Mk in The Opposition (1999-2001)
In the 1999 election, the Likud party, headed by the widely unpopular prime minister at the time, Benjamin Netanyahu, was running against the Labor party, headed by Ehud Barak. The labor party won 26 seats in the Knesset, while the Likud party received only 19 seats and lost the election. After the Labor party gained power in 1999 and the resignation of Benjamin Netanyahu, Shalom who reached the 1st place, became part of the opposition, lead by Ariel Sharon.
After challenging Netanyahu for party leadership in late 2005 and achieving second place, Shalom was granted the second spot on the Likud list to the 2006 general election and thus did not compete in the 11 January 2006 primaries. He was placed seventh on the party's list for the 2009 elections.
Shalom is married to Israeli talk show host Judy Shalom Nir-Mozes. The couple have five children and reside in Ramat Gan.
In January 2010, he asked Pope Benedict XVI to open the wartime archives of the papacy of Pius XII.
Read more about this topic: Silvan Shalom
Famous quotes containing the word opposition:
“Except for poverty, incompatibility, opposition of parents, absence of love on one side and of desire to marry on both, nothing stands in the way of our happy union.”
—Cyril Connolly (1903–1974)