David-Zvi Pinkas

David-Zvi Pinkas (Hebrew: דָּוִד־צְבִי פִּנְקָס‎‎, 5 December 1895 – 14 August 1952) was a Zionist activist and Israeli politician. A signatory of the Israeli declaration of independence, he was the country's third Minister of Transport.

David-Zvi Pinkas
Date of birth5 December 1895
Place of birthSopron, Austria-Hungary
Year of aliyah1925
Date of death14 August 1952(1952-08-14) (aged 56)
Knessets1, 2
Faction represented in Knesset
1949–1951United Religious Front
1951–1952Mizrachi
Ministerial roles
1951–1952Minister of Transport

Biography

Born in Sopron in Austria-Hungary (today in Hungary), Pinkas attended high school in Vienna, before studying at a yeshiva in Freiburg and law at the University of Vienna. He was involved in Zionist youth groups, and was one of the leaders of Young Mizrachi in Vienna and one of the founders of the Yeshuran movement.

In 1923, he was a delegate to the 13th Zionist congress, and two years later immigrated to Mandate Palestine. He became director of Bank Mizrahi in 1932, the same year in which he was elected to Tel Aviv city council. Three years later he was appointed head of the city's education department.

Political career

In 1944 he became a member of the Assembly of Representatives, and between 1947 and 1948 served as a member of the Jewish National Council's directorate. In 1948 he was one of the people to sign the Israeli declaration of independence. During the subsequent Arab-Israeli War, he was one of the leaders of the security committee.

Pinkas' tomb (left, with his wife, Leah on the right) in Tel Aviv

Following independence, Pinkas assumed membership of the Provisional State Council, and was responsible for drawing up the regulations for the council's committees. In Israel's first elections in 1949 he was elected to the Knesset as a member of the United Religious Front, an alliance of Agudat Yisrael, Poalei Agudat Yisrael, Mizrachi (Pinkas' party) and Hapoel HaMizrachi, and served as chairman of the influential finance committee. In 1950, he was also elected Deputy Mayor of Tel Aviv.

In the 1951 elections Mizrachi ran alone, and Pinkas retained his seat, though the party won only two mandates. He was appointed Minister of Transport, and remained chairman of the finance committee. In his role as Minister of Transport, Pinkas stopped public transport from operating on Shabbat.

Death

In June 1952, a bomb was left on his doorstep by Amos Kenan and Shaltiel Ben Yair.[1] He was not harmed in the assassination attempt but died two months later of a heart attack. He is buried in the Trumpeldor Cemetery in Tel Aviv. Ramat Pinkas was named after him.

gollark: Did it just start with some big pool of them in one account?
gollark: I mean, yes, faucets, but how do new coins come into existence?
gollark: So how does banano work?
gollark: Some coins are proof of *stake*, so new coins go to people with... existing coins.
gollark: * proof of WORK, sorry.

References
  1. Murder on Rothschild Boulevard Haaretz, 16 July 2009
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