Amnon Rubinstein

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Amnon Rubinstein (born 1931) is an Israeli scholar, politician, and columnist. A member of the Knesset since 1977, he founded Shinui (The Center Party) in 1974, and has served as the Minister for Communications and as Education Minister. He is currently dean of the law college in Netanya.

In his columns for Haaretz and Maariv, Rubinstein has focused on countering anti-Semitism and anti-Zionism within the European radical left. In one of his best-known editorials, he criticized human-rights groups for attacking Israel while turning a blind eye to atrocities committed by Arabs, as well as to ethnic cleansing in Sudan.

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Early life

Rubinstein was born in Tel Aviv. He studied economics, international relations, and law at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, was called to the bar in 1963, and received his Ph.D. in law from the London School of Economics in 1966.

He has held positions as a professor of law (1961-75) and Dean of the Law Faculty (1968-73) at Tel Aviv University.

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Political career

Rubinstein's political career began as head of "Shinui", a protest movement that was founded after the Yom Kippur War. Shinui joined Yigal Yadin's "The Democratic Movement" to form the Dash party. In the 1977 parliamentary elections, "Dash" won 15 out of 120 seats in the Knesset. Dash's victory came at the expense of the Israeli Labor party: for the first time in the 29 years since the founding of the modern state of Israel, a party other than Labor was elected into government. However, Rubinstein and Dash did not join Menachem Begin's Likud government coalition.

During elections for the 12th Assembly of the Knesset, Rubinstein's Shinui merged with Shulamit Aloni's Ratz and Zionist-socialist Mapam to form Meretz - a dovish, social-democratic liberal party. Meretz joined Itzhak Rabin's government in 1992, and Rubinstein was chosen as the Minister for Communications. However, early into his term he became Education Minister instead, replacing Shulamit Aloni who was forced to resign from office under pressure from religious factors, following statements she had made about teaching Evolution versus Creationism.

As an Education Minister, Rubinstein earned popularity because of his liberal approach, which de-facto manifested in lowering the bar for highschool graduates to enter higher education. He developed a system whereby Israeli highschool students would be required to take fewer matriculation exams: the subjects for the exams would be chosen each year by lottery. He also spoke out against the standardized tests which are required of Israeli university applicants (roughly equivalent to the SAT exams), claiming that if he had been required to pass these exams, he would not have been accepted to Law school.

Rubinstein lived to hear his own obituary read in 2000, when due to a practical joke, Knesset chairman Avraham Burg was led to believe that he had died. Rubinstein, who was hospitalized at the time for a minor complaint, saw his eulogy broadcast on television.

In 2000, Rubinstein left Meretz and retired from politics in favor of academic activity. He is currently the president of the Interdisciplinary Center in Herzliya, after having served as the Dean of Law there for a few years.

From 2000 to 2004 Rubinstein published editorials and opinion-columns in the newspaper Haaretz. In 2004 Rubinstein left Haaretz in favor of Maariv.

In 2006, Rubinstein won the Israel Prize, for the study of law

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Notable articles

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Books

  • "The Constitutional Law of the State of Israel" (Shoken publishing)
  • "Upholding morality" (Shoken publishing)
  • "From Herzl to Rabin and henceforth" (Shoken publishing)
  • "Daat Yachid" (Shoken publishing)
  • "Israel and the family of nations" (with Alexander Jacobson, Shoken publishing)
  • "Jurisdiction and Illegality: A Study in Public Law" (Oxford University Press)
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External link

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