Yuli-Yoel Edelstein

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Yuli-Yoel Edelstein
Yuli Edelstein.jpg
Date of birth (1958-08-05) 5 August 1958 (age 60)
Place of birth Chernivtsi, Soviet Union
Year of aliyah 1987
Knessets 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21
Faction represented in Knesset
1996–2003 Yisrael BaAliyah
2003–2006 Likud
2007– Likud
Ministerial roles
1996–1999 Minister of Immigrant Absorption
2009–2013 Minister of Information & Diaspora
Other roles
2013– Speaker of the Knesset

Yuli-Yoel Edelstein (Hebrew : יוּלִי־יוֹאֵל אֵדֶלְשְטֵיין, Russian: Ю́лий Ю́рьевич Эдельште́йн, Ukrainian : Ю́лий Ю́рійович Едельште́йн, born 5 August 1958) is an Israeli politician. One of the most prominent refuseniks in the Soviet Union, he has been Speaker of the Knesset since 2013.

Hebrew language Semitic language native to Israel

Hebrew is a Northwest Semitic language native to Israel; the modern version of which is spoken by over 9 million people worldwide. Historically, it is regarded as the language of the Israelites and their ancestors, although the language was not referred to by the name Hebrew in the Tanakh. The earliest examples of written Paleo-Hebrew date from the 10th century BCE. Hebrew belongs to the West Semitic branch of the Afroasiatic language family. Hebrew is the only living Canaanite language left, and the only truly successful example of a revived dead language.

Ukrainian language language member of the East Slavic subgroup of the Slavic languages

Ukrainian is an East Slavic language. It is the official state language of Ukraine and one of the three official languages in the unrecognized state of Transnistria, the other two being Romanian and Russian. Written Ukrainian uses a variant of the Cyrillic script.

Israel country in the Middle East

Israel, also known as the State of Israel, is a country in Western Asia, located on the southeastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea and the northern shore of the Red Sea. It has land borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the northeast, Jordan on the east, the Palestinian territories of the West Bank and Gaza Strip to the east and west, respectively, and Egypt to the southwest. The country contains geographically diverse features within its relatively small area. Israel's economic and technological center is Tel Aviv, while its seat of government and proclaimed capital is Jerusalem, although the state's sovereignty over Jerusalem has only partial recognition.

Contents

Early life

Yuli Edelstein was born in Chernivtsi in the Soviet Union (now Ukraine) to a Jewish family. His mother, Anita Edelstein was Jewish, while his father, Yuri Edelstein, is the son of a Jewish father and Christian mother. Both converted to Christianity, and Yuri is now a Russian Orthodox priest in Karabanovo of Kostroma Oblast named Father Georgy. [1] [2] While his parents taught at universities in the countryside, Edelstein was raised by his maternal grandparents. His grandfather had taught himself Hebrew at the age of 70 and used to listen to the Voice of Israel on a shortwave radio. When Edelstein's grandfather died, Yuli began to study Hebrew and read books such as Exodus by Leon Uris, which inspired him. [3]

Chernivtsi City of regional significance in Chernivtsi Oblast, Ukraine

Chernivtsi is a city in western Ukraine, situated on the upper course of the River Prut. Chernivtsi is the administrative center of Chernivtsi Oblast (province) – the northern, Ukrainian part of the historical region of Bukovina. Administratively, Chernivtsi is a city of regional significance. At the time of the 2001 Ukrainian Census, the population of the city was 240,600. Current population: 295,366 (2015 est.)

Soviet Union 1922–1991 country in Europe and Asia

The Soviet Union, officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR), was a socialist state in Eurasia that existed from 1922 to 1991. Nominally a union of multiple national Soviet republics, its government and economy were highly centralized. The country was a one-party state, governed by the Communist Party with Moscow as its capital in its largest republic, the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic. Other major urban centres were Leningrad, Kiev, Minsk, Alma-Ata, and Novosibirsk. It spanned over 10,000 kilometres east to west across 11 time zones, and over 7,200 kilometres north to south. It had five climate zones: tundra, taiga, steppes, desert and mountains.

Ukraine Sovereign state in Eastern Europe

Ukraine, sometimes called the Ukraine, is a country in Eastern Europe. Excluding Crimea, Ukraine has a population of about 42.5 million, making it the 32nd most populous country in the world. Its capital and largest city is Kiev. Ukrainian is the official language and its alphabet is Cyrillic. The dominant religions in the country are Eastern Orthodoxy and Greek Catholicism. Ukraine is currently in a territorial dispute with Russia over the Crimean Peninsula, which Russia annexed in 2014. Including Crimea, Ukraine has an area of 603,628 km2 (233,062 sq mi), making it the largest country entirely within Europe and the 46th largest country in the world.

In 1977, during his second year of university, Edelstein applied for an exit visa to immigrate to Israel. Turned down, he began to associate with a small group of Hebrew teachers who held classes in their apartments. [3]

Aliyah immigration of Jews from the diaspora to the Land of Israel

Aliyah is the immigration of Jews from the diaspora to the Land of Israel. Also defined as "the act of going up"—that is, towards Jerusalem—"making Aliyah" by moving to the Land of Israel is one of the most basic tenets of Zionism. The opposite action, emigration from the Land of Israel, is referred to in Hebrew as yerida ("descent"). The State of Israel's Law of Return gives Jews and their descendants automatic rights regarding residency and Israeli citizenship.

In 1979, he was expelled from the university and suffered harassment by the KGB and local police. During this time, he found odd jobs as a street cleaner, security guard, and more. [3]

KGB Main security agency for the Soviet Union

The KGB, translated in English as Committee for State Security, was the main security agency for the Soviet Union from 1954 until its break-up in 1991. As a direct successor of preceding agencies such as the Cheka, NKGB, NKVD and MGB, the committee was attached to the Council of Ministers. It was the chief government agency of "union-republican jurisdiction", acting as internal security, intelligence and secret police. Similar agencies were constituted in each of the republics of the Soviet Union aside from Russia, and consisted of many ministries, state committees and state commissions.

In 1984, he and other Hebrew teachers were arrested on fabricated charges, Edelstein himself being charged with possession of drugs, [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] and sentenced to three years. He was then sent to Siberian gulags and did hard labor, first in Buryatia and then in Novosibirsk. He broke several bones after falling from a construction tower. He was due to be transferred back to Buryatia, but his wife, Tanya, threatened to go on hunger strike if he was returned there. [10]

Siberia Geographical region in Russia

Siberia is an extensive geographical region spanning much of Eurasia and North Asia. Siberia has historically been a part of modern Russia since the 17th century.

Gulag government agency in charge of the Soviet forced labor camp system

The Gulag was the government agency in charge of the Soviet forced-labour camp-system that was set up under Vladimir Lenin and reached its peak during Joseph Stalin's rule from the 1930s to the early 1950s. English-language speakers also use the word gulag to refer to any forced-labor camp in the Soviet Union, including camps which existed in post-Stalin times. The camps housed a wide range of convicts, from petty criminals to political prisoners. Large numbers were convicted by simplified procedures, such as by NKVD troikas or by other instruments of extrajudicial punishment. The Gulag is recognized by many as a major instrument of political repression in the Soviet Union.

Buryat Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic autonomous soviet socialist republic of a union republic of the Soviet Union

The Buryat Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic, abbreviated as Buryat ASSR, was an Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic of the Russian SFSR of the Soviet Union.

Edelstein was released in May 1987, [10] on the eve of Israeli Independence Day, the next to last of the refuseniks to be freed. [3] He then immigrated to Israel, moving to the West Bank settlement of Alon Shvut. He did his national service in the Israel Defense Forces, attaining the rank of Corporal. [11]

Refusenik unofficial term for individuals, typically but not exclusively Soviet Jews, who were denied permission to emigrate by the authorities of the former Soviet Union and other countries of the Eastern bloc

Refusenik was an unofficial term for individuals, typically, but not exclusively, Soviet Jews, who were denied permission to emigrate, primarily to Israel, by the authorities of the Soviet Union and other countries of the Eastern bloc. The term refusenik is derived from the "refusal" handed down to a prospective emigrant from the Soviet authorities.

West Bank Part of the Palestinian territories near the Mediterranean coast of Western Asia

The West Bank is a landlocked territory near the Mediterranean coast of Western Asia, bordered by Jordan to the east and by the Green Line separating it and Israel on the south, west and north. The West Bank also contains a significant section of the western Dead Sea shore. The West Bank was the name given to the territory that was captured by Jordan in the aftermath of the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, and subsequently annexed in 1950 until 1967 when it was occupied by Israel during the 1967 Six-Day War.

Alon Shvut Place in Judea and Samaria Area

Alon Shvut is an Israeli settlement located southwest of Jerusalem, one kilometer northeast of Kfar Etzion, in the West Bank. Established in June 1970 in the heart of the Etzion bloc, Alon Shvut became the prototype for Jewish communities in the region. It is administered by the Gush Etzion Regional Council, and neighbors the communities of Kfar Etzion, Rosh Tzurim, Neve Daniel, Elazar, and Efrat. In 2017, its population was 3,213.

Political career

Edelstein as Information Minister, briefing reporters at site of Hamas rocket attack, 2012 Flickr - The Israel Project - Israel Information Minister Yuli Edelstien briefs reporters where 3 civilians were killed by a Hamas rocket..jpg
Edelstein as Information Minister, briefing reporters at site of Hamas rocket attack, 2012

Initially a member of the National Religious Party and a vice-president of Zionist Forum, Edelstein founded the Yisrael BaAliyah party together with fellow Soviet dissident Natan Sharansky. He was elected to the Knesset in 1996, and was appointed Minister of Immigrant Absorption in Benjamin Netanyahu's Likud-led government. [3] He was re-elected in 1999, and was appointed Deputy Immigrant Absorption Minister by Ariel Sharon in 2001.

He retained his seat in the 2003 elections, shortly after which Yisrael BaAliyah merged into Likud. Although Edelstein lost his seat in the 2006 elections, in which Likud was reduced to 12 seats (Edelstein was 14th on the party's list), he re-entered the Knesset as a replacement for Dan Naveh in February 2007. He retained his seat in the 2009 elections after being placed twelfth on the party's list, and was appointed Minister of Information and Diaspora in the Netanyahu government. [12]

Following the 2013 elections, he became Speaker of the Knesset. [13]

Statements

In December 2014, in an interview with The Jerusalem Post , Edelstein warned world leaders against creating a Palestinian state that he thought would go to war with Israel. [14]

In the same interview, Edelstein stated that he believes in Israeli-Palestinian coexistence. In 2014, he was one of several Members of the Knesset (MK) who submitted complaints against Arab-Israeli Haneen Zoabi for supporting Hamas, which led to her six-month suspension. “I have been in the Knesset for almost 19 years,” Edelstein said. “I remember Arab MKs joining me at the March of the Living and proposing social-oriented legislation with me. That is definitely not Zoabi. I believe in coexistence and fighting against those who harm it and I think that Zoabi’s words and actions hurt coexistence. People hear her and think all Arabs must hate us and want to kill us. That is unhealthy, and we have to put an end to it.”

Personal life

After leaving Alon Shvut, Edelstein moved to Neve Daniel, another West Bank settlement. He was married to Tatiana (Tanya) Edelstein, who was a Zionist activist, for 33 years. They met in the Soviet Union when she attended a Hebrew class he was teaching. After immigrating to Israel, she worked as a civil engineer at the Civil Aviation Authority. Tanya and Yuli Edelstein had two children together. In 2014, Tanya died of cancer at the age of 63. [15]

In June 2016, Edelstein married Irina Nevzlin, chair of the board of Directors of The Museum of the Jewish People at Beit Hatfutsot and President of the NADAV Foundation.

Criticism

The long-term project of subsidizing housing for elderly migrants prepared by Israel Ministry of Absorption under his supervision and cooperation with Ministry of Construction raised controversy over expenditures overrun incurred by the project. Mr. Edelstein claimed that the investigative commission found such claims unsubstantiated. [16]

See also

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References

  1. ↑ Sergei L. Loiko (22 April 2012). "Russian Orthodox Church is in spiritual crisis, critics say". Los Angeles Times . Retrieved 14 March 2015.
  2. ↑ "Russian priest visits son: Israel's absorption minister". Jewish Telegraphic Agency. 13 November 1997. Retrieved 14 March 2015.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 Deborah Sontag (21 June 1999). "From Siberia to Israeli Cabinet (No, he's not Sharansky)". The New York Times . Retrieved 14 March 2015.
  4. ↑ Encyclopaedia Judaica Year Book. 1986. p.366
  5. ↑ "When They Come for Us, We'll Be Gone: The Epic Struggle to Save Soviet Jewry". By Gal Beckerman. Chapter 12
  6. ↑ Philip Spiegel. "Triumph over tyranny: the heroic campaigns that saved 2,000,000 Soviet Jews". p. 157
  7. ↑ Maxim Shrayer. Leaving Russia: A Jewish Story. p.158
  8. ↑ The Listener. Volume 113. p.43. British Broadcasting Corporation, 1985.
  9. ↑ The Prosecution of Demonstrators Outside the Soviet Embassy: Hearing Before the Subcommittee on Administrative Practice and Procedure of the Committee on the Judiciary, United States Senate, Ninety-ninth Congress, Second Session, on Citizens Exercising Their Constitutionally Protected Rights, Protesting the Brutal Treating of Human Beings in Faraway Lands, May 15, 1986. p.30
  10. 1 2 Dina Goldman. "Yuli Edelstein". The Jewish Agency for Israel . Retrieved 14 March 2015.
  11. ↑ Particulars Knesset
  12. ↑ "Netanyahu sworn in as Israel's prime minister". Haaretz . 1 April 2009. Retrieved 14 March 2015.
  13. ↑ Lahav Harkov (14 March 2013). "Yuli Edelstein appointed as new Knesset Speaker". The Jerusalem Post . Retrieved 14 March 2015.
  14. ↑ Gil Hoffman; Lahav Harkov (29 December 2014). "Edelstein: Wrong to create Palestinian state Israel would have to attack". The Jerusalem Post . Retrieved 14 March 2015.
  15. ↑ Lazar Berman (24 January 2014). "Tanya Edelstein, wife of Knesset speaker, dies at 63". Times of Israel . Retrieved 14 March 2015.
  16. ↑ Интервью Эдельштейна газете NEWSru.co.il:По словам депутата Эдельштейна, разговоры о перерасходе государственных средств при реализации данного проекта продолжаются многие годы, но две проверяющие комиссии не поддержали эти утверждения, хотя эти комиссии создавались не сторонниками «Микбацей диюр».
Political offices
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Reuven Rivlin 		Speaker of the Knesset
2013–present		Incumbent
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