Politicsגונן שגב

Gonen Segev

Gonen Segev is an Israeli physician and former politician who served as Minister of Energy and Infrastructure and was later convicted of drug smuggling and of spying for Iran.

born 1956Minister of Energy and InfrastructureVote on the Oslo Accords2004 ecstasy smuggling caseConviction for spying for Iran

Born: 6 January 1956, Kiryat Motzkin
Occupation: politician
Party: Tzomet
Education: Ben-Gurion University of the Negev

Gonen Segev was born in 1956 in Kiryat Motzkin

Segev was born in Kiryat Motzkin in 1956 and grew up there. He attended the ORT Kiryat Motzkin high school.

In the IDF he began the Air Force pilot course but left it and served in the Alpinist Unit, reaching the rank of captain. He then earned an M.D. at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev and worked as a doctor and farmer in Tel Adashim.

He joined the Tzomet party of Rafael Eitan and entered the 13th Knesset in 1992 as an opposition member. In 1994 he and 2 other members split off to form the Yiud faction. In 1995 he became Minister of Energy and Infrastructure in Yitzhak Rabin's government, and his vote helped pass the Oslo Accords. He kept the post under Shimon Peres until 1996.

After politics he worked in business, including as an energy consultant. In 2004 he was arrested for trying to smuggle ecstasy from Amsterdam using a forged diplomatic passport. In a plea bargain he was sentenced to 5 years in prison, his medical license was revoked, and he was released early in 2007.

He later worked as a doctor in Nigeria. In 2018 he was arrested and indicted for spying for Iran, and he claimed he acted as a double agent. In 2019 he was convicted in a plea bargain and sentenced to 11 years in prison.