Who is Ze’ev Benjamin (Benny) Begin, keynote speaker for ‘Jerusalem Day’ celebrations in London 11 May 2010?
Ze’ev Benjamin Begin, 67, the son of former Israeli Prime Minister and Likud leader Menachem Begin, is well-known in Israel as one of its most uncompromising right-wing politicians. A geologist by profession, Begin first joined the Israeli Knesset in 1988, as an MK of Likud, the main right-wing party formerly led by his father. Throughout his years as an MK he was a member of the Political and Security Cabinet. In 1993 he competed with Benyamin Netanyahu for the leadership of the party and lost. In the mid-90s Begin was one of the main opponents of the Oslo Accords (1995) with the Palestinians and has claimed consistently that it was a fraudulent trick played on Israel by PLO leader Yasser Arafat. When Prime Minister Netanyahu signed the Hebron agreement (1997), Begin resigned his government role as Science Minister in protest. After the Wye memorandum was signed (1998) he also left the Likud party and in 1999 founded a new party further to the right. He named the new party Herut – the
