Gideon Ezra

Gideon Ezra (Hebrew גדעון עזרא; * June 30, 1937 in Jerusalem, † 17 May 2012) was an Israeli politician.

Career

Ezra grew up in Jerusalem. He studied geography and political science at the University of Haifa. From 1962 to 1995 he worked for the domestic security service Shin Bet. He was elected for the Likud in the Knesset in 1996. In 2003 he was member of the cabinet in the government of Ariel Sharon. First, he was to August 31, 2004 Minister without Portfolio. Then it was on August 31, 2004 to January 10, 2005 Tourism Minister, a post which he provisionally held since July 4, 2004. In 2004, he broke Tzachi Hanegbi from the Secretary of Homeland Security.

As Sharon founded Kadima, the party moved Ezra. January 2006 he was environment minister in the government of Ehud Olmert and practiced these posts, until March 2009.

2010 ill Ezra, who had been for 55 years a heavy smoker, from lung cancer. He then devoted himself to a campaign to draw attention to the dangers of smoking. On May 17, 2012, he died of his cancer.