Shmuel Tamir

Shmuel M. Tamir (Hebrew: שמואל תמיר‎, born Shmuel Katzenelson; 10 March 1923 – 29 June 1987) was a prominent Israeli independence fighter, lawyer, patriot and Knesset member. After a successful career fighting the British he entered the Knesset from 1965 to 1980, rising to become Minister of Justice in the government of Menachem Begin from 1977 until 1980. A hero of the Yishuv and Eretz Yisrael Tamir was an ardent anti-Nazi leading proactive legal cases to prosecute perpetrators of the Holocaust and war criminals. A larger than life character, Tamir's maverick politics finally led him into a party of one after several coalitions with nationalist parties.

Biography

Early life

Born in Jerusalem, Shmuel was the son of Reuven Katzenelson (a member of the Jewish Legion and Joseph Trumpeldor's sergeant and companion in the Battle of Gallipoli) and Batsheva Katznelson (a member of the Knesset). Two of his uncles were Joseph Katzenelson, a companion of Ze'ev Jabotinsky and one of the Irgun's two Chiefs of Illegal Immigration and Avraham Katznelson, one of the signatories of the Israeli declaration of independence, and his aunt was Rachel Katznelson-Shazar, wife of Zalman Shazar, the third President of Israel.