MELCHIOR, RABBI MICHAEL

(1954- )

Born in Denmark, Melchior immigrated (seeALIYA) to Israel in 1985. He has been the chiefrabbiof Norway, international director of the Elie Wiesel Foundation, and chairman of the secretariat of the politically moderate OrthodoxMeimadParty since 1995. He was elected to the 15thKnesset(1999) on theOne Israellist and became minister in theprimeminister's office (underEhud Barak) with responsibility forDiasporarelations and social affairs, a position he held until February 2001. Melchior served as deputy foreign minister in theLikud-Israel Labor Partyunity coalition formed byAriel Sharon(2001-2) and was appointed deputy minister ofeducation, culture, andsportupon Labor's reentry to the Sharon-led government on 10 January 2005. In June 2005, Melchoir was appointed deputy minister in the prime minister's office, with responsibility for Diaspora affairs and social affairs. He was reelected to the 17th Knesset on the joint Labor-Meimad list in 2006.