MK and Minister
In 1966, during the Gahal party convention (a predecessor to today's Likud), party leader Menachem Begin was challenged by the young Olmert, who called for his resignation. Begin announced that he would retire from party leadership, but soon reversed his decision when the crowd emotionally pleaded with him to stay.
Olmert was first elected to the Knesset in 1973 at the age of 28, and was re-elected seven consecutive times. Between 1981 and 1989, he served as a member of the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee and served on the Finance, Education and Defense Budget Committees. He served as minister without portfolio, responsible for minority affairs between 1988 and 1990, and as minister of health from 1990 until 1992. Following Likud's defeat in the 1992 election, instead of remaining a Knesset member in the opposition, he successfully ran for mayor of Jerusalem in November 1993.
Read more about this topic: Ehud Olmert
Famous quotes containing the word minister:
“[T]he minister preached a sermon on Jonah and the whale, at the end of which an old chief arose and declared, “We have heard several of the white people talk and lie; we know they will lie, but this is the biggest lie we ever heard.””
—Administration in the State of Miss, U.S. public relief program (1935-1943)