Politicsמרדכי זר

Mordechai Zar

Mordechai Zar was an Israeli politician and trade unionist who served as a Mapai member of the Knesset between 1959 and 1974.

1914 to 1982Mapai member of the KnessetHistadrut work for Mizrahi JewsLeading Iranian Jewish immigrants' association

Born: 14 January 1914, Mashhad
Died: 15 November 1982, Israel
Occupation: politician, trade unionist
Party: Mapai

Mordechai Zar was born in 1914 in Mashhad

Zar was born in Mashhad, Iran, to a Persian Jewish family. His family name comes from the family's trade of working with gold threads. He moved to Mandatory Palestine in 1935.

He first worked in construction and road paving. In 1942 he joined the Employment Bureau, and in 1946 he became head of the Histadrut department for Mizrahi Jews in Jerusalem. He also headed the culture department of the Jerusalem Workers Council, led the Association of Iranian Jewish Immigrants and chaired the Sephardi committee in Jerusalem.

He sat on the Jerusalem City Council from 1955 to 1965. He entered the Knesset on the Mapai list in 1959, lost his seat in 1961, and returned in 1963 after the death of Ami Assaf. He kept his seat in 1965 and 1969, served as a deputy speaker in the seventh Knesset, and lost his seat in the 1973 elections.

He was the father of actor Dudu Zar and of Gidi Zar. He died in 1982, and a street in the Pisgat Ze'ev neighborhood of Jerusalem bears his name.