BENAHARON, YITZHAK

Ben-Aharon, Yitzhak: translation

(formerly Nussbaum)

(1906-2006)

Israel Labor Partycofounder and ideologist; earlyHis-tadrutleader. He was born Yitzhak Nussbaum in the Suczawa district of Bokovina in the Austro-Hungarian Empire (present-day Romania). He joinedHashomer Hatzairat 14, studied political science at Berlin University, and returned home to become Hashomer leader in 1925. He immigrated toPalestinein 1928, where he became one of the founders of Kibbutz Givat Haim in 1933.In 1935, he was sent by Hehalutz toGermanyto help rescue as many Jews as possible, but he was arrested and expelled by the Nazis. In 1938-39, he was secretary ofMapai. In 1940, he volunteered for service with the British army, was captured in Greece, and spent four years as a prisoner of war. Released in 1945 and demobilized from the British army, he became one of the leaders ofAhdut Haavodaand ofMapam. Ben-Aharon was a signatory of Israel'sDeclaration of Independence. He represented Mapam in the first and secondKnessets, Ah-dut Haavoda from the third to the fifth Knessets, and Maarach (seeALIGNMENT [MAARACH]) in the seventh and eighth Knessets. From 1956 to 1962, he served as minister of transport, and from 1969 to 1973, he was secretary general of the Histadrut. As head of the Histadrut, he admittedArabworkers for the first time and lambastedGolda Meirand her government for allegedly abandoning their socialist roots. Analysts have attributed theIsrael LaborParty's 1968 unification to the malaise identified in his seminal 1963 essay "The Courage to Confront the Coming Calamity." Following theYom Kippur War(1973), Ben-Aharon called for a unilateral withdrawal from the Palestinian territories occupied by Israel since 1967. He retired from active politics in 1977 and was the subject of a documentary film,No Regrets, in 1991. In 1995, he was awarded theIsrael Prize. In November 2005, at the age of 98, he endorsed the candidacy of Histadrut leaderAmir Peretzin the Israel Labor Party leadership competition againstShimon Peres.