Gideon Ezra

Gideon Ezra was born in 1937 in Jerusalem

Ezra was born in Jerusalem in 1937 to a family that had come from Iraq. He grew up in the Kerem Avraham neighborhood, attended the Hebrew University Secondary School and belonged to the HaMahanot HaOlim youth movement. He studied geography and political science at university and was a member of Kibbutz Mahanayim for 4 years.

He joined the Shin Bet in 1962 and served in operations, Arab affairs and the Hebron and Ramallah areas. From 1974 to 1976 he served with the Mossad in Europe, and later headed several Shin Bet regions, including Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria. In 1994 he became deputy head of the Shin Bet and he retired in 1995.

After leaving the service he advised Minister of Internal Security Moshe Shahal on terrorism and served as CEO and president of Ituran. He entered the Knesset for Likud in 1996 and became Deputy Minister of Internal Security in 2001. He later served as minister in the Prime Minister's Office, Minister of Tourism and Minister of Internal Security, overseeing the Amona evacuation.

In 2005 he left Likud for Kadima and became Minister of Environmental Protection. In that role he forced the Reading power station to switch to natural gas, and his record in the ministry drew criticism. He was diagnosed with lung cancer in 2010, worked to raise awareness of the dangers of smoking, and died in 2012. He was married with 3 children.