Silvan Shalom

Shalom was born on August 4, 1958, in Tunisia, and immigrated to Israel with his family in 1959.[1] His birthplace was Gabès, and the family settled in Beersheba, where he grew up.[3] His parents brought him to Israel the following year.[6] A 2015 profile described him as a father of five.[1]

At Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Shalom studied economics and accounting and became active in student politics.[3] He chaired the university’s student association on behalf of Likud and served as deputy chairman of the national student association.[6] He graduated in economics and accounting in 1983, subsequently receiving a master’s degree in 1991 and a law degree from Tel Aviv University in 1996.[6] His professional qualifications included accounting and law.[3]

Before entering the Knesset, Shalom worked as a journalist for Yedioth Ahronoth and Hadashot and advised ministers responsible for finance, justice, and economics.[3] His early public-sector career included service as director-general of the Ministry of Energy and Infrastructure from 1989 to 1990, followed by the chairmanship of the Israel Electric Corporation from 1990 to 1992.[3]

Shalom was first elected to the Knesset in 1992 on the Likud list.[1] His parliamentary committee assignments included Economic Affairs, Finance, State Control, and the Status of Women.[1] During the Fourteenth Knesset, he chaired the coalition within the Finance Committee and headed parliamentary lobbies concerned with advancing soccer and encouraging industry in Samaria.[6] He was also the first male member of the Knesset Committee for the Advancement of the Status of Women, joining it in 1992.[7]

In Benjamin Netanyahu’s government, Shalom became deputy minister of defense in 1997 and minister of science and technology in 1998.[3] His service in those positions extended from 1997 to 1998 and from 1998 to 1999, respectively.[1] He subsequently served as deputy prime minister and finance minister in Ariel Sharon’s first government, holding the finance portfolio from 2001 to 2003.[6]

As finance minister, Shalom introduced an economic emergency plan that encountered parliamentary opposition.[8] In May 2002, the Knesset rejected the plan at its first reading by 47 votes to 46, with another vote planned.[8] In a later speech in 2005, he advocated an “economics of compassion,” calling for increased social spending and greater corporate responsibility toward people living in poverty.[9] He cited the then-reported figures of 1.5 million Israelis below the poverty line and one in three children classified as poor.[9]

Following the 2003 election, Shalom became deputy prime minister and foreign minister in Sharon’s second government.[6] He held the foreign-affairs portfolio until 2006, leaving his government posts on January 15 after Likud departed the coalition.[3] His later cabinet responsibilities included regional development, development of the Negev and Galilee, energy and water, and the Interior Ministry.[1]

Shalom’s appointment as foreign minister formed part of Sharon’s government sworn in on February 27, 2003.[10] Sharon retained control over foreign policy toward the Arab world and the United States.[10] In July 2003, during a meeting with U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell, Shalom said he had asked Washington to press both sides to implement commitments under the roadmap discussed at the Aqaba summit.[11] He called on the Palestinians to dismantle the infrastructure of terrorist organizations and to end violence, terrorism, and incitement.[11]

Shalom initially opposed Sharon’s disengagement plan for Gaza and northern Samaria, but subsequently accepted the majority position and supported it.[6] In June 2004, he and Education Minister Limor Livnat were key opponents of the original plan and considered a compromise proposed by Tzipi Livni in the context of keeping Labor outside the government.[12] On October 26, 2004, Shalom sided with Sharon against Netanyahu in the Knesset vote endorsing disengagement.[13] The plan received 67 votes in favor and 45 against, with seven abstentions and one member absent; the vote provided parliamentary backing but did not itself supply statutory authority to evacuate settlements.[13]

In an address in New York on September 13, 2005, Shalom described disengagement from Gaza and northern Samaria as completed and said responsibility for the evacuated areas had been transferred to the Palestinian Authority.[2] He characterized implementation as traumatic for Israeli families and communities.[2] He also said Israel was transferring infrastructure, including water and electricity facilities and public buildings, while supporting international assistance and arrangements for moving people and goods.[2]

In the same address, Shalom declared: “I have been leading an effort to build a Roadmap to the Arab and Muslim world, towards regional dialogue and cooperation.”[2] He said he had met Pakistan’s foreign minister in Turkey two weeks earlier and presented the encounter as a step toward normalized relations.[2] He expressed the expectation that further reconciliation and openness would follow, making clear the broader regional ambitions of his diplomacy at that time.[2]

At a May 9, 2005 presentation in Jerusalem, delivered together with Palestinian Authority Interior Minister General Nasser Yussuf, Shalom argued that peace required three pillars: security, responsible and democratic leadership, and economic progress.[14] He maintained that security was a prerequisite for political progress and involved political institutions and values as well as military measures.[14] His formulation was: “We must act to strengthen the key pillars upon which peace will be built – security, responsible and democratic leadership, and economic progress.”[14]

Shalom distinguished procedural democracy, understood as holding elections, from democracy grounded in values and worldview.[14] He argued that Palestinian leaders should promote education for peace, accept responsibility for events within their jurisdiction, enforce the law, and prevent armed militias from operating.[14] He also maintained that Hamas should be excluded from the Palestinian political system because an organization involved in terrorism and bearing arms could not participate in a democratic society.[14] Extending that argument to Hizbullah, he warned that combining terrorism with political participation endangered democratic regimes.[14]

In the same presentation, Shalom said Israel was easing conditions for Palestinians by removing roadblocks, releasing prisoners, issuing work permits, and coordinating practical elements of disengagement.[14] He described cooperation with donors, the World Bank, and Quartet Special Envoy James D. Wolfensohn as part of an effort to involve international actors in rebuilding the Palestinian economy.[14] These measures formed part of his argument that economic progress should accompany security and political responsibility.[14]

In November 2009, Shalom said he had met Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and Prime Minister Salam Fayyad many times and believed they were sincere about moving toward peace, while emphasizing that their conception of peace differed from Israel’s.[15] He opposed making negotiations conditional on a settlement freeze and rejected a unilateral Palestinian declaration of statehood.[15] In the same address, he portrayed Iran as a major obstacle to regional peace.[15] He asserted that Hizbullah possessed an estimated 40,000 to 50,000 missiles, including weapons with a 300-kilometer range, attributing the range figure to IDF Chief of Staff Gabi Ashkenazi and alleging that weapons were transferred through Syria.[15]

In November 2005, Shalom returned to Tunisia as foreign minister, heading an Israeli delegation on the first direct flight from Israel to Tunisia.[16] During the visit, he met United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan to discuss Gaza border crossings, Iran, and relations between Israel and the United Nations.[16] He also visited the Jewish community on Djerba and presented its rabbi with a shofar.[16]

A subsequent visit to Gabès took Shalom and his mother to the synagogue where his parents had married and to the site of the family’s former home, which had been destroyed.[17] Reflecting on the disappearance of the local Jewish community, he said: “It’s sad that the Jewish community that was once here is no longer. However, my roots are here. I came, saw and I feel fully gratified.”[17] In his 2009 account of regional diplomacy, he described the Tunisia journey as the first visit by an Israeli minister arriving in an Israeli airplane.[15]

After Sharon left Likud to establish Kadimah, Shalom sought the Likud chairmanship in December 2005.[6] In the leadership primary held on December 19, Netanyahu defeated him by 45 percent to 33 percent.[18] Shalom finished second while still serving as foreign minister.[6][18]

In the government formed after Netanyahu’s 2009 election, Shalom became vice prime minister and held portfolios for regional development and development of the Negev and Galilee.[19] Speaking in Jerusalem on November 12, 2009, he presented economic cooperation as a practical component of his regional responsibilities.[15] He cited work with the European Union, particularly Germany, toward an industrial zone in Bethlehem; a vehicle crossing intended to permit 500 cars daily to travel from Israel to Jenin; and plans for tourism development along the Jordan River.[15] He also said Israel had removed hundreds of roadblocks and checkpoints since the Netanyahu government took office in April 2009.[15]

Shalom described diplomatic contacts extending beyond Israel’s immediate neighbors.[15] In his 2009 presentation, he said he had visited Tunisia, Turkey, and Mauritania and had met foreign ministers from Pakistan, Indonesia, and Gulf states.[15] He presented these contacts alongside economic projects as examples of opportunities for wider Arab-Israeli regional cooperation.[15]

In 2010, Shalom launched Bio-Negev to encourage cooperation among organizations in southern Israel’s biomedical sector.[20] Participants included Ben-Gurion University, Soroka Hospital, the Negev Development Authority, and four regional incubators.[20] At the initiative’s announcement, he had not specified its budget.[20] In 2011, his ministry presented a proposal to the Knesset Education Committee for a multi-campus university in the Galilee.[21] Shalom said upgrading the region’s six colleges to university standards would require NIS 140 million, with the proposal initially focusing on Tel Hai, ORT Braude, and the Max Stern Academic College of Emek Yezreel.[21]

As vice premier and minister for Negev and Galilee development, Shalom organized an International Women’s Day event in 2011.[7] In the government sworn in on March 18, 2013, his responsibilities included energy and water, development of the Negev and Galilee, and regional cooperation.[22] These portfolios placed both regional infrastructure and domestic development within his ministerial remit.[22]

In 2013, the cabinet approved a five-year civilian development plan for the Negev associated with Shalom’s ministry, with a reported value of half a billion shekels.[23] Its provisions included economic infrastructure, housing, subsidized industrial zones, three new industrial parks, and incentives for hi-tech companies and workers.[23] Beersheba, Dimona, Yeroham, Arad, Ofakim, and the Merhavim Regional Council were designated national-priority communities.[23] Shalom said the ministry and local authorities would campaign to change the Negev’s image and that the investment would benefit its residents.[23]

In December 2013, Shalom announced that Israel, Jordan, and the Palestinian Authority were to sign an agreement for a Red Sea–Dead Sea pipeline project.[24] The reported plan included a desalination plant at Aqaba and arrangements for sharing fresh water.[24] He characterized the agreement as a historic measure and an example of strategic political cooperation.[24]

In 2015, Shalom served as interior minister and vice premier in Israel’s 34th government.[1] A contemporary parliamentary profile listed him as a Likud member who had already served seven previous Knesset terms.[25] Netanyahu also appointed him to lead negotiations with the Palestinians on the prime minister’s behalf and to oversee strategic dialogue with the United States.[26] Shalom presented that appointment as evidence of Israel’s desire to negotiate.[26]

Delivering the closing address at a July 9, 2015 conference on security and negotiations with the Palestinians, Shalom supported resuming talks.[27] He favored discreet negotiations without a predetermined document as their foundation and considered interim steps worthwhile even when a permanent settlement was not yet in sight.[27] He also called for rebuilding Gaza and described cooperation with Egypt and Jordan, including Israeli regional projects, as a means of strengthening regional security.[27]

Following the October 19, 2015 attack at Beersheba’s central bus station, Shalom announced that he would seek the attorney general’s concurrence to revoke the citizenship of people who carried out such attacks.[28] The relevant citizenship-law provision concerned “breaches of allegiance.”[28] In December, he announced his departure from political life, citing the toll on his family and his 23 years of public service.[4]

Shalom headed Israel’s delegation to the January 2005 United Nations General Assembly special session commemorating the liberation of Nazi death camps.[29] At his instruction, the Foreign Ministry enlisted 30 countries to submit a joint request for the session: the United States, 25 European Union states, Russia, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand.[29] His address connected the Holocaust, the establishment of Israel, and the responsibility to remember survivors and victims, while warning against Holocaust denial and antisemitism.[30]

The address also included a personal account of his family’s connection to the Holocaust.[30] Shalom said that his wife’s grandparents and seven of their eight children had been taken and killed.[30] He concluded with the declaration “Never again.”[30] In a 2009 speech at the March of the Living, he said that, as foreign minister, he had initiated and promoted International Holocaust Remembrance Day.[31] He described the designation of January 27 as a worldwide commemoration of the six million Jews murdered by the Nazis and their collaborators as “an enormous victory by the Jewish People for commemoration of the Holocaust.”[31]

His regional-development work included biomedical cooperation in the Negev, proposals for expanded higher education in the Galilee, and infrastructure cooperation with Jordan and the Palestinian Authority.[20][24] After leaving politics, he opened a consulting office advising companies and foreign governments.[32]

Shalom’s 2015 appointment to lead Palestinian negotiations drew criticism from Palestinian officials, who questioned his commitment to a two-state solution; at the time, there had been no handover from the previous lead negotiator.[26] His own stated positions combined support for negotiations and interim measures with opposition to a settlement-freeze precondition and unilateral Palestinian statehood.[15][27]

A 2014 examination followed a former employee’s allegation of a sexual offense.[5] The attorney general ended it because the alleged event was beyond the statute of limitations and because additional information either was denied, did not permit women to be identified or approached, or involved women unwilling to give police testimony.[5] In December 2015, following additional public allegations of sexual harassment, Shalom announced his resignation as minister and Knesset member, citing the impact on his family.[4] In June 2016, Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit accepted police and prosecution recommendations not to continue examining the allegations because the examination had produced no evidentiary basis for a criminal investigation and no further steps were identified that could advance it.[5]

In 2021, a woman publicly made an allegation concerning her work with Shalom at the Foreign Ministry, which he rejected as libel.[33] Reporting on that allegation stated that thirteen women had made allegations by 2015, none had filed police complaints, and the allegations had not been substantiated.[33] The allegations were not findings that the alleged conduct occurred.[33]