Ilan Gilon

Ilan Gilon was born in 1956 in Galați

Gilon was born in Galați, Romania, as Florin Goldstein, the son of Abraham and Rachel. At 7 months old he contracted polio, which left him with a leg disability. In 1965 he immigrated to Israel with his family and grew up in Ashdod.

The IDF first refused to draft him because of his disability, but at 24 he was accepted for a short volunteer service in the Education Corps. He studied international relations and political science at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem but did not finish his degree. There he was active in the left wing campus group Kampus.

He chaired the Mapam youth from 1986 and became the first Meretz youth coordinator. From 1993 to 1999 he was deputy mayor of Ashdod in charge of education. He entered the Knesset in 1999 and passed over 15 laws and amendments, including a minimum wage law for waiters and expanded disability access rules.

After losing his seat in 2003 he opened a restaurant in Ashdod called Beit HaAm. He returned to the Knesset in 2009 and led the Meretz faction. In 2012 he finished second in the Meretz leadership race with 37.7%.

He withdrew from a second leadership race in 2018 after a stroke. He returned to the Knesset in January 2021 in place of Amir Peretz and did not run again due to his health. He was married to Yehudit, had 4 children, and died on 1 May 2022.