Who they are
Oded Forer is a Yisrael Beiteinu member of the Knesset and a former agriculture minister who commanded a patrol boat squadron in the navy.
He was born in Rehovot in 1977, the son of Shuki Forer, a local politician later elected mayor. He volunteered for the navy officers’ course and ended his service commanding a squadron of Dabur patrol boats in Flotilla 916. He was secretary of the Israeli Council for Culture and Art, founded the consultancy CEO Strategy in 2005 and studied law and government at the Interdisciplinary Center Herzliya.
He stood for Likud in 2008 and lost the Shfela district slot to Yariv Levin, then moved to Yisrael Beiteinu in 2011 and helped found and chaired its youth wing. As director-general of the Absorption Ministry he made encouraging immigration its central goal and had it renamed the Aliyah and Absorption Ministry; 27,000 immigrants arrived in 2014, against an average of about 18,000 a year over the previous decade. In the Knesset he has chaired the finance committee and the committee on the status of women, and as agriculture minister he signed the order cutting tariffs on imported fruit and vegetables. His legislation includes an Israeli passport for new immigrants in their first year, digital prescriptions that can be filled at any pharmacy, and the law marking 9 May as the day of victory over Nazi Germany.
Positions and record
Agriculture: Open imports while protecting farmers.
Negev: Development and security for the south.
Draft: A hard line on universal service.
Where they stand
Holds the party line on every issue.