Israel Guri

Israel Guri was born in 1893 in Hirișeni

Israel Guri was born Israel Gurfinkel in Hirișeni, in the Russian Empire, in present-day Moldova. He studied in a heder and finished high school in Chișinău, where he was active in Tzeiri Zion. He then attended the University of Odessa.

In Odessa he served as secretary of the Zionist committee and of the local branch of the Jewish National Fund. There he married Gila Voskobovnik. He moved to the Land of Israel in 1919 and worked for the Tel Aviv municipality until 1928.

He belonged to Hapoel Hatzair and helped found the Histadrut, sitting on the Tel Aviv Workers Council from 1922 to 1931. In 1930 he was among the founders of Mapai. He also served in the Assembly of Representatives and on the Tel Aviv City Council.

In 1949 he was elected to the first Knesset for Mapai and served until the fifth Knesset. From the second Knesset he chaired the Finance Committee. In 1955 he headed the Guri Committee on senior civil service pay.

Guri was a vegetarian and lived in Amirim. He died in 1965 while still a member of the Knesset. The main street of Kiryat Shalom in south Tel Aviv bears his name.