View source for Silvan Shalom

{{Short description|Israeli politician (born 1958)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2020}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| name                = Silvan Shalom
| native_name         = {{Nobold|{{Script/Hebrew|סילבן שלום}}}}
| native_name_lang    = he
| image               = Silvan Shalom.jpg
| birth_place         = [[Gabès]], [[Tunisia]]
| birth_date          = {{Birth date and age|1958|8|4|df=y}}
| death_date          = 
| office1             = Ministerial roles
| suboffice1          = {{nowrap|[[Science, Culture and Sport Minister of Israel|Minister of Science & Technology]]}}
| subterm1            = 1998–1999
| suboffice2          = [[Finance Minister of Israel|Minister of Finance]]
| subterm2            = 2001–2003
| suboffice3          = [[Deputy leaders of Israel#Deputy Prime Minister|Deputy Prime Minister]]
| subterm3            = 2001–2006
| suboffice4          = [[Minister of Foreign Affairs of Israel|Minister of Foreign Affairs]]
| subterm4            = 2003–2006
| suboffice5          = [[Deputy leaders of Israel#Vice Prime Minister|Vice Prime Minister]]
| subterm5            = 2009–2013
| suboffice6          = [[Regional Development Minister of Israel|Minister for Regional Development]]
| subterm6            = 2009–2015
| suboffice7          = [[Ministry for the Development of the Negev and Galilee|Minister for the Development of the Negev & Galilee]]
| subterm7            = 2009–2015
| suboffice8          = [[Ministry of National Infrastructures, Energy and Water Resources|Minister of National Infrastructure, Energy & Water Resources]]
| subterm8            = 2013–2015
| suboffice9          = [[Deputy leaders of Israel#Vice Prime Minister|Vice Prime Minister]]
| subterm9            = 2015
| suboffice10         = [[Ministry of Interior (Israel)|Minister of the Interior]]
| subterm10           = 2015
| office11            = Faction represented in the [[Knesset]]
| suboffice11         = [[Likud]]
| subterm11           = 1992–2015
}}

'''Zion Silvan Shalom''' ({{langx|he|ציון סילבן שלום}}; born 4 August 1958) is an Israeli politician who served as a member of the Knesset for [[Likud]] between 1992 and 2015. He held several prominent ministerial positions, including [[Deputy leaders of Israel#Vice Prime Minister|Vice Prime Minister]] and [[Ministry of Interior (Israel)|Minister of the Interior]]. He resigned on 24 December 2015 following allegations of [[sexual harassment]].<ref name=resignation>{{Cite web|url=https://www.smh.com.au/world/israels-vice-premier-silvan-shalom-resigns-amid-sex-harassment-allegations-20151221-gls5zu.html|title=Israel's vice premier Silvan Shalom resigns amid sex harassment allegations|first=Ari|last=Rabinovitch|date=20 December 2015|website=The Sydney Morning Herald|access-date=2 September 2020}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/dec/20/israeli-vice-premier-resigns-over-sexual-harassment-allegations|title=Silvan Shalom's replacement to be Likud's first openly gay Knesset member|first=Kate|last=Shuttleworth|newspaper=The Guardian |date=20 December 2015|access-date=2 September 2020|via=www.theguardian.com}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.jerusalemonline.com/silvan-shalom-resigns-but-sex-scandal-may-be-far-from-over-17907/|title=Silvan Shalom resigns, but sex scandal may be far from over|first=Omri|last=Ariel|date=20 December 2015|access-date=2 September 2020}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2015/12/minister-silvan-shalom-yinon-magal-sexual-scandal-police.html|title=Social media fans flames of sexual harassment claims against Israeli minister|first=Mazal|last=Mualem|date=18 December 2015|website=Al-Monitor|access-date=2 September 2020}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.timesofisrael.com/pm-shalom-made-the-right-decision-to-quit-over-sex-scandal/|title=PM: Shalom 'made the right decision' to quit over sex scandal|first1=Raphael|last1=Ahren|first2=T. O. I.|last2=staff|website=[[The Times of Israel]]|date=21 December 2015 |access-date=2 September 2020 |issn=0040-7909}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/israel/12061884/Israels-interior-minister-Silvan-Shalom-resigns-amid-mounting-harassment-allegations.html|title=Israel's interior minister Silvan Shalom resigns amid sexual harassment allegations|website=The Telegraph|date=21 December 2015 |access-date=2 September 2020}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/.premium-silvan-shalom-resigns-knesset-seat-1.5381687|title=Silvan Shalom resigns Knesset seat after 23 years in parliament|newspaper=Haaretz|access-date=2 September 2020}}</ref> Later on, the Attorney-General closed this investigation and said these claims were unsubstantiated.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.timesofisrael.com/sexual-assault-investigation-of-silvan-shalom-is-closed/|title=Sexual assault investigation of Silvan Shalom is closed|author=TOI STAFF|date=7 May 2019|work=[[The Times of Israel]]|access-date=18 December 2019}}</ref>

==Early life==
Shalom was born in [[Gabès]], [[Tunisia]] on 4 August 1958<ref name=knesset>{{cite web|title=Knesset Member Silvan Shalom|url=https://www.knesset.gov.il/mk/eng/mk_eng.asp?mk_individual_id_t=122|publisher=Knesset|access-date=17 September 2012}}</ref> to a family that traced its roots to the [[Sephardi Jews|Sephardic]] Beit Shalom dynasty. His family [[aliyah|moved to Israel]] in 1959, settling in the city of [[Beersheba]] in the [[Negev]]. On 3 November 1964, when Shalom was six years old, his father Shimon Shalom, a bank manager and a member of the [[Betar]] movement, was killed during the course of a bungled bank robbery. The murder was notoriously known as the first committed in a bank robbery in the history of the young State of Israel. At the age of 18, Shalom was inducted into the [[Israel Defense Forces]] (IDF) and rose to the rank of [[Sergeant#Israel|sergeant]].

==Education and early career==
After completing his service in the IDF, Shalom attended [[Ben-Gurion University of the Negev]] in Beersheba, from which he received a [[Bachelor of Arts|BA]] in [[economics]] and earned his certification as a [[Certified Public Accountant]]. During that time, Shalom was elected as the chairman of the university's students' union and later as the vice chairman of the national students union. He then studied law and [[public policy]] at [[Tel Aviv University]]. He received an [[Bachelor of Laws|LLB]] and was certified as a lawyer, and a received a [[Master's degree]] in public policy.

Shalom began his career as a journalist. While working on his [[bachelor's degree]], he wrote for ''[[Yedioth Aharonoth]],'' a daily newspaper, in its students section. Afterwards he started working at the ''Rosh Berosh'' magazine and in the Negev's local newspaper. In 1980, he moved to Tel Aviv and started working at the now-defunct daily ''[[Hadashot]]''. In 1984, he was appointed as its head political and economic correspondent.

==Political career==
In 1985, Shalom was appointed adviser to the [[Ministry of Finance (Israel)|Finance Minister]], [[Yitzhak Moda'i]], who was later appointed [[Justice Minister of Israel|Justice Minister]]. At the age of 31, he was appointed [[director-general]] of the [[Energy and Water Resources Minister of Israel|Energy Ministry]] and two years later, in 1990, he was appointed director-general of the [[Israel Electric Corporation]].

===Knesset member===

In 1992, at the age of 34, Shalom was 34th on the Likud list for the 13th Knesset, but the party received only 33 seats in the elections. When former [[Ministry of Defense (Israel)#Minister of Defense|Defense Minister]] [[Moshe Arens]] resigned, Shalom succeeded him as an MK.  
     
As a young MK, his first bill was in the academic field. In 1992 there was room for only 100,000 university students, with no space for more. Shalom acted to allow all students to be accepted once others left their academic institutions at the end of their first year. His bill increased awareness about the problem and, as a result, Israeli colleges were established to expand access to academic studies. In 2010, for the first time, more students were enrolled in colleges than universities.
Shalom, during his first term, was the first male MK to be a member of the Knesset's committee on the status of women. He was also the chairman of the subcommittee regarding the capital market, chairman of the subcommittee of energy and a member of the economic affairs committee.

===Deputy Defense Minister===
Following the [[Israeli legislative election, 1996|1996 election]], Shalom, who won the 18th spot in the combined list of Likud and two other conservative parties, became [[Ministry of Defense (Israel)#Deputy ministers|Deputy Defense Minister]] under the minister [[Yitzhak Mordechai]]. One of his biggest achievements was enabling [[Haredi Judaism|Hareidi Jews]] to serve in the army, a step that they had been avoiding for decades. The Hareidi battalion, "Netzah Yehuda", was established in February 1999.

==Minister of Science==
After a rotation with MK [[Michael Eitan]], Shalom, on 13 July 1998, became [[Ministry of Science, Technology and Space|Minister of Science]]. During his year in office he created the "science flowers" project, which helped universities reach Israel's periphery and helped underprivileged students excel. Another main project Shalom was involved in was in expanding [[Internet]] and [[broadband]] access in Israel.

==MK in the opposition (1999–2001)==
In the 1999 election, the Likud party, headed by the widely unpopular prime minister at the time, [[Benjamin Netanyahu]], was running against the [[Israeli Labor Party|Labor party]], headed by [[Ehud Barak]]. Labor won 26 seats in the Knesset, while Likud received only 19 seats and lost the election. After Labor gained power in 1999 and following Netanyahu's resignation, Shalom became number one on the Likud list and became part of the opposition led by [[Ariel Sharon]].
[[File:Rice and Shalom.jpg|thumb|Condoleezza Rice and Silvan Shalom]]

===Since 2001===
Shalom was the runner-up to Netanyahu for party leadership in [[2005 Likud leadership election|December 2005]]<ref>{{Cite web |date=2005-12-20 |title=נתניהו ניצח בבחירות בליכוד עם 44.4% - וואלה! חדשות |url=https://news.walla.co.il/item/828261 |access-date=2022-05-26 |website=וואלה! |language=he}}</ref> and was granted the second spot on the Likud list to the 2006 general election and thus did not compete in its 11 January 2006 primaries. He was placed seventh on the party's list for the [[Israeli legislative election, 2009|2009 elections]].

In January 2010, he asked Pope [[Benedict XVI]] to open the wartime archives of the papacy of [[Pius XII]].<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3835716,00.html|title=Israel asks pope to open up WWII archives|date=17 January 2010|website=Ynetnews|access-date=2 September 2020}}</ref>

As [[Ministry of National Infrastructures, Energy and Water Resources|Energy Minister]] Shalom led an Israeli delegation to [[Abu Dhabi]] on [[renewable energy]] in January 2014. The visit was controversial, as the [[United Arab Emirates]] did not maintain diplomatic relations with Israel and no Israeli leaders had traveled there since the assassination of [[Mahmoud al-Mabhouh]] in 2010.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-25771311|title=Israel in first UAE visit since murder of Hamas al-Mabhouh|date=16 January 2014|work=[[BBC Online]]|access-date=27 January 2014}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.timesofisrael.com/israeli-delegation-at-abu-dhabi-meet-puts-uae-on-defensive/|title=Israeli delegation at Abu Dhabi meet puts UAE on defensive|author=Joshua Davidovich|date=19 January 2014|work=[[The Times of Israel]]|access-date=27 January 2014}}</ref>

In May 2012, during a meeting with Likud activists in the city of [[Rehovot]], Shalom said about the heads of Likud opposition to founding of a Palestinian state, "We are all against a Palestinian state, there is no question about it."<ref name="haaretz">{{cite news |last=Ravid|first=Barak|url=https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/.premium-1.657074|title=Netanyahu Puts Minister Silvan Shalom, Who Opposed Palestinian State, in Charge of Talks With PA|newspaper=[[Haaretz]]|date=18 May 2015|access-date=1 May 2017}}</ref><ref name="telegraph">{{cite news |last=Lazareva|first=Inna|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/israel/11615455/Israel-makes-critic-of-two-state-solution-its-new-peace-negotiator.html|title=Israel makes critic of two-state solution its new peace negotiator|newspaper=[[The Daily Telegraph]]|date=19 May 2015|access-date=1 May 2017}}</ref><ref name="huffingtonpost">{{cite news |last=Schulberg|first=Jessica|url=http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/05/18/silvan-shalom-israel-palestine_n_7309072.html|title=Netanyahu To Appoint Opponent of Palestinian Statehood As Head of Peace Talks|work=[[The Huffington Post]]|date=18 May 2015|access-date=1 May 2017}}</ref>

Following the [[Israeli legislative election, 2015|2015 elections]] Shalom was appointed Interior Minister and Vice Prime Minister.

===Sexual harassment allegations===
On 24 March 2014, a woman complained that Shalom had sexually harassed her at work more than 15 years before. The police investigation was closed several months later by the [[Attorney General of Israel|Attorney General]], [[Yehuda Weinstein]], since the [[statute of limitations]] had already passed. Two other former employees also accused him of touching them against their will. All three alleged he had cornered them on various occasions and tried to kiss them. One woman said she was once summoned to a Jerusalem hotel room where Shalom was staying, only to find him waiting for her on the bed, wearing nothing but a bathrobe. Another said, "He kissed me against my will, and when I tried to get away, he chased me into the bathroom." The third woman said that during one of their meetings, Shalom "told me he's had intimate thoughts about me for years and that he wanted to see me outside the office."<ref name="resignation2">{{cite news |last1=Tuchfeld |first1=Mati |last2=Saban |first2=Itsik |last3=Harel |first3=Zvi |last4=Cesana |first4=Shlomo |date=21 December 2015 |title=Interior minister resigns amid sexual misconduct allegations |url=https://www.israelhayom.co.il/article/340755 |access-date=2025-06-22 |work=[[Israel Hayom]]}}</ref>

In the aftermath, Shalom decided not to submit his candidacy for the position of [[President of Israel]]. He had been considered a front-runner for the post before the allegation was made.<ref>{{cite news|title=Police question senior minister in sex assault claim|url=http://www.timesofisrael.com/police-question-senior-minister-in-sex-assault-claim/|work=[[The Times of Israel]]|date=25 March 2014|access-date=21 December 2015}}</ref>

In late 2015, new allegations were made by women, triggering Shalom's announcement on 21 December that he would withdraw from public life and resign. He denied all the allegations. "For some 23 years, I have served the public with determination and faith as an MK and a minister in various offices out of a feeling I was fulfilling a mission and a desire to advance important social and public goals, but I have had enough of the torment inflicted on me and my family," Shalom said in a statement announcing his resignation. "My family supports me, but there is no justification for the price they've had to pay."<ref name=resignation2 /> He was replaced by [[Amir Ohana]] as a member of Knesset.<ref name=Ohana>{{cite news|last=Lior|first=Ilan|url=https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/.premium-1.692936|title=Likud's First Openly Gay Lawmaker to Be Sworn in Following Silvan Shalom's Resignation|work=Haaretz|date=21 December 2015|access-date=21 December 2015}}</ref>

The Attorney General instructed the Major Crimes Unit of the [[Israel Police]] to examine the new allegations.<ref name=resignation2 /> On 30 June 2016, Attorney-General [[Avichai Mandelblit]] ended the preliminary examination of the allegations. The Justice Ministry issued a statement reading: "Some of the women could not be located, or there was no grounds to approach them due to the quality of the information concerning them; some didn't confirm the claims, and some didn't rule out the claims, but decisively refused to give testimony to the police. Regardless, in some of the cases the statute of limitations expired on the information."<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4822744,00.html|title=AG closes the examination of Silvan Shalom sexual harassment allegations|newspaper=Ynetnews |date=30 June 2016|access-date=2016-07-04|last1=Tzimuki |first1=Tova |last2=Senyor |first2=Eli }}</ref> Only one of the accusers filed an official police report.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/214333#.V3oKHvl97IU|title=Sexual assault case against ex-minister Silvan Shalom dropped|website=Arutz Sheva|date=30 June 2016 |access-date=2016-07-04}}</ref> On 3 July 2016, a group of Members of Knesset and party activists began efforts to bring Shalom back into politics.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.jpost.com/Israel-News/Politics-And-Diplomacy/Likud-MKs-activists-push-for-Shaloms-return-to-cabinet-459402|title=Likud MKs, activists push for Shalom's return to cabinet|website=[[The Jerusalem Post]]|date=3 July 2016 |access-date=2016-07-04 |issn=0792-822X}}</ref>

==Personal life==
From 1993 to 2017 Shalom was married to Israeli talk show host [[Judy Shalom Nir-Mozes]].<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/business/.premium-israel-s-royal-couple-searches-for-significance-1.5316031|title=Israel's royal couple searches for significance|newspaper=Haaretz|access-date=2 September 2020}}</ref> The couple have five children, including two sons from Mozes previous marriage.

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
*{{commonscatinline}}
*{{Official website|http://www.silvan-shalom.co.il}}
*{{MKlink|id=122}}

{{Israeli Ministers of Interior}}
{{IsraelFinanceMin}}
{{IsraelForeignMin}}
{{Israeli National Infrastructure Ministers}}
{{Israeli Science, Culture and Sport Ministers}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Shalom, Silvan}}
[[Category:1958 births]]
[[Category:20th-century Sephardi Jews]]
[[Category:21st-century Sephardi Jews]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:Ben-Gurion University of the Negev alumni]]
[[Category:Israeli chief executives]]
[[Category:Israeli corporate directors]]
[[Category:Israeli people of Tunisian-Jewish descent]]
[[Category:Jewish Israeli politicians]]
[[Category:Likud politicians]]
[[Category:Ministers of finance of Israel]]
[[Category:Ministers of foreign affairs of Israel]]
[[Category:Ministers of internal affairs of Israel]]
[[Category:Ministers of science of Israel]]
[[Category:Politicians from Beersheba]]
[[Category:People from Gabès]]
[[Category:Tel Aviv University alumni]]
[[Category:Tunisian emigrants to Israel]]
[[Category:Tunisian Jews]]
[[Category:Members of the 13th Knesset (1992–1996)]]
[[Category:Members of the 14th Knesset (1996–1999)]]
[[Category:Members of the 15th Knesset (1999–2003)]]
[[Category:Members of the 16th Knesset (2003–2006)]]
[[Category:Members of the 17th Knesset (2006–2009)]]
[[Category:Members of the 18th Knesset (2009–2013)]]
[[Category:Members of the 19th Knesset (2013–2015)]]
[[Category:Members of the 20th Knesset (2015–2019)]]
[[Category:Deputy ministers of Israel]]
[[Category:Lawyers from Beersheba]]