Word: hurvitz
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...years in office. The issue had originally seemed relatively benign: a pay raise for the country's 65,000 teachers, approved earlier by a blue-ribbon committee. In the Cabinet, however, the salary question provoked a collision between two stubborn antagonists: Finance Minister Yigal Hurvitz, who was determined to forestall any new wage spiral that would further boost the country's 140% hyperinflation, and Education Minister Zevulun Hammer, who felt equally committed to the teachers. Each vowed to resign if he lost the battle, taking precious parliamentary votes with him. Thus either way Begin's coalition would...
...have not always enjoyed political support," says Hurvitz, adding wryly: "If I could have lowered the defense budget-even to the level of NATO say-I would have been king...
...fact,. Israel's defense budget, which amounts to nearly 30% of the country's GNP, has traditionally been almost sacrosanct. Thus when Hurvitz tried to cut military spending by 10% to $2 billion for 1981, he provoked anguished howls not only from the defense community but also from Prime Minister Begin, who has uneasily held a second portfolio as acting Defense Minister ever since the resignation of Ezer Weizman last May. One result of Hurvitz's stand: Begin's Cabinet so far has been unable formally to vote on the entire 1981 budget...
...Hurvitz's toughness and resilience reflect a spartan upbringing and an earlier career as a successful businessman. He is a first cousin of former Foreign Minister Moshe Dayan and, like him, grew up on a pioneering agricultural settlement at Nahalal near Haifa. After a wartime stint as an artilleryman in the British Army's Jewish Brigade, Hurvitz turned his hand to investment. He bought into a farm cooperative, moved on to one small dairy products company after another and demonstrated an unusual knack for turning unprofitable ventures into money earners. Says his brother Amos, a Knesset member...
Israelis, in fact, were all the more surprised by the choice when Begin named him Finance Minister because 13 months earlier Hurvitz had resigned his previous post as Minister of Commerce, Industry and Tourism in protest over the Camp David peace agreement. He made no apologies for his opposition to the accord, but Begin nevertheless brought him back as Israel's economic police chief, as it were. Hurvitz scored a notable success last April when he managed to seal a pact with Israel's major labor federation, the Histadrut, to set a graduated ceiling on wage claims until...