Mordechai Ben-Porat was imprisoned several times for aiding and abetting the persecution of Iraqi Jews. After a varied career, the Israeli politician died at the age of 98.
He was one of the leading figures in the illegal Jewish emigration from Iraq to Israel: Mordechai Ben-Porat. During his lifetime, he founded two political parties in Israel and was a member of two others. The former minister and Knesset member has now died at the age of 98.
Mordechai Ben-Porat was born on September 12, 1923, in Baghdad, the capital of Iraq. In 1942, at the age of 19, he joined the underground resistance movement "HeChalutz." He fought as a company commander in the 1948 Israeli War of Independence. He played a key role in organizing Operation Ezra and Nehemiah, which secretly brought 130,000 Jews from Iraq to Israel in 1950 and 1951. He was arrested and tortured four times in connection with this operation.
This commitment culminated in the founding of the World Organization of Arab Jews in 1975. Ben-Porat became its president. Furthermore, in 1979, following the revolution in Iran, he assisted the Jewish Agency, an immigration organization that worked to support Jews from the newly established Islamic Republic with their alias (residence permits).
Member of Labour Party and Likud
In Israel, Ben-Porat was one of the founders of the "Israeli Workers' List" (RAFI), established by David Ben-Gurion in 1965, which formed a coalition government with the National Religious Party. He served as chairman of the local council in Or Yehuda, southeast of Tel Aviv. In 1968, he joined the Israeli Labor Party (Avoda). He served two terms in the Knesset for the party, from November 1969 to June 1977, and was also its deputy speaker. Before the elections for the 9th Knesset, he founded the "Movement for the Renewal of Social Zionism," but it failed to reach the required percentage of votes.
She then joined the Telem party of former Defense Minister Moshe Dayan. Ben-Porat was elected to the 10th Knesset in 1981. After Dayan's death, the alliance split. Ben-Porat's faction participated in Menachem Begin's government, and he became a minister without portfolio. He retained this post under Yitzhak Shamir, who became Prime Minister in 1983. He eventually resigned after an unsuccessful attempt to form a national unity government. In 1988, he joined Likud, the conservative party of Begin and Shamir.
In 2001, Ben-Porat received the Israel Prize for his life's work. This award also recognized his exceptional contribution to society and the state.
Mordechai Ben-Porat died on January 3. He was buried on Tuesday in Holon, near Tel Aviv.
