Avraham Ofer, Housing Minister in the Cabinet of Premier Yitzhak Rabin, committed suicide today. He was 54 years old. His body was found in his car on a lonely stretch of beach north of Tel Aviv. He left a note declaring his innocence of any wrong-doing in connection with a scandal involving Shikun Ovdim, the Histadrut housing company that Ofer headed before joining the government in 1974. He was rumored to have been under investigation by police at the time of his death.
Police said that he shot himself at 6 p.m. local time. Radio programs were interrupted to broadcast the report of his death and statements of condolence to his family. Ofer himself had been interviewed on the Army Broadcasting Station only an hour before his body was discovered.
In his suicide note he said: “For weeks and months I am tortured, my blood is shed for no wrong that I have ever done. I have no doubt that my innocence will be proven and that I have not betrayed, have made no frauds, but I cannot wait for that day, I can bear it no more…”
Police sources said that there was no formal investigation underway of Ofer’s activities as head of Shikun Ovdim but rather an informal collection of information. This apparently was initiated on the basis of charges made against Ofer by Yigal Laviv, a journalist who filed a complaint last year against Aharon Yadlin, former head of the Histadrut sick fund, Kupat Holim, who had been the Labor Party’s choice for Governor of the Bank of Israel.
Yadlin, reportedly a close friend of Ofer, is presently in jail awaiting trial. The case against him was not connected with the allegations against the Housing Minister. The latter included charges that Ofer gave cheap flats built with public funds to relatives of senior officials, including his own son, to certain journalists and to various persons of wealth and influence who were not entitled to them under law. He also was accused of illegal land deals in the administered territories.
MYSTERIOUS MEETING HINTED NEW SCANDAL
The first hint that a new scandal involving a government figure might be brewing was a mysterious meeting in Tel Aviv last Saturday between Premier Rabin, Justice Minister Chaim Zadok, Police Minister Shlomo Hillel and Attorney General Aharon Barak. The Prime Minister’s office confirmed press reports of the meeting but refused to divulge what transpired.
The positions of the persons who attended, however, suggested that the discussion may have involved the legal problems of a senior official and their possible repercussions. The meeting was also said to have dealt with the possibility of postponing Yadlin’s trial to avoid reviving the scandal in the news media while the Labor Party was involved in the election campaign.
Ofer is known to have had a meeting yesterday with Rabin. He reportedly begged the Premier to hasten the investigation of charges against him in order to put an end to rumors and clear his name. According to one source, the police said they required more time to complete their investigation. In the Knesset, Likud MK Ehud Ulmert demanded a statement from the government last week confirming or denying that Ofer was under investigation.
INFLUENTIAL IN PARTY’S INNER CIRCLES
Ofer, a businessman and member of the Labor Party’s former Mapai faction, was considered influential in the party’s inner circles. He was born in Poland and came to Palestine in 1933 at the age of 11. He was among the founders of Kibbutz Hamadiyeh in the Beisan Valley and during Israel’s War for Independence in 1948 he headed the manpower division of Israel’s Navy with the rank of Lt. Commander. Later he was the first commander of the naval base at Eilat.
Ofer served as a member of the Tel Aviv City Council and was Deputy Mayor until his resignation in 1957. He was a member of the Histadrut holding company, Hevrat Ovdim and a founder and leader of the Mapai-sponsored youth movement Htnua Hameuchedet. He also served as deputy director general of the Ministry of Agriculture and participated in negotiations with the European Common Market.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
