Dan Meridor (born April 23, 1947, in Jerusalem, Mandatory Palestine) is an Israeli politician, lawyer, and former military officer. The son of Irgun leader and Knesset member Eliyahu Meridor and classics professor Re'ut Meridor, he has three younger siblings: Hagit Horovitz (former head of pediatrics at Bikur Holim Hospital), Avital Darmon (director of the Applied Research Initiative in Education), and Sallai Meridor (former chairman of the Jewish Agency and World Zionist Organization 1999–2005, Israeli ambassador to the US 2006–2009). He graduated from Hebrew Gymnasium High School in Jerusalem in 1965 and earned an LL.B. in Law from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Meridor enlisted in the IDF in 1965, serving in the Armored Corps as a tank commander in the Six-Day War (1967) on the Sinai front and in the Yom Kippur War (1973) on the Golan Heights, where he was wounded; he was discharged as a Sergeant (Saran). After his military service, he practiced law at the Tel Aviv firm Haim Zadok & Co. His political career began as Cabinet Secretary (1982–1984) under Prime Ministers Menachem Begin and Yitzhak Shamir. He served in the Knesset from 1984–1999 (Likud), 1999–2003 (Centre Party, co-founder), and 2009–2013 (Likud), holding ministerial roles including Minister of Justice (1988–1992), Minister of Finance (1996–1997, resigned amid clashes with Benjamin Netanyahu), Minister without Portfolio (2001–2003), and Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Intelligence and Atomic Energy (2009–2013), all under various prime ministers. He also chaired the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee (1999–2003). Post-politics, he has served as President of the Israel Council on Foreign Relations (since 2014), International Chair of the Jerusalem Foundation, Chairman of the Board of Bezalel Academy of Art and Design, and in other cultural leadership roles. In 2011, his personal fortune was estimated at 30 million NIS, ranking him 6th among Israel's richest politicians. Meridor has faced controversies, including a 2008 ethics accusation (acquitted) over a legal fee from Arkady Gaydamak, and has been a vocal critic of Benjamin Netanyahu's 2023 judicial reforms and the management of the Israel-Hamas war, signing a 2026 advertisement accusing Jewish settlers of war crimes in the West Bank. He was married to Liora Meridor, a senior economist at the Bank of Israel (died November 2023), with whom he had four children: Matan (lawyer at Agmon & Co.), Shaul (former deputy director in the Ministry of Finance), Hamutal (high-tech executive at Kalev), and Avishai (former IAF navigator). He resides in Jerusalem's Rehavia neighborhood.