Kahalani, Avigdor

(1944- )

   Born in Palestine, he holds a B.A. in general history from Tel Aviv University and an M.A. in political science from Haifa University. He served in the Israel Defense Forces and rose to the rank of brigadier general. In the Yom Kippur War (1973), he was commander of an armored battalion on the Golan Heights. He became an Israel Labor Party member of the Knesset in the 13th Knesset (1992) but quit to protest Labor's apparent flexibility vis-a-vis the Golan Heights. He helped found and headed a new political party, the Third Way, that won four seats in the 14th Knesset (1996). He served as minister of internal security in the Benjamin Netanyahu government established in 1996. Kahalani headed the Third Way in the May 1999 Knesset election, but the party failed to pass the threshold for winning seats in the 15th Knesset. After that, he disappeared from the political scene.