Natan Sharansky

Natan Sharansky of the Jewish Agency for Israel photographed in 2007

Natan Sharansky (formerly Anatoly Sharansky) is a former Soviet dissident prisoner and former Deputy Prime Minister of Israeli.

History

Born Anatoly Sharansky in 1948 in Ukraine, then part of the Soviet Union, he was one of the founders of the Helsinki Monitoring Group. In 1973 he was denied an exit visa on security grounds and becmae heavily involved in the refusenik movement and Zionist activities. In 1977 he was arrested on charges of spying for the United States. Although the U.S. government categorically denied any connection between Sharansky and the C.I.A., Sharansky was convicted in 1978, sentenced to 13 years and imprisoned. His wife Avital in conjunction with organizations around the world. In February 1986 he was released in a US-Soviet prisoner exchange and immediately made aliyah, adopting the Hebrew name Natan.

In 1988, he was elected President of the newly created Zionist Forum, active in promoting immigration and absorption of Soviet Jews, and was an associate editor of the Jerusalem Report. In 1995 he co-founded a political party, Yisrael B'Aliya, allegedly with the aim of bringing a million Jewish immigrants from the former Soviet Union and a million Jewish citizens of the United States and Europe to Israel. He represented the party in the Knesset from 1996 until January 2003.

Sharansky served as Minister of Industry and Trade from June 1996-1999, as Minister of the Interior from July 1999 until his resignation in July 2000, as Minister of Housing and Construction and Deputy Prime Minister from March 2001 until February 2003. He was Minister without Portfolio, responsible for Jerusalem, social and Diaspora affairs from February 2003 until his resignation in May 2005. His May 2005 resignation was in protest aganist Sharon's plan to withdraw from Gaza.

He served as Chairman and Distinguished Fellow of the Adelson Institute for Strategic Studies at the Shalem Center until June 2009 when he was elected Chairman of the Executive of the Jewish Agency for Israel by the Jewish Agency Board of Governors

Political history

• Helsinki Monitoring Group; founded and led Jewish movement in this group. It engaged in Zionist activities in the former Soviet Union.
• Yisrael Ba-Aliya; co-founded and led party focusing on Russian immigrants.
• Minister of Industry and Trade under Benjamin Netanyahu, June 1996-1999.
• Minister of Interior from July 1999 until resignation in July 2000.
• Minister of Housing and Construction, and Deputy Prime Minister under Ariel Sharon, March 2001-2003.
• Minister for Jerusalem and Diaspora Affairs, 2003 until resignation in 2005.
• Chairman and Distinguished Fellow at the Adelson Institute for Strategic Studies of the Shalem Center, 2006-9.
• Chairman of the Executive of the Jewish Agency for Israel, 2009-present.

Activities

Part of President Bush's political DNA

President George W. Bush revealed that he had read Sharansky's book. He stated that the views portrayed by Sharansky in, Case for Democracy: The Power of Freedom to Overcome Tyranny and Terror, had become "part of my presidential DNA" This may be troublesome because:

In Israel and across the Middle East, Sharansky is widely regarded as a right-wing Zionist and hawk, who positions himself to the right of Ariel Sharon. And:

Sharansky's philosophy of freedom and fear, good and evil, is a projection of his own political activism both in Israel and as a 'refusenik' and political prisoner in the Soviet Union. According to Israel's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in the 1970s Sharansky engaged 'in underground Zionist activities' until his 1977 arrest by Soviet authorities on charges of treason and espionage.

Uri Avnery, the veteran Israeli journalist, wrote of Sharansky's influence on Bush that "The idea that the teachings of this particular political philosopher are the guiding star of the mightiest leader in the world, the commander of the biggest military machine in history, is rather frightening".

The Shirley & Banister Public Affairs Republican PR firm did promotion for Sharansky's Case for Democracy book, according to Jack O'Dwyer's Newsletter O'Dwyer's credited Shirley & Banister with securing a Rush Limbaugh interview and a meeting with "President Bush, who along with Condoleezza Rice, has cited the work in speeches and interviews."

Campaign to free Pollard

In February 2004, Sharansky visited Jonathan Pollard, the imprisoned Israeli spy, in a US federal prison. Sharansky lent his reputation as a former imprisoned Soviet "dissident" to the campaign by Zionist groups in the US to release Pollard.

Affiliations

• Adelson Institute, based at Shalem Center
• Global Forum for Combating Antisemitism - Founder
• International Freedom Center - Director
• Likud
• MEMRI - Board of Advisors
• One Jerusalem
• Yisra'el Ba'aliyah, the Russian immigrants' party in Israel
• Zionist Forum
• Jewish Agency for Israel

Publications

• Fear No Evil (1988)
• The Case for Democracy: the Power of Freedom to Overcome Tyranny and Terror (2006)
• Defending Identity: Its Indispensable Role in Protecting Democracy (2010)