Yitzhak Levy

Yitzhak Levy was born in Casablanca in Morocco in 1947, the son of Daniel-Yitzhak Levy, who later served as a member of the Knesset for the National Religious Party. The family immigrated to Israel in 1957. He studied at Yeshivat Kerem B'Yavneh and Yeshivat Hakotel. He served as an officer in the IDF, achieving the rank of major. He was a member of the Bnei Akiva Executive and World Secretariat, and Secretary-General of the National Religious Movement from 1986 to 1995. He was the Rabbi of the Bnei Akiva Talmudic College in Kfar Maimon, and was among the initiators of the establishment of the Jewish quarter in Jerusalem, and one of the founders of the Israeli settlement of Elon Moreh in the West Bank. Levy is married, with five children, and lives in Kfar Maimon. ==Political career==

He was elected to the Knesset in 1988 on the National Religious Party list. He was a member of the House Committee from 1988 to 1996, and the Labor and Social Welfare Committee from 1988 to 1992. He was also chairman the Ethics Committee and the children welfare lobby, as well as the Israel-Argentina Parliamentary Friendship League. Since 1988, he has been a member of the Committee on Constitution, Law, and Justice. In April 2002, during Operation Defensive Shield, he resigned as leader of the NRP to make way for Effi Eitam, and was made Minister without Portfolio. From September 2002 until February 2003, he served as Minister of Tourism. In March 2003, he was appointed Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister's Office. However, in June 2004, he and Eitam resigned in protest against the disengagement plan. ==References==