Yisrael Kessar
Yisrael Kessar was an Israeli politician who served as a Knesset member for the Alignment and Labor Party between 1984 and 1996.Kessar was born in Sana'a, Yemen in 1931 and immigrated to Mandatory Palestine in 1933. He served in the IDF as a captain. He studied economy and sociology at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and Tel Aviv University.
In 1966 he began his public career in the Histadrut, as treasurer, chairman of the Worker's Company and secretary general. He was also chairman of the Division of the Professional Union and the Division of Youth, Sports, Manpower, and Students.
In 1984 he was elected to the Knesset for the Alignment. He was re-elected in 1988, and again in 1992, after which he was appointed Minister of Transportation by Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, a position he held until 1996. He was one of the early initiators of the Tel Aviv Light Rail. He lost his seat and ministerial post following the 1996 elections.
He died on 8 September 2019, aged 88, at the Wolfson Medical Center in Holon and will be buried in his hometown, Rishon LeZion.
