The Six Day War and the Yom Kippur War influenced him to enter the public arena and politics in order to promote the settlement movement in Judea and Samaria.
Yigal Cohen Orgad, chancellor of Ariel University, located in Samaria, has passed away. Ariel is Israel’s newest university, recognized in 2012.
Born in 1937 in Tel Aviv, Cohen Orgad was an active member of the Zionist Betar Youth Movement. He went on to organize the establishment of a Betar Nachal unit, and in 1957 was among the founders of Amatzia, a Nachal stronghold situated in an area between the Hebron hills and the Gaza Strip, which was under constant attack by Fedayeen infiltrators.
Following his military service in the Nachal Paratroopers Brigade, he fought as a reservist in the Jerusalem Brigade reconnaissance unit in the battle for the liberation of Jerusalem during the Six Day War.
He completed his undergraduate studies in Economics and Education and studied for his Master’s degree in Economics and Business Administration from the Hebrew University in Jerusalem.
The Six Day War and the Yom Kippur War influenced him to enter the public arena and politics in order to promote the settlement movement in Judea and Samaria, initially in Maale Adumim, and then in Ariel. His service as a member of Knesset from 1977 to 1988, and later as the Minister of Finance under Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir, provided him with the opportunity of advancing his political beliefs. He was influential in the settlement movement in Judea and Samaria as a member of the Knesset Finance Committee and as Minister of Finance.
Once he retired from political life, Cohen Orgad wholeheartedly devoted his time and efforts to the development of Ariel University.
