Yuri Stern

(1949 - 2007)

Yuri Stern was an Israeli politician and journalist.

Stern (born March 29, 1949; died January 16, 2007) was born in Moscow and immigrated to Israel in 1981. He holds a Ph.D. in Economics from Moscow University.

He served as a Lecturer at the Faculty of Economics, Moscow University (1971-1981), and was active in the Zionist movement in the USSR (1978-1981). After immigrating to Israel, he was manager of the El David settlement (1983-1985), and one of the founders and spokesperson for the Soviet Jewry Education and Information Center, the Council of Immigrants Association, and the Soviet Jewry Zionist Forum (1983-1989).

From 1989-1992 he served as advisor to the Knesset Immigration and Absorption Committee, and from 1990-1995 as director of the Department of Absorption and Entrepreneurship of the Federation of Israeli Chambers of Commerce. He also chaired the Forum for Trade and Industrial Relations with the C.I.S. and represented the Federation of Israeli Chambers of Commerce in the USSR (1990-1991).

Yuri Stern was first elected to the Knesset in 1996 (14th) on the Yisrael Be'aliyah ticket, and in 1999 (15th) as a member of the Yisrael Beitenu faction. In March 2001, Yuri Stern was appointed Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister's Office.

He retained his seat again in the 2003 elections, in which Yisrael Beiteinu ran as part of the right-wing National Union alliance. He was re-elected in the 2006 elections in second place on Yisrael Beiteinu's list (the party ran alone in the election).

Stern died of cancer on January 16, 2007. He is survived by his wife and two children.

Sources: Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs