Ya'akov Katz

Ya'akov Katz was born in 1951 in Jerusalem

Katz was born in Jerusalem in 1951. His mother's family had lived in the Land of Israel for 5 generations, and his father came from Poland in the 1930s. He studied at the Bnei Akiva yeshiva Kfar Haroeh and at Yeshivat Mercaz HaRav.

He joined the IDF in 1970 and served in Sayeret Shaked. He was badly wounded in the Yom Kippur War in 1973. While in hospital he met Tami, whom he married, and they have 7 children.

After his recovery he returned to Mercaz HaRav. He was among the founders of Gush Emunim and of the Beit El settlement and its yeshiva. He later served as an assistant to Ariel Sharon at the Housing Ministry.

In 1987 he helped set up the radio station Arutz Sheva on a ship, and in 2002 he cofounded the weekly BeSheva. In 2003 he was convicted of running an illegal radio station and of perjury. President Moshe Katsav pardoned him in 2006.

In December 2008 he became head of the National Union, and he entered the Knesset in 2009. He proposed a Yom HaAliyah holiday. He lost his seat in the 2013 election.