Ra'anan Cohen

Ra'anan Cohen was born in 1941 in Baghdad

Cohen was born in Baghdad, Iraq, to Hana and Elisha, and was first named Sasson. He came to Israel in 1951 and grew up in the Kastina transit camp and later in Or Yehuda. He was educated at Kibbutz Ein Harod Ihud through Youth Aliyah.

From 1961 he was a counselor in the HaNoar HaOved VeHaLomed youth movement in several towns. He studied at Tel Aviv University, earning a BA in general history and an MA and PhD in Middle Eastern history. His 1991 doctorate examined the political development and voting patterns of Israel's Arab citizens.

In the Labor Party he became secretary-general of Beit Berl in 1970 and later headed the party's Arab and Druze branch and its elections branch. Around this time he changed his first name from Sasson to Ra'anan. He entered the Knesset in 1988 on the Alignment list and was coalition chairman in the 13th Knesset.

In the Knesset he raised the issue of exemptions from IDF service and led a housing project for discharged soldiers that built the Neot Yitzhak neighborhood in Lod. He was elected party secretary-general in 1997 and became Minister of Labor and Social Welfare in 2000. Under Ariel Sharon he was a minister without portfolio, and he left politics in 2002.

Cohen has written several books, including one on Israel's Arab citizens. He lives in Ramat Gan, which named him Yakir Ramat Gan in 2017.