Amir Peretz

Amir Peretz was born in 1952 in Bejaeed

Peretz was born Armand Peretz in Boujad, Morocco, to Ruhama and David Peretz. His father led the local Jewish community. The family moved to Israel in 1956 and settled in the area that became Sderot.

He joined the IDF in 1970 and became an ordnance officer in the paratroopers brigade, reaching the rank of captain. On 22 April 1974 he was badly hurt in an accident at the Mitla Pass. After about a year in the hospital he started a farm in Nir Akiva, where he grew flowers.

In 1983 he was elected head of the Sderot local council for Labor, with a focus on education. He entered the Knesset in 1988. In 1995 he became chairman of the Histadrut, a post he held until 2006, and in 1999 he founded the One Nation party.

One Nation merged into Labor, and in 2005 Peretz defeated Shimon Peres for the party leadership. As Defense Minister he oversaw the Second Lebanon War and approved the Iron Dome system. He lost the leadership to Ehud Barak and left the ministry in June 2007.

In 2013 he joined Hatnuah and served as Minister of Environmental Protection until he resigned in 2014. He returned to Labor and was elected its leader again in 2019. He left the Knesset on 29 January 2021.