research in social security matters, particularly on the measurement of poverty in Israel, which continue to be published yearly to this day.

Yisrael Katz was charged for his criticism of government policies and stance on the problem of poverty several times during his tenure in NII for not being loyal to the government, as well as for inciting social tension.

In 1973 Yisrael Katz was elected to the Knesset on the Labor Party list, but gave up his seat before the Knesset opened in order to establish the Brookdale Institute of Gerontology to research ageing in Israel.

The party joined the first government of Menachem Begin, and despite not being a member of the Knesset, Yisrael Katz was appointed Minister of Labor and Welfare.

Yisrael Katz directed Knesset legislation which transferred financial funding to the needy from the welfare offices to the NII, as well as the law of nursing insurance which granted funding to pensioners in need of nursing care monetary or physical assistance.

Yisrael Katz was among the initiators and first activists of the project for the rehabilitation of neighborhoods.

Yisrael Katz felt that the emphasis of the project should be on social change and not on rehabilitation of structures.

Yisrael Katz served as Minister of Labor and Social Affairs until the end of the Government's term of office on 5 August 1981.

In November 1996 Yisrael Katz was appointed to head a commission to examine broad legislation on the subject of rights of people with disabilities.

Yisrael Katz was married to Marsel Yisrael Katz, nee Ruso, with whom he had two sons.