Shochat, a Knesset Member for 17 years, served as Finance Minister in the 25th, 26th, and 28th governments, under Prime Ministers Yitzchak Rabin, Shimon Peres and Ehud Barak. A resident of Tel Aviv, he is 69 years old, and is married with three children.
At a press conference today, Shochat said that he would resign from the Knesset Finance Committee immediately, and from the Knesset at the end of next month. He said he would enter the business world, but his aides said that no position has yet been offered him.
Former Minister without Portfolio Salah Tarif, a member of the Druze community who was Israel's first and only non-Jewish cabinet minister, is next on the Labor Party list of Knesset candidates to replace Shochat in the Knesset. However, Tarif was convicted of having given a bribe to the head of the Interior Ministry's Population Registry, on behalf of a friend from the Palestinian Authority who wished to receive a permit to reside in Israel. Tarif is currently appealing his conviction.
In light of the above, the Shinui Party Knesset faction has asked the Knesset House Committee to disallow Tarif's return to the Knesset until his appeal is decided. MK Reshef Hen, head of the Shinui Knesset faction, said, "This is a man who was convicted of a grave crime."
If Tarif is not permitted to serve in the Knesset, ex-MK Sofa Landver, representing the Russian-immigrant population, would take Shochat's place.