Yuval Steinitz (Hebrew: יובל שטייניץ; born 10 April 1958) is an Israeli politician who served as a member of the Knesset for the Likud party.

[2] His doctoral thesis From a Rational Point of View was completed at the Cohn Institute for the History and Philosophy of Science and Ideas at Tel Aviv University.

[4] Steinitz's reservations about Oslo Accords signed with the Palestinians, together with his concerns regarding the massive Egyptian military buildup despite the peace treaty with Israel, led him to shift to the right in 1995 and to publicly support the Likud Party.

[7] Right at the beginning of his tenure, Steinitz declared that the committee will cease to be "The House of Lords" and will exercise "a very proactive and effective parliamentary oversight of Israel defense establishment".

In addition, Steinitz expressed a great Support for developing the Israeli Navy into a significant strategic arm and published several articles on this issue at the Maarachot Military Journal.

Yet, at the same time, he led a parliamentary battle against delivering the Philadelphi Corridor to Egypt, claiming that the Egyptians deliberately ignore Palestinian arms smuggling through the Sinai Peninsula.

[13] In addition, he called for a rapid "Defensive Shield" Operation in Gaza, prior to the Israeli withdrawal, in order to destroy the Hamas and Islamic Jihad rockets industry.

[22] After few weeks at office, Steinitz has launched an emergency plan entitled "Blima & Tnufa" (Break and Accelerate) aimed at returning the country to positive economic growth, through dramatically encouraging investments in the high-tech industry, in R&D, and in construction and transportation.

[24] In April 2009, Steinitz announced his unprecedented plan to enact the first biennial budget in Israel's history,[25] as part of his counter-crisis policy.

[30] In 2010 Steinitz established the Sheshinski Committee to examine ways to increase the level of taxation on Natural Gas and Oil fields.

[33] In addition, Steinitz has doubled the royalties paid by "Israel Chemicals" from using the Dead Sea natural resources and cancel its historic tax exemptions.

[41] During his three official visits in China and India, Steinitz led negotiations for the signing a series of bilateral agreements designed to increase the volume of trade with these countries.

Among other things, the agreement included specific steps to encourage young doctors from China and India to make their Postdoctoral Researches in Israel.

[42][43][44] In July 2012, Steinitz led the signing of an economic agreement between Israel and the Palestinian Authority with Prime Minister Salam Fayyad.

As part of the deal, it was decided to increase joint enforcement against smuggling of goods, and Israeli assistance to the Palestinian tax collection capabilities.

Yet in March 2016 Israel's Supreme court nullified the framework stability section, and forced Minister Steinitz to amend it and bring it back to government approval.

[51] In July 2016 Steinitz announced that the Ministry of Energy will publish new oil and gas licenses, after four years in which the country economic waters were practically closed for new explorations and searches.

In his capacity, Steinitz initiated a plan to eliminating the use of coal and polluting fuels in the State of Israel, and replacing them with natural gas and renewable energies.

In June 2018, Steinitz signed an implementation agreement with his American counterpart, Rick Perry, establishing a joint energy research and development center.

[53] In 2008, when Israel refused permission for Palestinian Fulbright students to leave Gaza and study in the United States, Steinitz supported this action.

"[54] He disagreed with former Governor of the Bank of Israel, Stanley Fischer, on various issues, and has a complicated relationship with Netanyahu, who bypassed him several times in his first year in office.

[4] In June 2013, when Austria planned to withdraw its UN troops (stationary since 1974) from the Golan Heights, Yuval Steinitz issued a statement expressing regret at the Austrian move, adding that the lesson for Israel was clear: "Even as part of peace agreements, Israel cannot place its security in the hands of international forces instead of relying on the presence of IDF soldiers.

"[citation needed] In December 2015, after the assassination of Samir Kuntar, he claimed in the newspaper Haaretz that the Finnish Intelligence services was perhaps behind this affair.

[57] On 19 November 2017, Energy Minister Yuval Steinitz said that Israel has had covert contacts with Saudi Arabia amid common concerns over Iran.

[58] On 7 May 2018, Steinitz, in an interview to Israeli news site Ynet, said that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, should be 'eliminated' by Israel for his relationship with Iran, he later clarified it was his personal opinion and not that of the government.