Ehud Barak

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Ehud Barak אֵהוּד בָּרָק
10th Prime Minister of Israel
In office 6 July 1999 – 7 March 2001
Preceded by	Benjamin Netanyahu
Succeeded by	Ariel Sharon
Born	February 12, 1942 (1942-02-12) (age 66) Mishmar HaSharon, British Mandate of Palestine
Political party	Labor
Religion	Judaism

Ehud Barak (Hebrew: אֵהוּד בָּרָק‎, born Ehud Brog on 12 February 1942) is an Israeli politician, former Prime Minister, and current Minister of Defense, deputy prime minister and leader of Israel's Labor Party.

Barak served as the 10th Prime Minister of Israel from 1999 to 2001. After losing the 2001 election, Barak embarked on a business career. On June 12, 2007, he completed a political comeback by winning election to the Labor Party leadership. He was appointed as Minister of Defense, replacing outgoing party leader Amir Peretz.

Prior to his political career he served as an officer in the Israel Defense Forces. Following a highly decorated career he was appointed the 14th Ramatkal (Head of General Staff) of the IDF.

[edit] Biography

Ehud Barak was born on February 12, 1942 in kibbutz Mishmar HaSharon in Mandatory Palestine. He is the eldest of four sons of Esther (née Godin) and Israel Brog. Ehud hebraized his family name from "Brog" to "Barak" in 1959, as he began his military service.

It was during his military service that he met his future wife, Naava. They had three daughters together. Ehud and Naava divorced on August 2003. On 30th July 2007 Ehud married his childhood sweetheart, Nili Priel, in a small ceremony at his private residence.

[edit] Education

Barak earned his bachelor's degree in physics and mathematics from the Hebrew University in Jerusalem in 1968, and his master's degree in engineering-economic systems in 1978 from Stanford University in Palo Alto, California.

[edit] Military service

Ehud Brog joined the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) in 1959. At that time he decided to change his name to "Barak", which means "lightning" or "shine" in Hebrew. He served in the IDF for 35 years, rising to the position of Chief of the General Staff and the rank of Rav Aluf, the highest in the Israeli military. During the Yom Kippur War, Barak commanded an improvised regiment of tanks which among other things, helped rescue paratrooper battalion 890 commanded by Yitzhak Mordechai who were suffering heavy losses in the Battle of The Chinese Farm.

During his service as a commando in the elite Sayeret Matkal, Barak led several highly acclaimed operations, such as: "Operation Isotope", the rescue mission to free the hostages onboard Sabena Flight 572 at Lod Airport in 1972; the 1973 covert mission Operation Spring of Youth in Beirut, in which he was disguised as a woman in order to assassinate members of the Palestine Liberation Organization; Barak was also a key architect of the June 1976 Operation Entebbe, another rescue mission to free the hostages of the Air France aircraft hijacked by terrorists and forced to land at the Entebbe Airport in Uganda. These highly acclaimed operations, along with Operation Bayonet led to the dismantling of Palestinian terrorist cell Black September and a decline in international terrorism for over 20 years^{[citation needed]}. It has been alluded that Barak also masterminded the Tunis Raid in which PLO leader Abu Jihad was assassinated.

Later he served as head of Aman, the Military Intelligence Directorate (1983-1985), head of Central Command (1986 - 1987) and Deputy Chief of the General Staff (1987-1991). He served Chief of the General Staff between April 1, 1991 and January 1, 1995. During this period he implemented the first Oslo Accords and participated in the negotiations towards the Israel-Jordan Treaty of Peace.

Barak was awarded the Medal of Distinguished Service and four Chief of Staff citations (Tzalash HaRamatcal) for courage and operational excellence. These five decorations make him the most decorated soldier in Israeli history (jointly with Nechemya Cohen). In addition he was awarded in 1993 the Legion of Merit (Commander) by the United States^[1]

Barak is also an expert in krav maga, the official martial art of the Israeli Defense Forces.

Barak at the Pentagon in 1999

[edit] Political career

As a politician, Barak served as Minister of the Interior (1995) and then as Minister of Foreign Affairs (1995-1996). He was elected to the Knesset in 1996, where he served as a member of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee. In 1996 Barak became the leader of the Labor Party.

Ehud Barak was elected Prime Minister of Israel on May 17, 1999 and completed what is nominally a 4 year term on March 7, 2001 after his loss to Ariel Sharon in a special prime ministerial election in February 2001.

On the 12th of June, 2007, Barak won back the leadership of the Labor Party.

Ehud Barak is an Honorary Member of The International Raoul Wallenberg Foundation

[edit] Coalition

When forming his coalition, Barak sparked controversy by deciding to form a coalition with the haredi party Shas who had received an unprecedented 17 seats in the 120-seat Knesset. Shas grudgingly agreed to Barak's terms that they eject their leader Aryeh Deri, a convicted felon, and enact reform to "clean up" in-party corruption. Consequentially, the left wing Meretz party quit the coalition after they failed to agree on the powers to be given to a Shas deputy-minister in the Ministry of Education.

[edit] Arab-Israeli Conflict

In 1999 Barak gave a campaign promise to end Israel's 22-year long occupation of Southern Lebanon within a year. On May 24th, 2000 Israel withdrew from Southern Lebanon. On October the 7th, 2000, three Israeli soldiers were kidnapped by Hezbollah and then subsequently killed. The bodies of these soldiers were eventually exchanged for Lebanese captives in 2004. Barak inaugurated peace negotiations with the PLO, which ultimately proved fruitless. Barak also took part in the Camp David 2000 Summit which was meant to finally resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict but failed. Barak, Prince Bandar of Saudi Arabia, and US president Bill Clinton placed the blame on Yasser Arafat. Barak claimed he exposed "Arafat's true intentions"^{[citation needed]}. Following the failure at Camp David, the Palestinian al-Aqsa Intifada (also known as the Second Intifada) erupted. Barak also allowed Foreign Minister Shlomo Ben-Ami to attend the Taba Summit with the leadership of the Palestinian Authority, after his government had fallen.

[edit] Domestic Issues

Barak was in power during the appointment of the Tal committee which dealt with the controversial issue of haredi Jews' exemption from military service. Riots in October 2000 led to the killing of 12 Israeli-Arabs and 1 Palestinian by Israel Police and one Israeli-Jewish civilian by Israeli Arabs. In 1999–2000, Israel experienced high growth rates (GDP) relative to the economy’s past performance and by international standards.

[edit] Post-Prime ministerial career

[edit] Business career

After losing the 2001 elections to Ariel Sharon's Likud party by a landslide, Barak left Israel to work as a senior advisor with U.S.-based Electronic Data Systems. He also partnered with a private equity company focused on "security-related" work.

In 2005, following his failed attempt to maintain leadership of the Labor party, Barak became a partner of the investment company SCP Private Equity Partners, Pennsylvania. He established a company "Ehud Barak Limited" which is thought to have made over NIS30 million. ^[2]

[edit] Public speaking

Barak went on a public speaking tour of American colleges, expressing his view on the Middle East. During this tour in 2006, he said that “[Iraq] gradually deteriorates to civil war [and] the US presence is more and more a part of the problem and not the solution."^[3]

[edit] Return to politics

In 2005, Barak announced his return to Israeli politics, and ran for leadership of the Labor party in November. However, in light of his weak poll showings, Barak dropped out of the race early and declared his support for veteran statesman Shimon Peres.

After Peres lost the race to Amir Peretz and left the Labor party, Barak announced he would stay at the party, despite his shaky relationship with its newly elected leader. He declared, however, that he would not run for a spot on the Labor party's Knesset list for the March 2006 elections.

In January 2007, Barak launched a bid to recapture the leadership of the Labor party in a letter acknowledging "mistakes" and "inexperience" during his tenure as Prime Minister.^[4] In early March of 2007, a poll of Labor Party primary voters put Barak ahead of all other opponents, including current leader Amir Peretz. ^[5] In the first round of voting, on 28 May, 2007, he gained 39% of the votes, which is more than his two closest rivals, although failed to gain the 40% needed to win the election.^[6]

As a result, Barak faced a runoff against the second-place finisher, Ami Ayalon, on June 12, 2007, which he won by a narrow margin.^[7]

[edit] Back in Government

After winning back the leadership of the Labor party, Barak was sworn in as Minister of Defense on June 18, 2007, as part of Prime Minister Olmert's cabinet reshuffle. However on July 1, 2007, Barak led a successful effort in the Labor central committee to stipulate that Labor will leave the government coalition if Olmert does not resign by September or October 2007. At that time the Winograd Commission will publish its final report on the performance of the Israel Defense Forces and its civilian leadership. The preliminary Winograd report released earlier this year laid most of the blame on Olmert for poorly planning, executing, and reviewing war strategies in the 2006 conflict against Hezbollah.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] References in popular culture

• The film Munich includes a scene depicting Operation Spring of Youth where Ehud Barak is mentioned by name and is seen dressed as a brunette, reflecting his real-life experience as leader of a Sayeret Matkal unit during that event.^[8]
• Barak also appears as a military advisor to a fictitious Israeli Prime Minister in the Frederick Forsyth novel The Devil's Alternative.

[edit] Quotations

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to:

Ehud Barak

• "Two Egyptian divisions were already deployed deep into the Sinai desert very close to the Israeli border. Israel had a very small regular standing army, and it had to deploy immediately along the border to avoid a surprise attack."
• "On the battlefield itself, no one will move if you are not moving. It's a swift decision."

[edit] See also

• List of Israel's Chiefs of the General Staff

[edit] References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to:

Ehud Barak

• Ehud Barak - official site (in Hebrew)
• Bregman, Ahron Elusive Peace: How the Holy Land Defeated America.
• Clinton, Bill (2005). My Life. Vintage. ISBN 1-4000-3003-X.
• Dromi, Uri (Nov. 5, 2005). "Still craving peace 10 years after Rabin". New Straits Times, p. 20.
• http://www.nybooks.com/articles/15501 Volume 49, Number 10 · June 13, 2002 Email to a friend Exchange Camp David and After: An Exchange (1. An Interview with Ehud Barak)
• Ehud Barak profile, Israel lexicon, Ynet News
• Lying is cultural trait of Arabs, says Barak
• "Building a Wall Against Terror", by Ehud Barak, The New York Times May 24, 2001

[edit] Notes

v • d • e Prime Ministers of Israel David Ben-Gurion (1948-53) · Moshe Sharett (1953-55) · David Ben-Gurion (1955-63) · Levi Eshkol (1963-69) · Yigal Allon (acting - 1969) · Golda Meir (1969-74) · Yitzhak Rabin (1974-77) · Shimon Peres (acting - 1977) · Menachem Begin (1977-83) · Yitzhak Shamir (1983-84) · Shimon Peres (1984-86) · Yitzhak Shamir (1986-92) · Yitzhak Rabin (1992-95) · Shimon Peres (1995-96) · Benjamin Netanyahu (1996-99) · Ehud Barak (1999-2001) · Ariel Sharon (2001-2006) · Ehud Olmert (2006-date)

v • d • e Foreign Affairs Ministers of Israel Moshe Sharett (1948-56) · Golda Meir (1956-66) · Abba Eban (1966-74) · Yigal Allon (1974-77) · Moshe Dayan (1977-79) · Yitzhak Shamir (1980-86) · Shimon Peres (1986-88) · Moshe Arens (1988-90) · David Levy (1990-92) · Shimon Peres (1992-95) · Ehud Barak (1995-96) · David Levy (1996-98) · Ariel Sharon (1998-99) · David Levy (1999-2000) · Shlomo Ben-Ami (2000-01) · Shimon Peres (2001-02) · Benjamin Netanyahu (2002-03) · Silvan Shalom (2003-06) · Tzipi Livni (2006-date)

v • d • e Defense Ministers of Israel David Ben-Gurion (1948-54) · Pinhas Lavon (1954-55) · David Ben-Gurion (1955-63) · Levi Eshkol (1963-67) · Moshe Dayan (1967-74) · Shimon Peres (1974-77) · Ezer Weizman (1977-80) · Menachem Begin (1980-81) · Ariel Sharon (1981-83) · Moshe Arens (1983-84) · Yitzhak Rabin (1984-90) · Yitzhak Shamir (1990) · Moshe Arens (1990-92) · Yitzhak Rabin (1992-95) · Shimon Peres (1995-96) · Yitzhak Mordechai (1996-99) · Ehud Barak (1999-2001) · Binyamin Ben-Eliezer (2001-02) · Shaul Mofaz (2002-06) · Amir Peretz (2006-07) · Ehud Barak (2007-date)

v • d • e Education Ministers of Israel Zalman Shazar (1949-50) • David Remez (1950-51) • David Ben-Gurion (1951) • Ben-Zion Dinur (1951-55) • Zalman Aran (1955-60) • Abba Eban (1960-63) • Zalman Aran (1963-69) • Yigal Allon (1969-74) • Aharon Yadlin (1974-77) • Zevulun Hammer (1977-84) • Yitzhak Navon (1984-90) • Zevulun Hammer (1990-92) • Shulamit Aloni (1992-93) • Yitzhak Rabin (1993) • Amnon Rubinstein (1993-96) • Zevulun Hammer (1996-98) • Yitzhak Levy (1998-99) • Yossi Sarid (1999-2000) • Ehud Barak (2000-01) • Limor Livnat (2001-06) • Meir Sheetrit (2006) • Yuli Tamir (2006-date)