Amir Peretz (; born on 9 March 1952) is an Israeli politician who served as a member of the Knesset for the Labor Party. A Knesset member almost continuously from 1988 to 2021, he has served as Minister of Defence, Minister of Economy, and Minister of Environmental Protection, as well as heading the Histadrut trade union federation between 1995 and 2006. After five years as mayor of Sderot, Peretz first became an MK for the Labor-dominated Alignment in 1988. In 1999 he left Labor to establish his own party, One Nation, which he led until merging it back into Labor in 2004. The following year he defeated Shimon Peres in a Labor leadership election and became Leader of the Opposition. Following the 2006 elections Labor joined the Kadima-led coalition government, with Peretz appointed Minister of Defense and Deputy Prime Minister. His subsequent tenure as Defense Minister included the 2006 Lebanon War and approval of the Iron Dome defence system in early 2007. Midway through 2007 Peretz was defeated by Ehud Barak in another Labor leadership election and resigned from the cabinet. In December 2012 he resigned from the Knesset after leaving Labor to join the new Hatnuah party, but soon returned to the legislature after being re-elected in the January 2013 elections. Following the elections, Hatnuah joined the coalition government and Peretz was appointed Minister of Environmental Protection. However, he resigned the following year due to his opposition to the government budget. Shortly after 2015 elections, which Labor and Hatnuah had contested together as the Zionist Union, Peretz rejoined the Labor Party. In 2019 he was elected leader of the party for a second time, though he was succeeded by Merav Michaeli on 24 January 2021. In December 2020, Peretz announced he was running for President of Israel. He left the Knesset on 29 January 2021 and was replaced by Ilan Gilon, a member of Meretz. Early life Armand Peretz was born in Boujad, Morocco to a Sephardic Jewish family during the French protectorate. His father David was head of the Jewish community in Boujad. He worked as a Civil Engineer in the French Civil Services. The family emigrated to Israel when Morocco won independence in 1956. They were settled in the then development town of Sderot, Israel, where Peretz grew up until the age of 18. He went to high school in a nearby kibbutz. Peretz served his compulsory