Quick Facts
Biography
Rabbi Yisrael Meir Uri Maklev (Hebrew: ישראל מאיר אורי מקלב, born 10 January 1957) is an Israeli politician and member of the Knesset for the Haredi party Degel HaTorah, which together with Agudat Yisrael forms the United Torah Judaism list.
Biography
Maklev, a graduate of both Kol HaTorah Yeshiva and Ponivezh Yeshiva, served as a member of Jerusalem City Council and as Deputy Mayor of Jerusalem from 1993 to 2008. In this position he was a member of the municipality's executive, holding the education portfolio and sitting on the finance and education committees. He was also a member of the local planning and construction committee and the municipality's representative to Jerusalem's Sewage and Water Corporation.
On 31 July 2008, Maklev entered the Knesset on the basis of an internal party rotation agreement. Upon his entry, Degel HaTorah had three seats for the first time in its history.
He retained his seat in the 2009 elections after being placed fourth on the alliance's list.
He was attacked in Mea Shearim on 24 June 2010 as he emerged from a synagogue. The two United Torah Judaism MKs (Uri Maklev and Moshe Gafni) had paid a visit to the Slonim rabbi, who lives in that neighborhood and then entered a synagogue to pray. When they emerged they were set upon by young extremists from Neturei Karta who spat at them and assaulted them with stones, blows and a chair.
In 2014 Maklev publicly came to the defense of MK David Rotem, who as head of the Knesset Constitution, Law and Justice Committee was understood to say that Reform Judaism was not Judaism but rather a different religion. Afterwards, Rotem claimed that he had misspoken or that his remarks were misunderstood. Uri Maklev defended Rotem against Reform Jewish pressure, saying, "The Reform movement persecutes the Jewish people and attempts to crushes it from within...They are the biggest enemy of the Jewish people and they cause assimilation. [The Reform movement's] tentacles are everywhere. They bribe politicians and the press. They have created an unprecedented pressure group.”
He is married with 5 children.