David-Zvi Pinkas

David-Zvi Pinkas
Date of birth	5 December 1895
Place of birth	Sopron, Austria-Hungary
Year of aliyah	1925
Date of death
Knessets	1, 2
Faction represented in Knesset
1949–1951	United Religious Front
1951–1952	Mizrachi
Ministerial roles
1951–1952	Minister of Transport

David-Zvi Pinkas (Hebrew: דוד-צבי פנקס‎, 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.

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, 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. 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.

External links

• David-Zvi Pinkas on the Knesset website