Israel Bar-Yehuda

Israel Bar-Yehuda was born in 1895 in Konotop

He was born Israel Idelson in Konotop, in the Russian Empire, in 1895. His family moved to Ekaterinoslav, where he attended high school and studied at the Mine Engineering Institute. He joined Zionist youth groups, including Tze'irei Zion.

In 1917 he became a member of the movement's central committee, and he later served as a key organizer of the Socialist Zionist party in the Soviet Union. He married Beba Idelson, whom he later divorced. In 1922 he was arrested by the Soviet authorities and sent into exile, and he was later released and went to Berlin.

In 1926 he emigrated to Palestine and became secretary of the Petah Tikva Workers Council. In 1930 he joined kibbutz Yagur. He was a delegate to the Assembly of Representatives and a leader of Ahdut HaAvoda after the 1944 split in Mapai.

He was elected to the first and second Knessets for Mapam and later served for Ahdut HaAvoda. As minister of internal affairs, his guidelines on registering Jews in the population registry led to a coalition crisis in 1958. He served as minister of transportation from 1962 until his death in 1965, and he was buried at Yagur.