Ya'akov Katz (politician born 1951)
| Ya'akov Katz | |
|---|---|
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| Date of birth | 29 September 1951 |
| Place of birth | Jerusalem, Israel |
| Knessets | 18 |
| Faction represented in Knesset | |
| 2009–2013 | National Union |
Ya’akov Dov "Katzele" Katz (Hebrew: יעקב "כצל'ה" כץ) (born 29 September 1951) is an Israeli politician. He led the National Union party from 2008 to 2012, for whom he was a member of the Knesset, and is also the Executive Director of Beit El yeshiva Center Institutions and Arutz Sheva.
Katz was born 29 September 1951 in Jerusalem. A fifth generation Israeli, he graduated from the Bnei Akiva Yeshiva High School in Kfar Haroeh, and went on to study in Yeshivat Mercaz HaRav in Jerusalem.
In 1970, he enlisted in the IDF and volunteered to serve in Sayeret Shaked. He served under then OC Southern Command General Ariel Sharon in the 1971 campaign in Gaza. In 1972, he completed his officers’ course with distinction and commanded his own commando unit in Sayeret Shaked.
Katz served in the Yom Kippur War in 1973, and was severely wounded.
It was during that period that he met his future wife Tami, a sociology student at Bar-Ilan University, who had volunteered to work in Beilinson Hospital helping nurse the worst wounded.
After six months in hospital, he returned, on crutches, to study four more years in Yeshivat Mercaz HaRav, under the tutelage of Rabbi Tzvi Yehuda Kook and Mazkir Bnei Akiva Shlomo Aviner. In 1977 he joined the group that established the Beit El settlement in the West Bank. In 1978 Katz together with his Rabbi Zalman Baruch Melamed split with the Beit El group and founded a new settlement which was called Beit El B. Katz was one of the original members of the Gush Emunim movement.
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