ALMOGI (Krelenboim), YOSEF AHARON

ALMOGI (Krelenboim ), YOSEF AHARON (1910–1991), Israeli politician and labor leader, member of the Third to Eighth Knessets. Almogi was born in Hrubieszow, Poland. In 1924 he joined the Dror youth movement and in 1928 started to prepare for his immigration to Ereẓ Israel. For a number of years after arriving in Ereẓ Israel in 1930, he worked as a laborer in orange groves and in construction. He was a member of the Kefar Sava Labor Council and joined the *Haganah. In 1936 he was sent to organize the *Hapoel defense units within the *Histadrut in the Tel Aviv area, and in 1937 he organized the Hapoel defense units within the Histadrut in Haifa. In 1940 he enlisted in the British Army; he was taken prisoner by the Germans in Greece, remaining in a prison camp until the end of the war and organizing the Jewish prisoners of war from Ereẓ Israel. In the years 1947–51 Almogi was acting secretary of the Haifa Labor Council, and in 1948 organized a special labor brigade which took over the essential services of the city when the British evacuated it. In 1951–59 he served as secretary of the Council.

Almogi was elected to the Third Knesset in 1955 as a member of *Mapai. He served as secretary-general of Mapai in 1959–61 and as minister of housing and development in 1963–65. He was one of the members who broke away from Mapai in May 1965 together with David *Ben-Gurion to form *Rafi, and subsequently resigned from the government. Half a year after Rafi participated in the formation of the *Israel Labor Party in January 1968, he was appointed minister of labor. Almogi was reelected to the Eighth Knesset in 1973, but was not given a seat in the government, since he was elected mayor of Haifa, a position he held in 1974–75. In 1975–78 he served as president of the World Zionist Organization. His autobiography, Be-Ovi ha-Korah ("In the Thick of Things"), was published in 1980.

[Susan Hattis Rolef (2^nd ed.)]