Shulamit Aloni

Shulamit Aloni was born in 1928 in Tel Aviv

Shulamit Adler was born in Poland to a carpenter father and a seamstress mother, both from rabbinical families. The family moved to Mandatory Palestine when she was a child, and she grew up in Tel Aviv. During World War II her parents served in the British Army, and she lived in boarding schools in Raanana and Ben Shemen.

She joined Hashomer Hatzair and the Haganah, and later served in the Palmach. In the War of Independence she taught in the Jewish Quarter of Jerusalem's Old City during the siege and was captured by Jordanian forces. She later taught school while studying law.

She worked as a lawyer, hosted radio shows on civil rights and consumer issues, and wrote columns for Yediot Ahronoth and LaIsha. She joined Mapai in 1959 and entered the Knesset in 1965 on the Alignment list. In 1973 she founded Ratz, which won 3 seats.

She promoted human rights, women's rights, separation of religion and state, and dialogue with Palestinians. In 1988 she sponsored laws that decriminalized homosexuality. In 1992 she led Meretz to 12 seats and served as Minister of Education, then as Minister of Communications.

After the 1996 election she lost the Meretz leadership to Yossi Sarid and retired from politics. She later sat on the board of Yesh Din. She received the Israel Prize in 2000 and died in 2014.