{{Short description|Israeli politician (1952–2013)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=August 2020}} {{Infobox officeholder | image= Marina Solodkin 059.jpg | birth_date = {{Birth date|df=yes|1952|5|31}} | birth_place = Moscow, Soviet Union | death_date = {{Death date and age|df=yes|2013|3|16|1952|5|31}} | death_place = Riga, Latvia | office1 = Faction represented in the Knesset | suboffice1 = Yisrael BaAliyah | subterm1 = 1996–2003 | suboffice2 = Likud | subterm2 = 2003–2005 | suboffice3 = Kadima | subterm3 = 2005–2013 }}
'''Marina Solodkin''' ({{langx|he|מרינה סולודקין}}, 31 May 1952 – 16 March 2013) was an Israeli politician and member of the Knesset for Yisrael BaAliyah, Likud and Kadima.
She emigrated to Israel from Russia in the early 1990s and joined the immigrant Yisrael BaAliyah party and entered the Knesset in 1996. She served as a lawmaker until February 2013 when she lost her seat in the elections.
==Biography== Marina Gershman (later Solodkin) was born in Moscow in the Soviet Union. Solodkin studied at Moscow State University, where she gained a PhD in economic and social science. She immigrated to Israel in 1991.<ref name="jpost-eulogy">{{cite news|url=https://www.jpost.com/National-News/Politicians-eulogize-former-MK-Marina-Solodkin-306709|title=Politicians eulogize former MK Marina Solodkin|author=Harkov, Lahav|work=The Jerusalem Post|date=17 March 2013|accessdate=23 March 2013}} </ref> Solodkin died of a stroke in a hotel room in Latvia on 16 March 2013.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4357142,00.html|title=Former MK Marina Solodkin dies in Latvia|date=2013-03-16|work=Ynetnews|access-date=2018-01-09}}</ref> She wrote on her Facebook page the Friday before: "In a few hours' time I will take off for Latvia in order to take part in a conference I was invited to by the Latvian Committee against Fascism… Lately, Neo-Nazism is raising its ugly head in Eastern Europe, in the post-Soviet states. We must remain vigilant."<ref>[http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/166281#.UUTo2XxJsbo Report: Marina Solodkin has Died]</ref><ref>{{Cite web| last1=Yaakov | first1=Yifa |url=http://www.timesofisrael.com/former-mk-marina-solodkin-dies-of-stroke-in-latvia/|title = Former MK Marina Solodkin dies of stroke at 60|website = The Times of Israel | date=16 March 2013 }}</ref>
She was survived by her husband and two children. She lived in Ashkelon.
==Political career== In Israel, Solodkin joined the Russian-immigrant party, Yisrael BaAliyah led by Soviet dissident Natan Sharansky. She was elected to the Knesset in the 1996 elections on the party's list and chaired the committee on the Status of Women. After retaining her seat in the 1999 elections, she was appointed Deputy Minister of Immigrant Absorption, a post she regained during the 16th Knesset after Yisrael BaAliyah had merged into Likud.
Shortly before the 2006 elections Solodkin resigned from the Knesset in order to join Kadima. She gained 6th place on the party's list and was re-elected. However, in protest at not being appointed a Minister despite her high position on Kadima's list, she was absent from the swearing-in ceremony of the new government. Her absence from the cabinet was unpopular with many Russian immigrants.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20071001015831/http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=712640&contrassID=3&subContrassID=0&sbSubContrassID=0 No minister] Haaretz, 2006</ref>
She called for foreign agricultural workers to be replaced with Ethiopian immigrants,<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20061022221512/http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/770847.html Kadima MK: Replace foreign agricultural workers with Ethiopian immigrants] Haaretz, 5 October 2006</ref> and demanded that Ariel Toaff be put on trial for his book about blood libel.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.haaretz.com/news/mks-demand-the-author-of-blood-libel-book-be-prosecuted-1.214071|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100601012454/http://www.haaretz.com/news/mks-demand-the-author-of-blood-libel-book-be-prosecuted-1.214071|url-status=dead|archive-date=1 June 2010|title=MKs Demand the Author of Blood Libel Book Be Prosecuted|last=Ilany|first=Ofri|date=2007-02-26|work=Haaretz|access-date=2018-01-09}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.jpost.com/Israel/MKs-demand-trial-of-blood-libel-writer|title=MKs demand trial of blood libel writer|work=The Jerusalem Post|access-date=2018-01-09 |issn=0792-822X}}</ref> She has also said that Ehud Olmert should resign over the 2006 Lebanon War.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20070503024516/http://haaretz.com/hasen/spages/854197.html Coalition chair to present PM with letter asking him to resign] Haaretz, 2 May 2007</ref>
She retained her seat in the 2009 elections after being placed tenth on the party's list. On 5 December 2012, in the days leading up to the 2013 elections, while polls showed Kadima either barely getting into the Knesset or not even passing the threshold, Solodkin announced she would not contest the elections.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.jpost.com/DiplomacyAndPolitics/Article.aspx?id=294758|title=Ehud Olmert to stay out of upcoming election|date=5 December 2012|work=The Jerusalem Post|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20121206025853/http://www.jpost.com/DiplomacyAndPolitics/Article.aspx?id=294758|archivedate=6 December 2012}}</ref>
In 2010 she supported calls to ban the Burka in Israel.<ref>{{cite web | last1=Sheen | first1=David | title=After France, Israel considers 'banning the burqa' | url=https://www.haaretz.com/2010-10-02/ty-article/after-france-israel-considers-banning-the-burqa/0000017f-f897-d47e-a37f-f9bfe5190000 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web | last1=Jeffay | first1=Nathan | title=Is Israel next in line to ban the burka? - the Jewish Chronicle | work=The Jewish Chronicle | date=13 May 2010 | url=https://www.thejc.com/news/israel/is-israel-next-in-line-to-ban-the-burka-f0nxn3pr }}</ref>
==Literary career== *''Dictionary of Economic History'' (in Russian, 1995) *''Civilization Discomfort: Soviet Jewry in Israel in the 90's'' (in Russian, 1996) *''Not another Generation of the Wilderness'' (in Hebrew)
==References== {{reflist}}
==External links== *[https://www.facebook.com/marinasolodkin Marina Solodkin] Facebook page *[https://web.archive.org/web/20120316142154/http://www.marinasolodkin.com/ Official Hebrew site] *[https://web.archive.org/web/20120108115101/http://www.marinasolodkin.ru/ Official Russian site] *{{MKlink|id=91}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Solodkin, Marina}} Category:1952 births Category:2013 deaths Category:Deputy ministers of Israel Category:Israeli people of Russian-Jewish descent Category:Women members of the Knesset Category:Jewish Israeli politicians Category:Kadima politicians Category:Likud politicians Category:Members of the 14th Knesset (1996–1999) Category:Members of the 15th Knesset (1999–2003) Category:Members of the 16th Knesset (2003–2006) Category:Members of the 17th Knesset (2006–2009) Category:Members of the 18th Knesset (2009–2013) Category:Moscow State University alumni Category:Academic staff of Moscow State University Category:Politicians from Moscow Category:Jewish Russian politicians Category:Yisrael BaAliyah politicians Category:21st-century Israeli women politicians Category:20th-century Israeli women politicians Category:People from Ashkelon