Obituaries

Shulamit Aloni was “warrior for peace and civil rights” in Israel

JERUSALEM – Shulamit Aloni, former chairwoman of Israel’s Meretz party, which she helped found, died on Friday, Jan. 24 at her home in a suburb of Tel Aviv.  She was 85.

First elected to the Knesset in 1965, as a member of the Labor party, Aloni served as a minister-without-portfolio for three months in 1974, under Yitzhak Rabin’s first term as prime minister, when she headed the Ratz party that eventually merged into Meretz. She also served as education minister during Rabin’s term in 1992-1993, continuing in various cabinet roles, first under him and then briefly in a government headed by Shimon Peres.

Despite their differences, wrote Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu in a letter of condolence to Aloni’s family, “I appreciated her contribution to Israeli public life and her determination to stand up for the things that she believed in.”

According to the Jerusalem Post, Israel President Shimon Peres praised Aloni as “a warrior for peace and civil rights in Israel,” who left her imprint on the struggle for the equality of women, minorities and the weak sectors of society that the mainstream had marginalized.

“Aloni was tremendous, courageous and a groundbreaking, fearless fighter of justice,” said current Meretz chairwoman Zehava Gal-On. “She will be unforgettable by every Israeli who carries the importance of equality and human rights in their heart.”

Born Shulamit Adler in Tel Aviv in 1928, Aloni’s mother and father were descended from Polish rabbinical families. Her parents served in the British Army during the Second World War. During the War of Independence she was involved in the fight for the Old City of Jerusalem and was captured by the Arab Legion.

Aloni, who wrote six books, was recognized for her devotion to civil liberties in 2000, when she was awarded the Israel Prize, the country’s highest distinction.

Her husband Reuven Aloni died in 1988. She is survived by three children.

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