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Yitzhak Shamir

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Yitzhak Shamir
יִצְחָק שָׁמִיר
7th Prime Minister of Israel
In office
October 20, 1986 – July 13, 1992
Preceded byShimon Peres
Succeeded byYitzhak Rabin
In office
October 10, 1983 – September 13, 1984
Preceded byMenachem Begin
Succeeded byShimon Peres
Personal details
Born
Icchak Jeziernicki

(1915-10-22)October 22, 1915
Ruzhinoy, Russian Empire
DiedJune 30, 2012(2012-06-30) (aged 96)
Tel Aviv, Israel
Political partyLikud
Spouse(s)Shulamit Shamir
(m. 1944–2011; her death)
Children2
Signature

Yitzhak Shamirⓘ (Template:Lang-he, born Icchak Jeziernicki; October 22, 1915 – June 30, 2012)[1] was an Israeli politician and the seventh Prime Minister of Israel, serving two terms, 1983–84 and 1986–1992. Before the establishment of the State of Israel, Shamir was a member of the Irgun, which broke away from the Haganah. He was the country’s second longest-serving prime minster after David Ben-Gurion.[2] Shamir became the commander of the Lehi after the death of Avraham Stern and worked for the Mossad from 1955-65.

Early and personal life

Icchak Jeziernicki (later Yitzhak Shamir) was born in the predominantly Jewish village of Ruzhany[3] (Template:Lang-yi), Russian Empire (now Belarus), the son of Perla and Shlomo, who owned a leather factory.[4] He studied at a Hebrew high school network in Białystok, Poland. As a youth he joined Betar, the Revisionist Zionist youth movement. He studied at the law faculty of Warsaw University, but cut his studies short to immigrate to what was then the British Mandate of Palestine.

In 1935, Shamir migrated to Palestine, where he worked in an accountant’s office.[2] His parents and two sisters died during the Holocaust. His father was stoned to death just outside his birthplace in Ruzhany by Poles who had been his childhood friends, after he had escaped from a German train transporting Jews to the death camps.[5] His mother and a sister died in the camps and another sister was shot dead.[6]

He later adopted as his surname the name he used on a forged underground identity card, Shamir. He told his wife this was because Shamir means a thorn that stabs and a rock that can cut steel.[7] In 1944 he married Shlomit,[8] whom he met in a detention camp, and she too migrated to Mandate Palestine from Bulgaria by boat in 1941 and was sent to prison because she entered the territory illegally. They had two children, Yair and Gilada.[9] Shulamit died on July 29, 2011.[10]

Zionist activism

Shamir joined the Irgun Zvai Leumi, a Zionist paramilitary group that opposed British control of Palestine.[11] When the Irgun split in 1940, Shamir joined the more militant faction Lehi, also known as the Stern Gang, headed by Avraham Stern.[12] In 1941 Shamir was imprisoned by British authorities. A few months after Stern was killed by the British in 1942, Shamir and Eliahu Giladi hid under a stack of mattresses in a warehouse of the detention camp at Mazra'a and at night they escaped through the barbed wire fences of the camp.[13] Shamir, together with Giladi, Anshell Shpillman and Yehoshua Cohen, reorganised the movement into cells and trained its members. In 1943, he became one of the three leaders of the group, serving with Nathan Yellin-Mor and Israel Eldad. Shamir sought to emulate the anti-British struggle of the Irish Republicans and took the nickname "Michael" for Irish Republican leader Michael Collins.[14] In July 1946 he was caught, exiled and interned in Africa by British Mandatory authorities. In January 1947 he and four Irgun members escaped through a 200-foot tunnel they had dug. Shamir and some of the others hid in an oil truck for three days as it was driven over the border to French Somalia. They were arrested by the French but he was eventually allowed passage to France and granted political asylum. His underground sent him a forged passport, with which he returned to Israel after the Israeli Declaration of Independence in 1948.[15]

During the war, most of Lehi's members served in the army but the Lehi group in Jerusalem distanced itself from government control. Shamir, Eldad and Yellin-Mor authorised the assassination of the United Nations representative in the Middle East, Count Folke Bernadotte during a truce. Lehi feared that Israel would agree to Bernadotte's peace proposals, which they considered dangerous, unaware that the provisional Israeli government had already rejected a proposal by Bernadotte the day before. The Israeli provisional government drafted an ordinance for the prevention of terrorism and then invoked it to declare Lehi a terrorist organisation, consequently rounding up 200 of its members for administrative detention. They were amnestied some months later and given a state pardon.[16] With the formation of the State of Israel, Lehi formally disbanded on May 29, 1948 and its forces joined the Israeli army.[17]

Mossad

Wanted Poster of the Palestine Police Force offering rewards for the capture of Stern Gang members: Jaacov Levstein (Eliav), Yitzhak Yezernitzky (Shamir), and Natan Friedman-Yelin

In the first years of Israel's independence, Shamir managed several commercial enterprises. In 1955, he joined the Mossad, serving until 1965. During his Mossad career, he directed the assassinations of German rocket scientists working on the Egyptian missile programme, known as Operation Damocles.[18]

He ran a unit that placed agents in hostile countries, created the Mossad's division for planning and served on its General Staff.[19][dubious – discuss]

Political career

In 1969, Shamir joined the Herut party headed by Menachem Begin and was first elected to the Knesset in 1973 as a member of the Likud. He became Speaker of the Knesset in 1977, and foreign minister in 1980, before succeeding Begin as prime minister in 1983 when the latter retired.

Prime Minister

Shamir with Caspar Weinberger

Shamir had a reputation as a Likud hard-liner. In 1977 he presided at the Knesset visit of Egyptian President Anwar Sadat. He abstained in the Knesset votes to approve the Camp David Accords and the Peace Treaty with Egypt. In 1981 and 1982, as Foreign Minister, he guided negotiations with Egypt to normalize relations after the treaty. Following the 1982 Lebanon War he directed negotiations which led to the May 17, 1983 Agreement with Lebanon, which did not materialize.

His failure to stabilize Israel's inflationary economy and to suggest a solution to the quagmire of Lebanon led to an indecisive election in 1984, after which a national unity government was formed between his Likud party and the Alignment led by Shimon Peres. As part of the agreement, Peres held the post of Prime Minister until September 1986, when Shamir took over.

As he prepared to reclaim the office of prime minister, which he had held previously from October 1983 to September 1984, Shamir's hard-line image appeared to moderate. However Shamir remained reluctant to change the status quo in Israel's relations with its Arab neighbors, and blocked Peres's initiative to promote a regional peace conference as agreed in 1987 with King Hussein of Jordan in what has become known as the London Agreement. Re-elected in 1988, Shamir and Peres formed a new coalition government until "the dirty trick" of 1990, when the Alignment left the government, leaving Shamir with a narrow right-wing coalition.

During the Gulf War, Iraq fired Scud missiles at Israel, many of which struck population centers. Iraq hoped to provoke Israeli retaliation and thus alienate Arab members of the United States-assembled coalition against Iraq. Shamir deployed Israeli Air Force jets to patrol the northern airspace with Iraq, but recalled the jets and decided not to retaliate after the United States urged restraint, claiming that Israeli attacks would jeopardize the delicate Arab-Western coalition.

During his term, Shamir reestablished diplomatic relations between Israel and several dozen African, Asian and other countries. He continued his efforts, begun in the late 1960s, to bring Soviet Jewish refugees to Israel. In May 1991, as the Ethiopian government of Mengistu Haile Mariam was collapsing, Shamir ordered the airlifting of fourteen thousand Ethiopian Jews, known as Operation Solomon. Shamir was dedicated to bringing Jews from all over the world to Israel and said he expected even American Jewish youth to realize that "man does not live by bread alone" but to "learn and understand Jewish history, the Bible....and reach the only conclusion: to come on aliya to Israel." [20][dubious – discuss]

Relations with the US were strained in the period after the war over the Madrid peace talks, which Shamir opposed. As a result, US President George H.W. Bush was reluctant to approve loan guarantees to help absorb immigrants from the former Soviet Union. Finally, Shamir gave in and in October 1991 participated in the Madrid talks. His narrow, right-wing government collapsed as a result over the participation of Palestinians from the West Bank and Gaza, and new elections were called.

Electoral defeat and retirement

Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir

Shamir was defeated by Yitzhak Rabin's Labour in the 1992 election. He stepped down from the Likud leadership in March 1993, but remained a member of the Knesset until the 1996 election. For some time, Shamir was a critic of his Likud successor, Benjamin Netanyahu, as being too indecisive in dealing with the Arabs. Shamir went so far as to resign from the Likud in 1998 and endorse the right-wing splinter movement led by Benny Begin, Herut - The National Movement, that later joined the National Union during the 1999 election. After Netanyahu was defeated, Shamir returned to the Likud fold and supported Ariel Sharon in the 2001 election. Subsequently, in his late eighties, Shamir ceased making public comments.

Illness and death

Yitzhak Shamir's coffin in the Knesset, July 2, 2012

In 2004, Shamir's health declined, with the progression of his Alzheimer's Disease, and he was moved to a nursing home. The government turned down a request by the family to finance his stay at the facility.[21]

Shamir died on June 30, 2012,[22] at a nursing home in Tel-Aviv where he had spent the last few years[23] as a result of the Alzheimer's disease[24] he had suffered since the mid-1990s.[25] He was given a state funeral, which took place on July 2 at Mount Herzl, Jerusalem,[24] and was buried beside his wife, Shulamit,[25] who died the previous year.[26]

Reactions

Israeli President Shimon Peres said that "Yitzhak Shamir was a brave warrior for Israel, before and after its inception. He was a great patriot and his enormous contribution will be forever etched in our chronicles. He was loyal to his beliefs and he served his country with the utmost dedication for decades. May he rest in peace."[24] Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office issued a statement upon hearing of his death that read: "[Shamir] led Israel with a deep loyalty to the nation. [The Prime Minister] expresses his deep pain over the announcement of the departure of Yitzhak Shamir. He was part of a marvelous generation which created the state of Israel and struggled for the Jewish people." This was despite previous feuds between the two once-Likud members.[25]

Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman added that Shamir "contributed greatly to the foundation of the state, which he served his entire life with loyalty and unwavering dedication. He set an example in each position that he held. I had the privilege to be personally acquainted with Shamir, and I will always remember him and his great contribution to the state;" while Defense Minister Ehud Barak said: "His whole life, Shamir was as stable as granite and maintained focus without compromises. He always strived to ensure Israel's freedom. His devotion knew no bounds [and he] always sought what's right for the people of Israel and for the country's security."

Leader of the Opposition and Labor Party head Shelly Yachimovich offered her condolences to Shamir's family saying that "he was a determined prime minister who dedicated his life to the state. He followed his ideological path honestly and humbly, as a leader should. The citizens of Israel will always remember the wisdom he demonstrated during the First Gulf War. He showed restraint and saved Israel from undue entanglement in the Iraq War. This decision proved to be a brave and wise act of leadership."

His daughter Gilada Diamant said: "[My father] belonged to a different generation of leaders, people with values and beliefs. I hope that we have more people like him in the future. His political doing has undoubtedly left its mark on the State of Israel. Dad was an amazing man, a family man in the fullest sense of the word, a man who dedicated himself to the State of Israel but never forgot his family, not even for a moment. He was a special man."[24]

Awards and recognition

In 2001, Shamir received the Israel Prize, for his lifetime achievements and special contribution to society and the State of Israel.[27][28][29]

In 2005, he was voted the 29th-greatest Israeli of all time, in a poll by the Israeli news website Ynet to determine whom the general public considered the 200 Greatest Israelis.[30]

Published works

He wrote Sikumo shel davar, a book which was published in English by Weidenfeld and Nicolson, London, as Summing Up: An autobiography (1994).[31]

See also

References

  1. ^ http://www.knesset.gov.il/mk/eng/mk_eng.asp?mk_individual_id_t=175
  2. ^ a b http://www.haaretz.com/news/national/former-israeli-prime-minister-yitzhak-shamir-dies-at-96-1.447882
  3. ^ Ahron Bregman, A History of Israel,Palgrave Macmillan, 2003 p.205.
  4. ^ http://books.google.ca/books?id=Ybp2xI8NXPUC&q=perla+Shlomo+shamir&dq=perla+Shlomo+shamir&hl=en&redir_esc=y
  5. ^ http://www.haaretz.com/blogs/west-of-eden/yitzhak-shamir-1915-2012-a-modest-man-an-uninspiring-leader-and-a-genuine-zealot.premium-1.447900
  6. ^ http://www.timesofisrael.com/when-shamir-revealed-how-his-parents-and-sisters-were-killed-in-the-holocaust/
  7. ^ Zev Golan, Stern: The Man and His Gang, p. 143.
  8. ^ http://heritagefl.com/2011/08/15/the-eulogizer-shamir-abutbul-sundlun-pearle/
  9. ^ http://www.jewishpost.com/archives/news/yitzhak-shamir-celebrated-his-85th-birthday.html
  10. ^ http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/146231
  11. ^ John J. Mearsheimer and Stephen M. Walt, The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy, at 102 (Farrar, Straus and Giroux 2007).
  12. ^ "Stern Gang" A Dictionary of World History. Oxford University Press, 2000. Oxford Reference Online. Oxford University Press [1].
  13. ^ Nechemia Ben-Tor, The Lehi Lexicon, p. 61, in Hebrew, and Zev Golan, Stern: The Man and His Gang, p. 94.
  14. ^ Colin Shindler, The Land Beyond Promise:Israel, Likud and the Zionist Dream, I.B.Tauris, 2001 p. 177, see also Joseph O'Neill, "Blood-Dark Track: A Family History", Harper Perennial 2009, p. 216.
  15. ^ Shlomo Okun, ed., The Kenyan Exiles, in Hebrew, p. XXI-XXIV, Golan, Stern: The Man and His Gang, pp. 122, 144-145, and David Shomron, We Saw Him As the Head of Lehi, in Hebrew, in Ahimeir, Itzhak Shamir: As Solid As a Rock, Yediot Aharonot and the Jabotinsky Institute, 2008, p. 103.
  16. ^ Ami Pedahzur, Arie Perliger,Jewish Terrorism in Israel,Columbia University Press, 2011 p.28
  17. ^ Nachman Ben-Yehuda The Masada Myth: Collective Memory and Mythmaking in Israel,University of Wisconsin Press, 1995 p.324.
  18. ^ Melman, Yossi (March 24, 2004). "Targeted killings: A retro fashion very much in vogue". Haaretz.
  19. ^ Zev Golan, Stern: The Man and His Gang, p. 147.
  20. ^ Golan, Stern: The Man and His Gang, pp. 219, 223.
  21. ^ http://www.ynet.co.il/articles/0,7340,L-2995233,00.html
  22. ^ "Israeli media says former Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir has died at the age of 96". The Washington Post. 30 June 2012. Retrieved 30 June 2012.
  23. ^ Somfalvi, Attila (30 June 2012). "Former PM Yitzhak Shamir dies at 96". Ynetnews. Retrieved 30 June 2012.
  24. ^ a b c d http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4249308,00.html
  25. ^ a b c http://www.aljazeera.com/news/middleeast/2012/06/2012630182037576207.html
  26. ^ http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/01/world/middleeast/yitzhak-shamir-former-prime-minister-of-israel-dies-at-96.html?pagewanted=all
  27. ^ Shamir, Eban, Ben-Porat Garner Israel Prize The Jewish Week, May 2001
  28. ^ "Israel Prize Official Site (in Hebrew) – Recipient's C.V."
  29. ^ "Israel Prize Official Site (in Hebrew) – Judges' Rationale for Grant to Recipient".
  30. ^ גיא בניוביץ' (June 20, 1995). "הישראלי מספר 1: יצחק רבין – תרבות ובידור". Ynet (in Hebrew). Retrieved July 10, 2011.
  31. ^ 1994 ISBN 0-297-81337-4

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1983–1992 		Succeeded by

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