Natan Sharansky

Born a Soviet citizen in 1948, Natan (Anatoly) Sharansky was born in Ukraine], and became part of the [[human rights movement there. Eventually, he emigrated to Israel, where he is active in politics, has been a strategic analyst at the Shalem Center, and, in June 2009, was elected to head the Jewish Agency.

Soviet Union
His degree is in mathematics, and he became a translator for Andrei Sakharov, a physicist associated with nuclear weapons. When he applied for an exit visa in 1973, it was denied on security grounds. He then became involved in the refusenik movement, convicted of treason and spying for the United States in 1978, and was sentenced to thirteen years' imprisonment. He was first held in Lefortovo Prison and then sent to the gulag.

His wife, Avital, fought for his release. She had already emigrated to Israel, hoping he would follow. Public diplomacy, including efforts by Ronald Reagan, obtained his release, as part of a prisoner exchange, in 1986. Israel met him on the German border, and he was given a state welcome there.

Years later, following his release, Sharansky stressed his need throughout his imprisonment to remain emotionally independent. He attributed his survival of the lengthy incarceration and the brutal conditions to his resistance to any sort of emotional surrender. Hence Sharansky's expression of the paradox that while an ordinary Russian, he was in fact a slave to the system; but that once he discovered his Jewish roots and was restricted for his allegiance to them, he was in reality a free man. Sharansky's memoirs of his years as a prisoner of Zion are described in his book Fear No Evil.

Soviet activism in Israel
In 1988, he was elected President of the newly created Zionist Forum, the umbrella organization of former Soviet activists, and became deputy editor of the Jerusalem Report. Still disturbed by the status of Soviet Jews in Israel, he formed a new political party, Yisrael b'Aliyah, in 1995, dedicated to helping immigrants' professional, economic and social acculturation.

Entry to politics
In 1998, the party won seven Knesset seats, and he became Minister of Industry and Trade, Minister of Housing and Construction and Deputy Prime Minister from March 2001 until February 2003.

In February 2003, Natan Sharansky was appointed Minister without Portfolio, responsible for Jerusalem, social and Diaspora affairs. Opposed to Ariel Sharon's disengagement plan, he resigned in from the Cabinet in May 2005.

Strategic studies
In November 2006 Natan Sharansky resigned from the Knesset and assumed the position of Chairman of the newly established Adelson Institute for Strategic Studies of the Shalem Center in Jerusalem.

Jewish Agency
In June 2009, he was elected and sworn in as Chairman of The Jewish Agency for Israel.

Natan Sharansky's memoir, Fear No Evil was published in the United States in 1988 and has been translated into nine languages. His book, The Case for Democracy: The Power of Freedom to Overcome Freedom and Terror attracted wide-spread attention. His latest book, Defending Identity, Its Indispensable Role in Protecting Democracy published by Public Affairs was released early June 2008.