Politicsאברהם עופר

Abraham Offer

Avraham Ofer was an Israeli politician of the Alignment who served as Minister of Housing and took his own life in 1977 after corruption suspicions were raised against him.

1922 to 1977Minister of HousingThe Bader-Ofer election lawThe Ofer affair

Born: 28 January 1922, Khorostkiv
Died: 3 January 1977, Tel Aviv
Occupation: politician
Party: Alignment
Education: Hebrew University of Jerusalem

Abraham Offer was born in 1922 in Khorostkiv

Ofer was born Avraham Hirsch in 1922 in Khorostkiv, then in Poland. He moved to the Land of Israel in 1933. He went to high school in Jerusalem and studied at the Hebrew University.

He joined the Haganah in 1937. In 1942 he helped found Kibbutz Hamadia, and in 1944 he helped found the Young Leadership of Mapai. He was also a founder and the first director of HaKfar HaYarok.

In 1952 he became Mapai secretary in the Tel Aviv District. He later worked at the Agriculture Ministry, set up the Poultry Council and managed the Ashdod Company. He was deputy mayor of Tel Aviv from 1965 to 1967 and then head of Shikun Ovdim.

He entered the Knesset for the Alignment in 1969. With Yohanan Bader he initiated a change to the election law on dividing surplus votes. He became Minister of Housing in Yitzhak Rabin's government.

In 1976 he was suspected of corruption linked to Shikun Ovdim. On 3 January 1977 he was found dead in his car in Tel Aviv after taking his own life, leaving a note saying he was innocent. The case was closed after his death and the suspicions were never proven in court.