Binyamin Elon
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Rabbi Binyamin "Benny" Elon (1954-) is an Israeli politician, a Member of the Knesset and chairman of the Israeli nationalist right-wing party the National Union. Elon is a ninth-generation Jerusalemite and has been residing for the last 20 years in Beit El, a Jewish settlement in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. His father was the former Deputy Chief Justice of Israel and his brother, Rabbi Mordechai Elon, is a prominent figure in the Religious Zionist Movement.
Before becoming a Member of the Knesset he founded, along with Chanan Porat, the Talmudic College Beit Orot and became the first dean.
Elon was first elected to the Knesset in 1996 as member of the right-wing Moledet party, which advocates transfer of Palestinian population from the Israeli-occupied territories, an ideology which has been widely denounced in Israel as racist. In 1999, the Party allied with other small right-wing parties to form the National Union party. Following the assassination of Moledet leader Rehavam Zeevi in 2001, Elon replaced him as party chairman and as Tourism Minister. He consequently served two terms as Tourism Minister of Israel, between 2001-2002 and again between 2003-2004, both in Ariel Sharon's government.
Elon is a keen supporter of the continuation of the Israeli Settlement Enterprise in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, and does not recognize the Palestinian right for self determination in any part of the Land of Israel. As such, he rejects the mainstream efforts for establishing peace in the Middle East (see Road map for peace). Instead he suggests an alternative proposal he calls The Right Road to Peace, centered on transfer of Israeli Arabs, also known as the Elon Peace Plan.
During the 16th Knesset Elon gained notoriety for his attempt to foil Ariel Sharon's plan to dismiss him from the cabinet for intending to vote against the Disengagement Plan. Elon went into hiding, claiming that if he did not receive his dismissal in person within 48 hours of the cabinet meeting, then he would still be able to vote. Ultimately his dismissal was deemed legal, and he was not allowed to vote in the meeting.
He is the author of God's Covenant with Israel: Establishing Biblical Boundaries in Today's World (2005).
In February 2006 Elon was disagnosed with throat cancer.
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