Born 9 September 1939, is an Israeli lawyer, politician, member of the Knesset from the Likud party, and former Speaker of the Knesset. In 2007 he ran for the election for President as the candidate of the Likud party. He withdrew after the first round of voting when it became clear that Kadima MK Shimon Peres had sufficiently broad support to inevitably win in a run-off.
Born in Jerusalem, he received an LL.B. from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
He was first elected to the 12th Knesset in 1988. He was also elected to the 14th through the 17th Knesset Assemblies. He was the Minister of Communications from March 2001 until February 2003, when he was elected Speaker of the 16th Knesset (to 2006). He has been criticized for breaking the tradition of political neutrality of Knesset speakers. He was one of Ariel Sharon's harshest critics regarding Israel's unilateral disengagement plan, and had a public confrontation with Aharon Barak, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, concerning the court's authority to declare legislation unconstitutional.
He served as Chairman of the Likud Party from 1988 to 1993.
He is married and has four children.
Here is Rubi speaking about theoutcomes of the elections to the 17th Kenesset:
