Avner Shaki

Avner-Hai Shaki (אבנר-חי שאקי, 5 February 1926 – 28 May 2005) was an Israeli politician who served as a government minister in the late 1980s and early 1990s.

Biography
Born in Safed during the Mandate era, Shaki studied law, gaining a PhD from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. He later worked as a lecturer in universities in Canada and the United States.

On 16 July 1970 he entered the Knesset on the National Religious Party's list as a replacement for the deceased Haim-Moshe Shapira, and in September that year Shaki was appointed Deputy Minister of Education and Culture. He left the cabinet on 17 July 1972, and on 22 May 1973 he left the party to sit as an Independent, remaining an MK until the next elections.

Shaki returned to the NRP and was elected to the Knesset in 1984. Re-elected in 1988, he was appointed Minister without Portfolio responsible for Jerusalem Affairs in December that year. In 1990 he was appointed Minister of Religious Affairs, serving until the Likud-led coalition lost power following the 1992 elections. Shaki was re-elected in 1992 and 1996, but lost his seat in the 1999 elections.