Effi Eitam
| Effi Eitam | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Date of birth | 25 July 1952 |
| Place of birth | Ein Gev, Israel |
| Knessets | 16, 17 |
| Faction represented in Knesset | |
| 2003–2005 | National Religious Party |
| 2005–2006 | Renewed National Religious Zionist Party |
| 2006–2008 | National Union |
| 2008–2009 | Ahi |
| Ministerial roles | |
| 2002 | Minister without Portfolio |
| 2002–2003 | Minister of National Infrastructure |
| 2003–2004 | Minister of Housing and Construction |
Efraim "Effi" (Fine) Eitam (Hebrew: אפרים "אפי" איתם, born 25 July 1952) is an Israeli politician and former military commander. A former leader of the National Religious Party, he later led a breakaway faction, Ahi, which merged into Likud in 2009. He served as a member of the Knesset between 2003 and 2009. He advocates expelling the vast majority of Israeli Arabs from Israel, calling them a "cancer" undermining the democratic state of Israel.
A Hardal Israeli, he was born in kibbutz Ein Gev, and received a secular education. When he was old enough, Eitam joined the Israeli Defense Forces. Eitam has M.A. in Political Science and in International Relations. He is also a former student of the Mercaz HaRav yeshiva, and the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst. He is married, has eight children, and lives in the Israeli moshav of Nov in the Golan Heights.
Eitam is a Brigadier General (reserves) in the Israel Defense Forces, and is considered a war hero by the State of Israel. He has earned Israel's Medal of Distinguished Service in the Yom Kippur War for acting with his sergeant to stop Syrian tanks from penetrating the Golan Heights's Nafah base, using 3 Bazooka bombs and a heavy machine gun, and later rescued the wounded from Nafah. He also participated in Operation Entebbe, in which he commanded the Sayeret Golani. He also commanded an infantry battalion in Operation Litani, and an officers' school battalion during the 1982 Lebanon War. During the first Intifada, he commanded the Givati Brigade. In 1988, Israeli Defense Minister Yitzhak Rabin ordered the Israeli Army to beat Palestinian rioters. Eitam was heard over a radio telling his troops to beat and break the bones of a 21-year-old Palestinian prisoner named Ayyad Aqel. They beat him to death. An IDF court-martial convicted four of his soldiers, who testified against him. The Military Advocate General severely reprimanded Eitam, and recommended that he never be promoted. He quit the Army in December 2000.
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