Yuval Steinitz

Yuval Steinitz was born in 1958 in Ramot HaShavim

Steinitz was born in 1958 in Moshav Ramot HaShavim, the eldest of 4 children. His father Dan was an engineer and his mother Mina taught literature and philosophy. In his final high school year he was expelled from Katznelson High School in Kfar Saba and later completed his matriculation exams externally.

He served in the Golani Brigade from 1977 to 1980 and took part in Operation Litani. As a reservist in the 1982 Lebanon War he was wounded in the leg in fighting with the Syrian army.

He earned a BA and an MA in philosophy with honors at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and a doctorate at Tel Aviv University. His book Invitation to Philosophy came out in 1987 and appeared in 74 editions and printings. After receiving the Alon Scholarship in 1993 he taught philosophy at the University of Haifa.

In the early 1980s he supported Peace Now, and in 1983 he was injured by the grenade that killed Emil Grunzweig at a rally in Jerusalem. Criticism of the Oslo Accords and concern over Egypt's military buildup moved him to the right. Elected to the Knesset for Likud in 1999, he later chaired the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee and led an inquiry into Israeli intelligence after the Iraq War.

In 2009 he became Minister of Finance and was the first to submit a two-year budget to the Knesset. He was Minister of Intelligence and of Strategic Affairs from 2013 to 2015 and Minister of Energy from 2015 to 2021. After leaving politics he lectured at Reichman University and the Technion, became a visiting professor at the Hebrew University in 2025, and chairs Rafael Advanced Defense Systems.