Ehud Barak
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| Ehud Barak אֵהוּד בָּרָק | |
| Image:Barak Ehud.jpg <small/> | |
| 10th Prime Minister of Israel
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| In office May, 1999 – March, 2001 | |
| Preceded by | Benjamin Netanyahu |
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| Succeeded by | Ariel Sharon |
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| Born | February 12, 1942 Mishmar HaSharon Kibbutz, British Mandate of Palestine |
| Political party | Labour |
Ehud Barak (Hebrew: אֵהוּד בָּרָק) (born Ehud Brog on February 12, 1942, in Mishmar HaSharon kibbutz [1], then British Mandate of Palestine) is an Israeli politician and was the 10th Prime Minister of Israel from 1999 to 2001. He holds the current Guinness record as the most decorated soldier in history.[citation needed]
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[edit] Military service
Ehud Brog joined the Israel Defense Forces in 1959. It was then that he decided to change his name to "Barak", which means "lightning" in Hebrew. [2] 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 his service as a commando in the elite Sayeret Matkal, Barak took part in a covert mission (Operation Spring of Youth, Beirut 1973) in which he was disguised as a woman in order to assassinate members of the Palestinian Liberation Organization. Barak was awarded the "Distinguished Service Medal" and four other citations for courage and operational excellence.
He is also an expert in krav maga, the official martial art of the Israeli Defense Forces.
[edit] Education
Barak earned his bachelor's degree in physics and mathematics from the Hebrew University in Jerusalem in 1976, and his master's degree in engineering-economic systems in 1978 from Stanford University in Palo Alto, California, United States.
[edit] Political career
In politics, he served as Minister of the Interior (1995) and 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 17th, 1999 and completed his term on March 7th, 2001 after his loss to Ariel Sharon in a February special election for prime minister.
[edit] Term as Prime Minister
Barak's term as prime minister had several notable events, most of them controversial:
- Forming a coalition with the haredi party Shas, after Barak promised an end to "corruption" sponsored by religious parties.
- The left wing Meretz party quits the coalition after they failed to agree on the powers to be given to a Shas deputy-minister in the Ministry of Education.
- The withdrawal from Southern Lebanon.
- The kidnapping of the bodies of three killed Israeli soldiers by Hezbollah.
- Peace negotiations with Syria.
- The passing of the Tal Law which gives a legal statute for haredi Jews' exemption from military service.
- The Camp David 2000 Summit which meant to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict but failed. Barak, Prince Bandar of Saudi Arabia, and US president Bill Clinton put the blame on Yasser Arafat. Barak claimed he exposed "Arafat's true intentions".
- The eruption of the al-Aqsa Intifada.
- The killing of 13 Israeli-Arabs by police and one Jewish Israeli civilian in October 2000 Riots.
- The Taba Summit with the leadership of the Palestinian Authority, after his government had fallen.
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.
[edit] Post-Prime minister career
In 2005, Barak announced his return to Israeli politics, and ran for leadership of the Labour 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 Labour party, Barak announced he would stay in the party, despite his shaky relationship with its newly elected leader. However, he declared he would not run for a spot on the Labour party's Knesset list for the March 2006 elections.
Today, Barak is a partner of the investment company SCP Private Investment Partners, Pennsylvania.
[edit] References in popular culture
The film Munich includes a scene where Ehud Barak is a commando dressed as a woman, about to covertly attack a Palestinian armed cell in Beirut. This scene is actually derived from a real life experience he had when he served as a commando in the Israeli military forces. Barak also appears as a military advisor to a fictitious Israeli Prime Minister in the Frederick Forsyth novel The Devil's Alternative.
[edit] References
- 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
Ehud Barak is currently a partner at SCP Private Investment Partners in Pennslyvania.
[edit] Quotes
- "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."
- "I imagine that if I were a Palestinian of the right age, I would, at some stage, have joined one of the terror organizations."
[edit] External links
- Academy of Achievement Profile http://www.achievement.org/autodoc/page/bar0pro-1
- Academy of Achievement Biography http://www.achievement.org/autodoc/page/bar0bio-1
- Academy of Achievement Interview http://www.achievement.org/autodoc/page/bar0int-1
- Academy of Achievement Photo Gallery http://www.achievement.org/autodoc/page/bar0gal-1
