Natan Sharansky and Sharansky was appointed Minister of Jerusalem Affairs. From March 2003 – May 2005, he was Israel's Minister without Portfolio, responsible for Jerusalem, social and Jewish diaspora affairs. Under this position Sharansky chaired a secret committee that approved the confiscation of East Jerusalem property of West Bank Palestinians. This decision was reversed after an outcry from the Israeli left and the international community. Previously he served as the Deputy Prime Minister of Israel, Minister of Housing and Construction since March 2001, Interior Minister of Israel (July 1999 – resigned in July 2000), Minister of Industry and Trade (1996–1999). He resigned
History of the Jews in Moscow groups gained traction while working underground in an atmosphere of repression. They protested, published samizdat, had seminars on Jewish history, and started Hebrew ulpans. Some of these activists, such as Natan Sharansky, Yosef Begun, and Ida Nudel were arrested as a result. During Glasnost and Perestroika, Jewish life in Moscow expanded and new cultural organizations formed. At the same time, anti-semitic organizations grew louder and there were rumors that a pogrom could occur during the Moscow celebrations of the millennium of Christianity in Russia. In 1992, firebombs were thrown at the Marina Rosha Synagogue in Moscow, and in 1999 there