Amnon Rubinstein

Amnon Rubinstein (Hebrew: אמנון רובינשטיין‎, born 5 September 1931) is an Israeli law scholar, politician, and columnist. A member of the Knesset between 1977 and 2002, he served in several ministerial positions. He is currently dean of the Interdisciplinary Center (IDC) in Herzliya and a patron of Liberal International.

Early life

Rubinstein was born in Tel Aviv during the Mandate era. His family belonged to the Revisionist Zionist movement. Rubinstein would later split from Revisionism but remain impacted by the classical liberalism that influenced Revisionist founder Ze'ev Jabotinsky.

After serving as a captain in the IDF, he studied economics, international relations, and law at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and was called to the bar in 1963. He received a PhD in law from the London School of Economics in 1966. Between 1961 and 1975 he worked as a professor of law at Tel Aviv University, serving as faculty dean from 1968 until 1973.

Political career

Rubinstein's political career began when he founded Shinui after the Yom Kippur War. Shinui joined Yigael Yadin's Democratic Movement to form Dash. In the 1977 elections, Dash won 15 seats in the Knesset. Dash's victory came at the expense of the Alignment; for the first time in the 29 years since the founding of the modern state of Israel, the right-wing formed the government. However, Rubinstein opposed Dash's participation in Menachem Begin's Likud government coalition, and Shinui broke away from Dash. Rubinstein retained his seat in the 1981 elections, though Shinui was reduced to two seats. After winning three seats in the 1984 elections Shinui were invited into the governing coalition, and Rubinstein was appointed Minister of Communications. Rubinstein was re-elected again in 1988, but Shinui were left out of the government.