Benjamin Ben-Eliezer, a former Israeli Defense Minister and veteran politician, died yesterday at the age of 80. Ben-Eliezer had been in poor health for several years and retired from politics in 2014. A former leader of Israel’s Labor Party, Ben-Eliezer served as defense minister in then-Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s government from 2001 to 2002, during the early days of a violent Palestinian uprising, known as the second Intifada.
The Iraqi-born Ben-Eliezer was widely regarded as the Israeli politician closest to Hosni Mubarak, who was toppled as Egypt’s President in an uprising in 2011, and served as one of Jerusalem’s main liaisons with the autocratic leader. In a condolence statement on his Facebook page, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he appreciated Ben-Eliezer’s contribution to the Jewish state, a man who “served his country for dozens of years as a warrior, commander, public official and senior cabinet minister.”