Menachem Begin was the 6th Prime Minister of the State of Israel. He is perceived by some as a terrorist leader but remembered by most as the man who brought about the first peace agreement between Israel and an Arab Nation and subsequently received a Nobel Prize for peace.
Begin was born in 1913 to Hassia and Zeev Dov in Brest-Litovsk, which was part of the Russian Empire. He was educated first at Hebrew School, and his high school education was at the Polish Gymnasium. He took a law degree at Warsaw University and graduated in 1935.
As a child, Begin was a member of the Hashomer Hatza’ir socialist youth movement and later joined the right-wing Betar Movement. During his time at University, he was active in Jewish Affairs. In 1938 he became head of the Polish Betar, which was part of a nationalist movement founded by Zeev Jabotinsky, and realizing the need to protect Polish Jewry, he put all his efforts into the military training of the members of this very strong movement.
When World War II broke out, he fled to Vilna in Lithuania. He was arrested by the Russian secret police and sentenced to 8 years imprisonment in a Siberian Labor Camp. Begin was freed in 1941 and joined the Free Polish Army, which made its way to British Palestine in 1943 for training.
On arrival in Palestine, Menachem Begin joined and took command of the Irgun Zvai Le’umi “Etzel” and directed the operations against the British. A reward of 10,000 Pounds was offered for information that would lead to his arrest. However, all actions taken against the British by the Irgun were in protest against the British Governments ban on the immigration of Jews to Palestine.
With the creation of the State of Israel in 1948, the underground groups were absorbed into the national army, the IDF, and in 1950 Menachem Begin became politically active, founding the Herut party and headed the party’s list for the Knesset. He remained in opposition until June 1967, when he joined the National Unity Government serving as Minister without Portfolio.
Menachem Begin led his Likud party to victory in the 1977 elections, presented the new government to the Knesset, and became Prime Minister of Israel. Barely six months later, he achieved what seemed to be the impossible – a visit from Anwar Sadat, President of Egypt, who came to Jerusalem. This was followed by nearly two years of intense negotiations culminating in the Camp David Accords and a peace treaty with Egypt.
In Oslo on the 10th December 1979, both Menachem Begin and Anwar Sadat were honored with the Nobel Peace Prize.
In June 1981, after the minister of Defense Ezer Weizman resigned from Office, Begin took over the post himself and asked his cabinet for approval to bomb the Iraqi Nuclear Reactor. This action was carried out successfully by the Israel Air Force. This action brought about worldwide condemnation, but during the Gulf war in 1991, it became evident that Israel’s action had prevented Saddam Hussein from procuring Nuclear weapons.
Shortly after his wife Aliza died, Menachem Begin finally retired from politics in 1983. He died in 1992 and is buried in Jerusalem on the Mount of Olives.