Former Likud minister Avraham Sharir dies at 84
Ex-lawmaker retired from politics in 1992 after becoming involved in a political move that failed to oust then-PM Itzhak Shamir
Former Likud minister Avraham Sharir died on Saturday at the age of 84, his family said.
Sharir had been receiving treatment at Tel Aviv’s Ichilov Hospital, for injuries he sustained from a fall in his home last week, when he passed away from an infection.
A lawyer by profession, Sharir served as both justice and tourism minister during his 15-year parliamentary career.
Before he entered the Knesset, Sharir during the 1960s worked as an economic adviser and liaison officer for the Jewish Agency in the US. He later served as an economic counsel at the Israeli consulate in Atlanta.
Between 1974 and 1977 Sharir served as general secretary and board chairman of the Liberal Party, which later merged with the Likud.
He was elected to the ninth Knesset as a Likud MK in 1977, and again in the next three Knessets in 1981, 1984 and 1988.
Sharir was appointed tourism minister in the 10th Knesset and justice minister in the 11th. He also served as a member of the Finance and the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committees.
In 1990, Sharir left the Likud to form the New Liberal Party, and became a central figure in what has been dubbed “the dirty trick” by joining then-finance minister Shimon Peres’s attempt to form a new government.
When that move failed, he returned to the Likud at the request of then-prime minister Yitzhak Shamir. He retired from politics in 1992.
Sharir will be buried on Sunday in Tel Aviv. He is survived by his wife Rivka, their four children and nine grandchildren.
The Times of Israel Community.