Ya'acobi, Gad
YA'ACOBI, GAD
YA'ACOBI, GAD (1935– ), Israeli politician, member of the Seventh to Twelfth Knessets. Ya'acobi was born in Kefar Vitkin where he attended high school. After serving in the idf in 1953–56, he studied economics and political science at Tel Aviv University and completed an M.A. in economics in 1959. Ya'acobi was assistant to Minister of Agriculture Moshe *Dayan in 1960–61, and headed the Agricultural Planning and Development Center in the Ministry of Agriculture (1961–66). In 1965 he was one of the founders of the *Rafi Party, and in 1966–69 was a member of the Histadrut Central Committee, and of the Ḥevrat ha-Ovedim Executive. In 1967 he participated in the Harvard University International Seminar, headed by Professor Henry *Kissinger. Ya'acobi became a member of the Labor Party Bureau in 1968, when the party was first established. He was first elected to the Seventh Knesset in 1969, and served as deputy minister of transportation under Golda *Meir in 1969–74, and as minister of transportation under Yitzhak *Rabin in 1974–77. In 1977–84, when the Labor Alignment was in opposition, he served as chairman of the Knesset Economics Committee and as chairman of the Socioeconomic Committee of the Labor party. In 1980–82 he taught political science at Haifa University.
In the National Unity Government formed in 1984 Ya'acobi was appointed minister of economics and inter-ministerial coordination. He later changed the name of his ministry to the Ministry of Economic Planning. In this position Ya'acobi stood behind the organization of the Task Force established together with Jewish businessmen from abroad to encourage investments in Israel. After making numerous proposals over the years for electoral reform, soon after the formation of the National Unity Government he was appointed chairman of a joint Labor-Likud Committee on electoral reform that proposed changing the Israeli electoral system to a mixed system in which half the Knesset members would be elected in multi-member constituencies and the other half on the basis of proportional representation. However, while the reform was approved by the Labor Central Committee, it was rejected by that of the Likud, and the idea was buried. In 1987, following the resignation of Amnon *Rubinstein from the Ministry of Communications, Ya'acobi was appointed in his place, and continued to serve in this position from 1988 until March 1990 when the Labor Party left the National Unity Government. After Ya'acobi failed to be elected to the Thirtenth Knesset, he was appointed by Minister for Foreign Affairs Shimon *Peres as Israel's permanent representative to the United Nations, serving in this position in 1992–96. Next he served as chairman of the board of directors of the Israel Electric Corporation until 1998, and in 2000–03 was chairman of the Ports and Railways Authority. Ya'acobi started teaching political science at Tel Aviv University in 1998, and from 2003 taught at the Interdisciplinary Center in Herzliyyah. He was a member of the Ben-Gurion Foundation, the Rabin Center, the Alterman Foundation, and served on the boards of directors of several corporations.
In addition to having written numerous books on politics and reminiscences, Ya'acobi has written three children's books, poetry, and articles in the press. Among his works are The Government of Israel (1982) and an autobiography, Ḥesed ha-Zeman (2002).
[Susan Hattis Rolef (2nd ed.)]