Moshe Arens

Moshe Arens (born December 27, 1925 in Kaunas, Lithuania) is an Israeli politician. He was a member of the Likud party, and served as Minister of Defense three times. Image File history File links MosheArens. ... Image File history File links MosheArens. ... December 27 is the 361st day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. ... 1925 (MCMXXV) was a common year starting on Thursday (link will take you to calendar). ... Location Ethnographic region Aukštaitija County Kaunas County Municipality Kaunas city municipality Elderate Number of elderates 11 Coordinates 54°54′N 23°56′E General information Capital of Kaunas County Kaunas district municipality Kaunas city municipality Population (rank) 361,274 in 2005 (2nd) First mentioned 1361 Granted city rights 1408... Likud (Hebrew: ליכוד, literally means consolidation) is a right-wing Conservative political party in Israel. ... Defense Ministers of Israel, 1948-present David Ben-Gurion 1948-1954 Pinhas Lavon 1954-1955 David Ben-Gurion 1955-1963 Levi Eshkol 1963-1967 Moshe Dayan 1967-1974 Shimon Peres 1974-1977 Ezer Weizman 1977-1980 Menachem Begin 1980-1981 Ariel Sharon 1981-1983 Moshe Arens 1983-1984 Yitzhak Rabin...

Arens immigrated to the United States with his family in 1939 and became an American citizen. In 1948, when Israel achieved its independence and began fighting wars with the Arabs, Arens immigrated to Israel and became a right-wing activist, joining the Irgun forces, which were led by Menachem Begin, a man who he would work with much in his political career. After the war he entered politics, eventually being elected to the Knesset and becoming chairman of its committee on foreign affairs and defense. Irgun poster showing their view of the Land of Israel Irgun (ארגון), shorthand for Irgun Tsvai Leumi (ארגון צבאי לאומי, also spelled Irgun Zvai Leumi), Hebrew for National Military Organization, was a militant Zionist group that operated in the British Mandate of Palestine from 1931 to 1948. ... Menachem Wolfovitch Begin (August 16, 1913 – March 9, 1992) ( name in Hebrew: (help· info) ) became the 6th Prime Minister of Israel in May 1977. ... The modern Knesset building, Israels parliament, in Jerusalem Though similar-sounding, Beit Knesset (בית כנסת) literally means House of Assembly, and refers to a synagogue. ...

In 1981, Begin, who was prime minister at that time, appointed Arens to be the ambassador to the United States. He left that position in 1983 when he became defense minister for the first time, replacing Ariel Sharon. In 1984 he became minister without portfolio in the national unity government. In December 1988, in the government of Yitzhak Shamir, he became foreign minister until June 1990, when Shamir appointed him defense minister again. He held that position until 1992, when Likud lost the election. He continued to be a hardliner in Israel's relations with the Palestinians and Arabs. A defence minister (Commonwealth English) or defense minister (American English) is a cabinet portfolio (position) which regulates the armed forces in a sovereign nation. ... For more detail of Sharons recent illness, see Illnesses of Ariel Sharon. ... (Hebrew יִצְחָק שָׁמִיר) (born October 15, 1915) was Prime Minister of Israel from 1983 to 1984 and again from 1986 to 1992. ... A minister for foreign affairs, or foreign minister, is a cabinet minister who helps form the governmental foreign policy of a sovereign nation. ...

Arens then retired from politics until 1999, when he challenged his protege Benjamin Netanyahu for leadership of Likud. Though he received only 18% of the vote, Netanyahu brought him into the government as defense minister in January 1999, sacking Yitzhak Mordechai. He retired from politics permanently later in 1999 when Likud lost the election. (Hebrew: בִּנְיָמִין נְתַנְיָהוּ (without niqqud: בנימין נתניהו), Hebrew transliteration written in English: Binyamin Netanyahu, nicknamed Bibi) (born October 21, 1949, Tel Aviv) was the 9th Prime Minister of Israel. ... Yitzhak Mordechai (Hebrew: יצחק מרדכי, born November 22, 1944) was a Major General in the Israeli army, and later Israeli Minister of Defense and of Transport. ...

Significance in the State and Likud

Moshe Arens is considered by many to have been the Likud's ideological anchor on the right. One of the founding members of Begin's Herut ("Freedom") Party in 1948, Arens helped Begin seize the mantle and inheritance of the founder of Revisionist Zionism, Vladimir Jabotinsky, who had died in 1940 unexpectedly and without a clear heir. Arens had been the representative in North America in the 1940s for the movement's youth organization Betar. He voted against the Camp David Accords, and was one of the chief opponents of the Wye Plantation Agreement. Betars emblem (semel) The Betar Movement (ביתר, also spelled Beitar) is a revisionist Zionist youth movement founded in 1923 in Riga, Latvia, by Zeev Jabotinsky. ... Anwar Sadat (left), Jimmy Carter (center), and Menachem Begin (right) shake hands in celebration of the success of the Camp David Accords The Camp David Accords were signed by Egyptian President Anwar Sadat and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin on September 17, 1978, following twelve days of secret negotiations at...

When Begin resigned in 1983 from his position as premier of the State of Israel, a clear rivalry immediately took hold between Yitzhak Shamir and Arens, then still serving as ambassador in Washingoton. Shamir had always been considered the more seasoned political boss, whereas Arens had played the dignified statesman. Arens hoped to follow in the footsteps of another ambassador to the US who had jumped into the prime minister's seat, Yitzhak Rabin (1974-77, 1992-95). The fact that Rabin had pole vaulted over Shimon Peres, the Labour Party's equivalent of Shamir, also strengthened his chances. ▶ (help· info) (or Yitschak Rabin) (or Yitzchak Rabin) (יצחק רבין in Hebrew), (March 1, 1922 – November 4, 1995) was an Israeli politician and general. ... (Hebrew שִׁמְעוֹן פֶּרֶס without Niqqud: שמעון פרס) (born Shimon Perske on August 16, 1923 in Poland, and immigrated with his family to Israel in 1934), is an Israeli politician, who was a supporter of the Labor Party until December 2005, but still holding a status of member. ... Labour or Labor, (Hebrew: העבודה, ha-`Avōdāh) is a political party in Israel. ...

But as chairman of the Knesset Shamir automatically was elected by the body to succeed Begin until the May 1984 general elections. This gave Shamir a leg up that he used to cement his already massive influence among Likud party bosses in nation's party branches, leading to his sweeping defeat of Arens in the party's primary vote. The Likud failed to retain complete control in the Knesset that year and was forced to share power with Peres' Labour Party.

Throughout the next year and a half Arens served as Minister of Defense. His work was impeded by continued problems resulting from Israel's occupation of southern Lebanon. He also met opposition to his work in revamping the Israeli Air Force by introducing the new IAI Lavi fighter jet, a project he had personally led since the 1980. Then-Deputy Chief of Staff Ehud Barak of Israel's armed forces, appointed in 1987, opposed the project. By that time the Lavi had cost the Defense Ministry 6.4 billion dollars in funding for a development that had yet to bear fruit. Eventually others in the political establishment were swayed to back the view, including Chief of Staff Dan Shomron. The IAI Lavi (Hebrew: לביא, a young lion) is a prototype concept fighter jet developed by Israel. ... Ehud Barak (Hebrew: אֵהוּד בָּרָק) (born February 12, 1942, in Mishmar HaSharon kibbutz, then British Mandate of Palestine) is an Israeli politician and was the 10th Prime Minister of Israel from 1999 to 2001. ... Dan Shomron (born 1937) was the 13th Chief of Staff of the Israel Defense Forces, from 1987 to 1991. ...

In 1984 Arens' power shrank significantly while that of other grassroots and populist Likud bosses like David Levy and Moshe Katzav rose. This was partly due to their support of Shamir in the showdown for the Likud nomination. In both the Peres-led national unity coalition (1984-86) and the Shamir-led one (1986-88) Arens was a minister without portfolio. David H. Levy is an American astronomer. ... Moshe Katsav (Courtesy: Israeli Knesset) Moshe Katsav (משה קצב mosheh qaṣṣāḇ, born December 5, 1945) is the current President of Israel (since 2000). ...

In 1988 Arens once again failed in his challenge to Shamir. Nevertheless he was boosted by the election of his protege Netanyahu to the Knesset. Netanyahu had been one of Arens' most valuable assets in the embassy in Washington, and Arens had rewarded this by arranging the appointment of the young diplomat in 1983 as Israel's UN delegate. This article is about the United Nations, for other uses of UN see UN (disambiguation) Official languages English, French, Spanish, Russian, Chinese, Arabic Secretary-General Kofi Annan (since 1997) Established October 24, 1945 Member states 191 Headquarters New York City, NY, USA Official site http://www. ...

Though always viewed as a more principled alternative to Shamir, Arens never materialized as a worthy opponent of his nemesis. Shamir still recognized him as a threat, and in fact responded to Netanyahu's entrance into politics by backing his own young protege Tzahi Hanegbi. Arens was threatened by the reputation he had as a hardliner, whereas many Likud voters felt that the settlement movement and other rightist enterprises could be better advanced by the more seasoned and pragmatic Shamir. Tzahi Hanegbi (in Hebrew צחי הנגבי) (born February 26, 1957) is an Israeli politician. ...

In 1988 Shamir won the election to become the uncontested prime minister, having rotated with Peres in the previous Knesset term. For Arens this meant becoming foreign minister, a position that he excelled at, though the challenge of fending of criticism of Israel's deterence policies in the First Intifadeh proved too challenging even for him. Arens also was harassed by the embarrassing Jonathan Pollard espionage fiasco, which steepened the already steady decline in relations between Israel and the US that had begun during the invasion of Lebanon in 1982. Jonathan Jay Pollard (born August 7, 1954) is a former civilian intelligence analyst who pled guilty and was convicted on one count of spying for Israel, and in 1986 received a life sentence with a recommendation against parole. ...

In 1990, Arens surprisingly was thrust into the spotlight again when Minister of Finance Peres and Defence Minister Yitzhak Rabin both resigned and attended to organize a majority in the Knesset for the election of Peres as premier. Arens occupied Rabin's chair, a move that almost led to the retirement of Ehud Barak from the armed forces. Barak feared that Arens held a grudge against him for the Lavi affair, and would pass him over for chief of staff. Arens instead defied predictions and appointed Barak over his main competitor Yitzhak Mordechai. Relations between the two soon became excellent, despite their contrasting politics and Barak's clear preference of the Labour Party. In 1992 this successful period as Defence Minister came to an end when Rabin swept Labour into power in the general election and reoccupied the Defence Ministry. Arens' periods in the ministry can be remembered mostly for continuing Rabin's policies of revamping IDF combat units for urban warfare during the First Intifada. Yitzhak Mordechai (Hebrew: יצחק מרדכי, born November 22, 1944) was a Major General in the Israeli army, and later Israeli Minister of Defense and of Transport. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ...

Long Retirement

Shamir's defeat in 1992 also spelled the end of Arens' as a potential Likud chairman. Immediately following the election a series of financial crises were discovered within the party organization, all of which spurred by fifteen years of uncontrolled corruption by members of the party's leadership. Younger Likud members were calling for the throne, hoping that they could reform the party and mould it into a better seat of opposition. Arens therefore backed Netanyahu, who had served as deputy foreign minister under Shamir, in the race for the leadership against the leader of the Likud's war hawks Ariel Sharon, and the populist messages of David Levy. To the surprise of the press and public Netanyahu won in a landslide, partly as a result of his excellent television personality and knowledge that his connections in the US could pay off for the Israeli Right. For more detail of Sharons recent illness, see Illnesses of Ariel Sharon. ... David H. Levy is an American astronomer. ...

Arens's last challenge for the party leadership was in 1999, against then-Prime Minister Netanyahu. The failed candidacy nevertheless gained him the Defence Ministry portfolio again. He occupied from January to May of that year, when Ehud Barak of Labour/One Israel crushed Netanyahu, and Arens' returned to retirement. Since then he has continued to be a part of the Likud's ideological camp that opposed the Gaza Withdrawal of 2005, and backed the policies of the "Rebels" faction led by MK Dr. Uzi Landau.