Yisrael Katz (Hebrew: ישראל כץ, 6 December 1927 – 29 October 2010)[1] was an Israeli scholar, civil servant and politician who served as Minister of Labor and Social Affairs.

Born in Vienna in Austria, Katz emigrated to Mandatory Palestine in November 1938 as a child of ten following the Anschluss and the Nazi rise to power.

Katz originally studied agriculture at the Ahava youth village until 1944, while simultaneously through intense self-study, completing his matriculation in an outstanding manner.

As a result, he was awarded a scholarship by the British Mandatory Government but chose to study science at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem from 1946 until 1947.

Between 1959 and 1961 he studied and completed his doctorate in Social Work Administration at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio.

Katz also prepared the groundwork for research in social security matters,[4] particularly on the measurement of poverty in Israel, which continue to be published yearly to this day.

The party joined the first government of Menachem Begin, and despite not being a member of the Knesset, Katz was appointed Minister of Labor and Welfare.

During his tenure, Katz took it upon himself to form a mechanism to preserve the value of NII grants from erosion from the rapid inflation affecting Israel at the time.

In November 1996 Katz was appointed to head a commission to examine broad legislation on the subject of rights of people with disabilities.