David Levy (Israeli politician)

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David Levy
דוד לוי‎
Levy in 1969
Ministerial roles
1977–1981	Minister of Immigrant Absorption
1979–1990	Minister of Housing and Construction
1981–1992	Deputy Prime Minister
1990–1992	Minister of Foreign Affairs
1996–1998	Deputy Prime Minister
1996–1998	Minister of Foreign Affairs
1999–2000	Deputy Prime Minister
1999–2000	Minister of Foreign Affairs
2002	Minister without Portfolio
Faction represented in the Knesset
1969–1974	Gahal
1974–1996	Likud
1996–1999	Gesher
1999–2001	One Israel
2001–2003	Gesher
2003–2006	Likud
Personal details
Born	(1937-12-21)21 December 1937 Rabat, French Morocco
Died	2 June 2024(2024-06-02) (aged 86) Beit She'an, Israel[citation needed]
Children	12
Signature

David Levy (Hebrew: דוד לוי; 21 December 1937 – 2 June 2024) was an Israeli politician who served as a member of the Knesset between 1969 and 2006. Levy's ascent to political prominence demonstrated the growing influence of Mizrahi Jews in Israel. He played a crucial role in changing the political power structure in Israel by motivating hundreds of thousands of Mizrahi voters to cast their ballots for Menachem Begin. To quote Benjamin Netanyahu, “David, born in Morocco, forged his way through life with his own two hands… On the national level, he made a personal mark on the political world, while taking care of weak populations that knew adversity.”^[1]

He served Israel as Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Minister of Immigrant Absorption, Minister of Housing and Construction, and as a Minister without Portfolio. Although most of his time as a Knesset member was spent with Likud, he also led the breakaway Gesher faction, which formed part of Ehud Barak's Labor-led government between 1999 and 2001.