Barack, Ehud

Parents - Israel Brog (1910–2002), born in the city of Panevezys ( Lithuania ), and later in Melitopol ( Ukraine ), and mother of Esther (nee: Godin) (1913—2013), who was born in Warsaw , in a family, arrived in Poland from Smolensk .

In school, he studied reluctantly. Subsequently, as an officer of the IDF , he received a higher education: in 1968 he graduated from the Hebrew University in Jerusalem , receiving a bachelor's degree in physics and mathematics, and later graduated from the economics department of Stanford University in California (Master in Systems Analysis).

His military career was swift. Starting military service in 1959 in the infantry, he rose to the post of chief of the IDF General Staff. At 37 he became a brigadier general .

In 1964 he graduated from the courses of commanders of special forces in France , and then he studied at the Higher Military Academy of Israel and the Higher Military Academy of the United States . Member of the Arab-Israeli wars of 1967 and 1973 , as well as military action against Lebanon .

He began military service in 1959 in the motorized infantry, but was soon transferred to the elite secret special forces of the General Staff " Sayeret Matkal ." In the period 1971-1973. - headed by Sayeret Matkal . He headed the first successful assault on a hijacked aircraft ( Operation "Isotope" ). He was the organizer of a number of acts of sabotage - the secret operation of 1973 to liquidate the three leaders of the Palestine Liberation Organization in Beirut ( Operation Spring of Youth ); the Israeli commando raid in Tunisia , the victim of which was one of the PLO military leaders Wazir ( Abu Jihad ) and others. In the Doomsday War he commanded a tank battalion. He was one of the key developers of Operation Entebbe to free the hostages of the plane hijacked to Uganda. In 1982 he headed the Planning Directorate of the General Staff, from 1983 he headed the military intelligence ( AMAN ) with the rank of Major General , from April 1986 - Commander of the Central Military District , since 1987 - Deputy Chief of the General Staff.

In April 1991, he was appointed Chief of the General Staff, simultaneously receiving the rank of lieutenant general . As head of the General Staff, Barak took an active part in the negotiations with Jordan and the implementation of the 1994 Jordanian-Israeli peace agreement. Barak led the deployment of the IDF forces in the Gaza Strip and Jericho as part of the first steps to implement the Oslo agreements to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

After his dismissal from the army, he turned to political career in the Avoda party . In July 1995, he received the post of Minister of the Interior in the government of Yitzhak Rabin , and already in November 1995, the portfolio of the Minister of Foreign Affairs in the government of Shimon Peres . From May 1996 - member of the Knesset from the party Avoda . After the defeat of Shimon Peres in the first direct election of the Israeli Prime Minister in 1996, he put forward his candidacy for the post of party leader and won the internal party elections.

On May 17, 1999 , acting as leader of the United Israel center-left bloc, he won a convincing victory over former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and became the country's prime minister. In a year and a half, the Barak government conducted the withdrawal of Israeli troops from Lebanon, after they had been there for the past 19 years. Ehud Barak came up with a plan for partial secularization. In July 2000, the government of E. Barak began negotiations with the Palestinians on the final phase of the settlement of the Middle East conflict in the framework of negotiations with Yasser Arafat at the Camp David summit with the mediation of US President Bill Clinton . Negotiations did not bring results, although Ehud Barak offered substantial concessions to the Palestinian side, up to the partition of Jerusalem ^[1] . The failure of the negotiations led to the beginning of the Al-Aqsa intifada , the aggravation of the intifada , the collapse of the government coalition and buried his plans for political reform.

On February 6, 2001, he lost the post of prime minister, losing the special elections he appointed ^{[2] to} Ariel Sharon , the leader of the Likud (E. Barak cast out 37.6% of voters, 62.3% preferred A. Sharon) .

After losing the election, Ehud Barak temporarily resigned from politics, retiring even from his post as party leader Avoda and refusing the offer of Sharon to become defense minister in his government. After his resignation, Ehud Barak began lecturing at universities and economic forums and in consultations on security issues.

In the election of the leader of the party Avoda on May 28, 2007, he won first place, going into the second round with Ami Ayalon , whom he won on June 12 and returned to the post of party leader.

Shortly after the election, Amir Peretz replaced the post of Minister of Defense in the Olmert cabinet. Ehud Barak, as Minister of Defense, led the Cast Lead operation to attack the Hamas infrastructures in the Gaza Strip as a result of the rocket attack on Sderot and the Western Negev. In the elections of February 10, 2009 , Avoda’s party received only 13 mandates; instead of 19 in the previous Knesset, Ehud Barak announced his intention to remain in the opposition and try to restore confidence in the party in the next elections, but in March accepted the offer of Binyamin Netanyahu in his government.

On January 17, 2011, Ehud Barak announced his withdrawal from Avod and the organization, along with four more Knesset members from this party, the new Atzmaut faction ( Hebrew העצמאות - “Independence”) ^[3] .

On November 26, 2012, Ehud Barak announced his second departure from politics ^[4] .

• Medal "For the difference"
• 4 insignia of NGSh ^[5]

• “ Munich ” / “Munich” ( France , Canada , USA ; 2005 ) director Steven Spielberg , in the role of Ehud Barak - Jonathan Rosen .

• Official biography on the site of the Prime Minister of Israel (inaccessible link from 05-09-2013 [2156 days] - history , copy ) (Hebrew)
• Maariv: Is Ehud Barak joining the Geneva Initiative?