Yitzhak Ben Yisrael

MKs


Date of birth = Birth date and age|1949|7|26|df=y
Date of death =
Knesset(s) = 17th (current)
Party = Kadima
Gov't roles =

Professor Yitzhak Ben Yisrael ( _he. יצחק בן ישראל, born 26 July 1949) is an Israeli military scientist, general and politician, currently the chairman of the Israeli Space Agency and a Member of the Knesset for Kadima. He is the former head of the Administration for the Development of Weapons and the Technological Industry, which he was appointed to in 1998, and at that point, elevated to the rank of Aluf (Res.). Ben Yisrael is head of the Program for Defense Studies, the Curiel Center and the Tel Aviv Workshop for Science Technology and Security, and a lecturer at the Cohen Institute for the History and Philosophy of Sciences and Ideas and at the School of Government and Policy at Tel Aviv University. He holds several other positions.

History and positions

Ben Yisrael finished his studies at the Herzliya Hebrew High School in 1967, and was soon enlisted into the IDF as a prospective academic recruit. His last position in the IDF was as the head of the Analysis and Assessment Division of the Israeli Air Force Air Intelligence Directorate's Operations Research Branch. From 2000-2002, he was a member of the board of directors of Israel Aircraft Industries. He is also a member of the board of the Israel Corp.; the research and development advisory board of Teva Pharmaceutical Industries; the Fisher Institute for Air and Space Strategic Studies; the advisory council of the Technion's Neaman Institute for Advanced Studies in Science and Technology; the academic council of Tel-Aviv Academic College of Engineering; the Interdisciplinary Center for Technological Analysis and forecasting (Tel-Aviv Univ.); and the National Committee for Information Society Technology. In 2003, he founded RAY-TOP (Technology Opportunities) Ltd., a Defense conslutancy firm. Ben Yisrael was number 31 on the Kadima list in the Israeli legislative election of 2006, but ended up being two votes short of entering the Knesset.

upport for the Nautilus MTHEL

Ben Yisrael has been a staunch supporter of —and by extension, critic of the Israeli government's failure to continue to develop and implement after US funding was withdrawn from— the Nautilus Mobile Tactical High Energy Laser (MTHEL) to serve as a central component of the Israeli Air Defense Network against high-trajectory attacks, such as by Katyusha and Qassam rockets from Southern Lebanon and the Palestinian territories, respectively. He reiterated these arguments during the 2006 Israel-Gaza conflict and the 2006 Israel-Lebanon conflict, and called for increasing the military budget of Israel with a focus on advanced technology, including reviving the MTHEL program.

Politics

In the 2006 elections, he was positioned in the 31st place of the Kadima party and was not elected to the Knesset. After Shimon Peres resigned his seat in the Knesset to become President, Ben Yisrael replaced him on June 25, 2007.

Awards

Ben Yisrael has received numerous awards for his contributions to Israeli defense and intelligence doctrine. He is the author of "Dialogues on Science and Defense" (1989) and "The Philosophy of Intelligence" (1999).

*1972: "The Israel Defense Prize" — for developing a bombing system for the F-4 Phantom II
*1976: "The Israeli Air Force Prize" — for developing a computerized control and supervision system
*1984: "The Head of the Intelligence Directorate Prize" — "for "creative thought"
*1989: "Itzhak-Sade Prize for Military Literature" — for his book "Dialogues on Science and Defense"
*2001: "The Israel Defense Prize" — a second time, for developing weapon systems
* 2002: "The Singapore Defense Technology Distinguished Award" — for "outstanding contribution to bilateral defense relations between Israel and Singapore for his contribution to Defense relations between Israel and Singapore"

Further reading

*Eyal Zisser, " [http://www.meib.org/articles/0011_l1.htm Israeli Policy after the Withdrawal from South Lebanon: New Realities, Old Dilemmas,] " "Middle East Intelligence Bulletin", Vol. 2, No. 10, November 2000.

*Amnon Barzilai, " [http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/US-Israel/nautilus.html U.S. Cancels Rocket Interception Weapon Deal with Israel] ," "Globes," January 18, 2006.

*" [http://www.tmcnet.com/usubmit/2006/04/27/1617119.htm Interview with Yitzhak Ben Yisrael, head of the Israeli Space Agency, discussing the new Israeli Satellite to spy on the Iranian nuclear program] ," IBA, April 26, 2006.

*Ro'i Ben-Horin, " [http://www.tau.ac.il/jcss/sa/v4n1p3.html Non-Lethal Weapons Theory, Practice, and what Lies Between] ," "Jaffe Center for Strategic Studies" (Tel Aviv Univ.), Vol. 3, No. 4, January 2001.

*Yitzhak Ben Yisrael, " [http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/736008.html Myths of pullout and terror] ", "Haaretz", July 8, 2006.