Ronny Bar-On

Ronny Bar-On was born in 1948 in Tel Aviv

Bar-On was born in Tel Aviv in 1948 as Aharon Haim Birnbaum, to religious parents who survived the Holocaust. He studied law at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. As a student he joined the Jerusalem branch of the Herut movement.

He worked as a lawyer in the private sector and served as a judge in the Military Court of Appeals in Judea and Samaria. In 1997 he was appointed Attorney General but resigned after 48 hours amid criticism of his appointment, in the Bar-On-Hebron affair. He later chaired the Council for the Regulation of Sports Betting and the board of Beitar Jerusalem.

He entered the Knesset for Likud in 2003 and chaired the House Committee. He followed Ariel Sharon to Kadima and in 2006 became Minister of National Infrastructure and Minister of Science and Technology. After the 2006 elections he became Minister of the Interior, and in July 2007 Minister of Finance, a post he held during the global economic crisis.

In 2008 the Knesset Ethics Committee severely reprimanded him over a 2003 vote he cast in place of another member. In opposition he chaired the State Control Committee and then the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee. He announced his retirement from politics in December 2012.

He has served as a director of several public companies, and in December 2021 became chairman of Tamar Petroleum. He lives in Motza Illit, is married to Bina and has 3 children.