Avraham Shochat

Avraham ( Beige ) Shochat ( born June 14, 1936 in Tel Aviv) is an Israeli politician.

Life

Shochat has a degree in Civil Engineering of the Technion in Haifa.

Early 60s belonged Shochat of the founders of the settlement Arad. Later, he was the first mayor of Arad. In 1984 he was in the Knesset ( later a member of Avoda ) is selected, where he primarily to profiled with regard to economic issues. At times he stood in front of the Finance Committee.

For the second cabinet Rabin Shochat was appointed as Minister of Finance. This office he filled until the rise of Benjamin Netanyahu in 1996, then again in the Barak government until its fall in 2001.

His political position is near the center of the political spectrum. He voted against the end of the Barak government for the Clinton plan, but only on condition that the Palestinians explicitly renounce the right of return to Israel.

As finance minister, he led the market in a period of growth. His opponents blame him for the following periods of recession and that he had yielded to rashly demands for wage increases. In his first term, therefore, he enjoyed great popularity in his second term, however, he was nicknamed " Beige Have Nothing ". He tried to introduce a tax on capital in Israel, and in particular is his proposal to introduce a stock market tax, recalled - a proposal which was later rejected by Rabin. Relations with the Head of Israeli Central Bank, Jacob Frenkel, were rather cool due to disputes over the more conservative interest rate policy of the latter.

On 9 February 2005 Shochat announced his withdrawal from political life. Finally, he decided to move to this retreat a few months, to keep in the Commission for appointment of judges, the majority against the appeal Ruth Gabisons to the Supreme Court of Israel ( Bagatz ). Shochat left the Knesset finally on 11 January 2006.

In November 2006, Shochat was appointed Chairman of the Commission for consideration of higher education in Israel.

In recent years, Shochat lived in Tel Aviv. He is married to the daughter of the third Israeli Prime Minister Levi Eshkol and the father of three children.