Haim Ariav

Haim Ariav (Hebrew: חיים אריאב; 1895 – 16 June 1957) was an Israeli politician who served as a member of the Knesset for the General Zionists between 1951 and 1957.

Born Haim Krupski in Lida, in the Vilna Governorate of the Russian Empire (present-day Grodno Region, Belarus), Ariav was educated in a heder and a Russian primary school.^[1] He emigrated to Ottoman-controlled Palestine in 1912 and finished his secondary education at the Herzliya Hebrew High School.^[1] He went on to study jurisprudence at the Jerusalem Jurisprudence School, and was certified as a lawyer.^[1]

He volunteered for the Ottoman Army and attended officers training school in Istanbul.^[1] He later taught at a military school in Damascus and worked as a translator.^[1] After the Nili group was discovered, Ariav was arrested and sent to Istanbul, though he was later released and sent to the Caucasus front to be an officer and translator.^[1]

After the war he worked in the secretariat of the Delegates Committee, and became its general secretary.^[1] In 1929 he was appointed general secretary of the Jerusalem branch of the Jewish Agency, where he worked until 1931.^[1] A secretary of the Hitahdut HaIkarim, in 1934 he founded the Society for Local Councils,^[1] and assisted in the establishment of Pardes Hanna Agricultural High School. He was also amongst the founders and directors of the HaBoker newspaper.^[1]

A member of the executive committee of the Union of General Zionists,^[1] Ariav was elected to the Knesset in 1951 on the General Zionists' list. He was re-elected in 1955, and died in 1957 whilst still serving as an MK. His seat was taken by Ya'akov Klivnov.^[2]

• Haim Ariav on the Knesset website