Benjamin Elon

Benjamin Elon was born in 1954 in Jerusalem

Elon was born in Jerusalem in 1954. His father was Menachem Elon, later Deputy Chief Justice of Israel. He was married to the author Emuna Elon, and they had 6 children.

He studied at Mercaz HaRav Yeshiva and at the HaIdra Yeshiva in the Golan Heights. He served in the IDF Artillery Corps. He was ordained as a rabbi in 1978.

He taught at several yeshivas and worked for the Jewish Agency in the United States from 1983 to 1985. In 1990 he founded the Beit Orot Yeshiva with Hanan Porat and headed it until 1996. He also founded the publishing house Sifriyat Beit El with his wife in 1987.

He entered the Knesset in 1996 for Moledet and later sat for the National Union. After the killing of Rehavam Ze'evi he became Minister of Tourism, and he held the post again under Ariel Sharon until his dismissal in 2004 over the disengagement plan. He supported settlement in the West Bank and proposed a plan called The Right Road to Peace.

He built ties with Christian supporters of Israel and founded the Israel Allies Foundation in 2007. He was diagnosed with throat cancer in 2006 and did not run in 2009. He died in 2017.