Aharon Uzan - Biography

Biography

Uzan was born in Moknine in Tunisia, and was a member of the right-wing Betar movement in his youth. He made aliyah to Israel in 1949 and joined the left-wing Mapai party. He settled in Gilat, serving as the moshav's secretary and treasurer between 1952 and 1959. In 1960 he founded the Negev Moshav Purchasing Company, and managed it until 1968. He also founded the Negev Water and Merhav transport companies.

In 1965 he was elected to the Knesset on the Alignment's list (the Alignment was an Alliance of Mapai and Ahdut HaAvoda), and was appointed Deputy Minister of Agriculture in January 1966, a role he held until he lost his seat in the 1969 elections.

Between 1970 and 1973 he was secretary of the Moshavim Movement. Despite not being a Knesset member, he returned to the cabinet in 1974 when he was appointed Minister of Communications. After Golda Meir resigned and Yitzhak Rabin formed a new government later in the year, he became Minister of Agriculture. In March 1975 he regained the Communications portfolio in addition to the Agriculture post. Following Likud's victory in the 1977 elections he lost his cabinet position.

In 1981 he left Mapai to found the new Tami party alongside Aharon Abuhatzira. The party won three seats and was included in Menachem Begin's government. Uzan was made Deputy Minister of Immigrant Absorption in July that year. In May 1982 he became both Minister of Immigrant Absorption and Minister of Labor and Social Welfare after Abuhatzira resigned from both posts following his conviction for larceny, breach of trust and fraud. He held both posts until the 1984 elections, in which he lost his seat.