Avigdor Kahalani

2013-10-28T09:28:14Z

Springyboy: /* IDF career */ fix

{{BLP sources|date=February 2013}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2011}}
{{Infobox Politician
| honorific-prefix = [[Tat Aluf]]
|name=Avigdor Kahalani
|image=Festivalyoter1.jpg
|office1=[[Ministry of Public Security (Israel)|Minister of Internal Security]]
|term_start1=18 June 1996
|term_end1=6 July 1999
|primeminister1=[[Benjamin Netanyahu]]
|preceded1=[[Moshe Shahal]]
|succeeded1=[[Shlomo Ben-Ami]]
|office2=Member of the [[Knesset]]
|term_start2=23 June 1992
|term_end2=17 May 1999
|birth_date= {{Birth date and age|df=yes|1944|06|16}}
|party = [[Third Way (Israel)|Third Way]] [[Israeli Labor Party|Labor Party]] (formerly)
|birth_place= [[Ness Ziona]], [[British Mandate of Palestine|Mandate Palestine]]
|caption= Brigadier General, Avigdor Kahalani
|nickname=
|allegiance= [[Israel Defense Forces|IDF]]
|serviceyears= 1962 to 1992
|rank= [[Brigadier General]]
|current position=
|commands=[[77 Battalion]] [[7th Armored Brigade (Israel)|7th Brigade]] [[36th Division (IDF)|36th Division]]
|Not military jobs=[[minister of internal security]]
|unit=
|battles=[[Six-Day War]] [[Yom Kippur War]]
|awards= [[Medal of Distinguished Service|Distinguished Service Medal]] [[Medal of Valor (Israel)|Medal of Valor]]
}}

Brigadier-General ([[Tat Aluf]]) '''Avigdor Kahalani''' ({{lang-he|אביגדור קהלני}}, born 16 June 1944) is a former [[Israel]]i soldier and politician.

==Background==
Kahalani was born in [[Ness Ziona]] during the [[British Mandate of Palestine|Mandate era]]. He studied at [[Tel Aviv University]], gaining a B.A. in History, before going on to [[University of Haifa|Haifa University]], where he studied for an M.A. in Political Science. He also attended the [[Command and General Staff College]] at [[Fort Leavenworth]], [[Kansas]], and graduated from the [[National Security College|National Defense College]].

==IDF career==
Kahalani was a career officer in the [[Israel Defense Forces|IDF]], achieving the rank of [[Brigadier General]]. Kahalani received the [[Medal of Distinguished Service]] for service during the [[Six Day War]], where he was badly wounded when his [[Centurion tank]] caught fire. In the [[Yom Kippur War]] (1973), he served as commander of the Centurion-equipped 77th armored battalion/[[7th Armored Brigade (Israel)|7th Armored Brigade]] on the [[Valley of Tears|Golan Heights]]. Kahalani's battalion – along with other elements of the 7th Armored Brigade – engaged in fierce defensive fighting against a vastly superior Syrian mechanized force, consisting of more than 10,000 men and 1,200 tanks. The battle proved to be one of the turning points of the war. After the war, the valley where it took place was littered with hundreds of burned Syrian tanks and was renamed "Emek Ha-Bacha" ("[[The Valley of Tears]]"). He later received the [[Medal of Valor (Israel)|Medal of Valor]] for service during the war.<ref name="bamahane">{{cite journal|author=Tal Zagreba|journal=[[Bamahane]]|title=We Were Like a Wounded Animal that Was Discarded and Fights for Its Life|date=31 October 2008|issue=42nd Edition (2008)|pages=pp. 54–55}}</ref>

==Political career==
After leaving the IDF, Kahalani made his way into politics. He served as Deputy Mayor of [[Tel Aviv]], and was elected to the Knesset as a member of the [[Israeli Labor Party|Labor Party]] in the [[Israeli legislative election, 1992|1992 election]], he served on the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense and the Education and Culture Committees. He has been active in the Committee for the Rescue of Jews from Yemen and Chairman of the Golan Lobby in the Knesset. He is also chairman of the Friends of LIBI Foundation and president of the Israeli Association for Drug Rehabilitation.

During the Knesset session, Kahalani broke away from the Labor Party and founded [[Third Way (Israel)|The Third Way]] with [[Emanuel Zisman]]. The new party won four seats in the [[Israeli legislative election, 1996|1996 elections]], and joined [[Binyamin Netanyahu]]'s coalition, with Kahalani made [[Internal Security Minister of Israel|Minister of Internal Security]].

However, in the [[Israeli legislative election, 1999|1999 elections]] the party failed to cross the [[Election threshold|electoral threshold]] and Kahalani lost his seat. He later joined Likud, and was placed 43rd on the party's list for the [[Israeli legislative election, 2003|2003 elections]],<ref>[http://info.jpost.com/C002/Supplements/Elections2003/pp_likud.html Police probe Likud members about alleged corruption in primary race] The Jerusalem Post, 17 December 2002</ref> but missed out on a seat when the party won only 38.

Since November 2007, Kahalani has been serving as chairman of the [[Organization for the Soldier]].

==Published works==
*''The Heights of Courage: A Tank Leader's War on the Golan'' (1975)
*''A Warrior's Way'' (1989)

==References==
{{reflist|30em}}

==External links==
{{Portal|Biography}}
*{{MKlink|id=108}}

{{Israeli Internal Security Ministers}}

{{Authority control|VIAF=85856058}}

{{Persondata 
| NAME = Kahalani, Avigdor
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES =
| SHORT DESCRIPTION = Israeli politician
| DATE OF BIRTH = 16 June 1944
| PLACE OF BIRTH = [[Ness Ziona]], [[British Mandate of Palestine|Mandate Palestine]]
| DATE OF DEATH =
| PLACE OF DEATH =
}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kahalani, Avigdor}}
[[Category:Israeli generals]]
[[Category:Members of the Knesset]]
[[Category:1944 births]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Medal of Valor]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Medal of Distinguished Service (Israel)]]
[[Category:Non-U.S. alumni of the Command and General Staff College]]
[[Category:Third Way (Israel) politicians]]
[[Category:Israeli Labor Party politicians]]
[[Category:Ministers of Public Security of Israel]]

Wikipedia - Benutzerbeiträge [de]

Avigdor Kahalani