Ze'ev Boim

Ze'ev Boim (Hebrew זאב בוים; born April 30, 1943 in Jerusalem, † March 18, 2011 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin) was an Israeli politician of the Likud and Kadima.

Life

After school he studied history and Israeli literature at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. After graduation, he did his military service in the armed forces and was last company commander of a tank company. He then worked as a teacher and principal of a comprehensive high school in Kiryat Gat and sometimes also rector of the Jewish- Sephardic school in Mexico.

After his return he engaged in numerous organizations in Kiryat Gat and was chairman of the youth village " Kedma ", Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Development Corporation of Kiryat Gat, Chairman of the Board of the national industrial park of Kiryat Gat and the Regional Association of Lachish, as well as Chairman of the local environmental quality association of Ashkelon. Between 1983 and 1996 he was mayor of Kiryat Gat.

In June 1996, Boim was first elected as a candidate of the Likud member of the Knesset and belonged first of these to June 1999. In July 2000 he was again a member of the Knesset and was part of this until his death. Between 2000 and 2003 he was at times also Chairman of the Likud faction.

In March 2003 he became first deputy defense minister in the cabinet of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon before he was after a cabinet reshuffle January to May 2006 Minister of Construction and Housing and Minister for Agriculture and Rural Development.

During the 16th Parliament, he became a member of Kadima, founded in 2005 and was their representative in the 17th and 18th legislative period.

In May 2006 he was appointed by Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, Minister of Immigrant Affairs, and thus the successor of Tzipi Livni. In a cabinet reshuffle on July 4, 2007, he took again the Office of the Minister of Construction and Housing and Minister retained this post until 31 March 2009.

Most recently, he was chairman of the Knesset sub- committee to examine the operational readiness of the home front. Boim was also a member of the Trusteeship Council of the Ben- Gurion University of the Negev in Be'er Sheva, a member of the Council of the Society for Nature Conservation and a member of Friends of Barzelai Hospital in Ashkelon.

Boim died after a long illness in a pancreatic tumor in a hospital in Milwaukee.

Publications

• To be a Free Nation - A History of the Jewish People in Modern Times, 3 volumes