Party: Kadima

Knesset Profile: Gideon Ezra

Currently serving as Minister of Environmental Protection, Gideon Ezra is the former deputy head of Shin Bet, Israel's general security service.

Ezra was first elected to the Knesset in 1996 as a representative of the Likud party.

He has remained in the Knesset ever since, and was one of many Likud members who followed former Prime Minister Ariel Sharon into his newly established Kadima party in 2005.

As Deputy Minister for Internal Security in 2001, Ezra openly called for the murder of family members of potential Palestinian suicide bombers.

He also shared with the Christian Science Monitor in 2002 what he saw as the potential benefits to Israel of a potential U.S. war on Iraq. "The more aggressive the attack is, the more it will help Israel against the Palestinians," he was quoted as saying, arguing that the impending American attack on Iraq would deal a "psychological blow" to the Palestinians. He added that, "The understanding would be that what is good to do in Iraq, is also good for here."

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