Benny Elon, National Union

Benny Elon is a Knesset Member for the right-wing National Union party. He is also a rabbi.

Elon's party rejects the creation of a Palestinian state and has called for a voluntary transfer of Palestinians from the West Bank and Gaza Strip to Arab countries.

Elon was born in Jerusalem in 1954. He lives in the West Bank settlement of Beit El.

In 1996, he was elected to the Knesset as a member of the Moledet ("Homeland") party. In 2000, he joined the National Union party, which was formed when Moledet merged with two other parties.

From 1983-1985, Elon served as Jewish Agency emissary in the United States. He was founder and dean of the "Beit Orot" Talmudic College (1990-1996).

Elon served as tourism minister from 2001-2004 following the assassination of the previous minsiter, Rehavam Ze'evi, in a Jerusalem hotel. In 2004, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon dismissed Elon's party from the goverment over its opposition to the disengagement plan, which calls for evacuating all settlements in the Gaza Strip and some settlements in the northern West Bank.

Elon is married with six children.