Ehud Barak (b. 1942)

Lexicon of Terms

Political Biography

Lexicon of Terms

Prime Minister Ehud Barak and Foreign Minister David Levy in the Government Room in the Knesset, 6/7/1999

Ehud Barak (b.1942)

Former Chief of Staff of the IDF, member of the Knesset, minister and the Prime Minister of Israel from 1999 until 2001.

Barak was born in 1942 in Kibbutz Mishmar HaSharon. He enlisted in the IDF in 1959 and fought in the Six Day War and in the Yom Kippur War. In May 1972, he commanded the rescue mission to free the Sabena aircraft – hijacked by the “Black September” organization and held hostage at Lod Airport – and was one of the ten fighters to approach the plane disguised as technicians. In June 1976, he was involved in the planning of the Entebbe Operation, during which the passengers of a hijacked Air France airplane were released from their captors. He was appointed in 1982 as the head of the Planning Division in the General Staff. During the Operation for Peace of the Galilee he served as deputy commander of the force that operated in the Lebanese Valley. In 1991 he became Chief of Staff. During his military service, Barak completed a BSc in Physics and Mathematics at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and an MSc in system analysis from Stanford University in California. He retired from the military on January 1st 1995. During his service he had received the highest number of decorations in the history of the IDF: A medal of distinguished service and four decorations for bravery and excellence.

In July 1995, a short time before entering politics, Barak was accused in an article published by “Yediot Ahronot” that during the First Tze’elim Disaster, as Chief of Staff, he abandoned the area before the evacuation of the wounded soldiers was complete, and that he presented contradicting versions on the affair. He objected fiercely to the accusations, and on July 9th 1997 he was cleared by the State Comptroller from legal charges.

Barak was appointed in 1995 as Minister of Interior in Yitzhak Rabin’s Government. After Rabin’s murder he was appointed by Shimon Peres as Minister of Foreign Affairs. He was elected to the Fourteenth Knesset (1996) on behalf of the Labor Party, and following Peres’ defeat in the elections for Prime Minister, he announced his candidacy for party leadership. On June 4th 1997, Barak was elected party chairman. The following September, he asked for the public’s forgiveness for the Labor Party’s past mistakes in the absorption procedures enacted towards the Oriental Jewish immigrants.

In the elections for Prime Minister and to the 15th Knesset (1999) he defeated Benjamin Netanyahu. At the elections he headed the One Israel list, comprised of the Labor Party, Gesher and Meimad. A coalition with Shas, Meretz, the Center Party, the National Religious Party and Yisrael Be’aliyah was formed in July 1999. As he entered the Prime Minister’s Office, he declared an Israeli withdrawal from Southern Lebanon within one year, which transpired on May 24th 2000.

Barak’s attempts to reach agreements with Syria and the Palestinians reached a deadlock despite his willingness for far-reaching concessions. In his negotiations with Syria, Barak agreed to an Israeli withdrawal to the accepted international border, but not to the narrower border of June 1967. In his negotiations with the Palestinians, he agreed to acknowledge a Palestinian state and to discuss the future of Jerusalem and divide its sovereignty. He did not, however, consent to Palestinian sovereignty on the Temple Mount nor to the right of return of Palestinian refugees into Israel.

On December 5th 2000, Barak announced his decision to move up the elections, due to the failure of the Camp David talks with Yasser Arafat in July 2000. Other reasons for his decision included the continued Intifada in the occupied territories which began in September 2000, and the resignation of several factions from the coalition creating a majority in the Knesset for the opposition. On December 10th he announced his resignation as Prime Minister, allowing for elections for the Prime Minister alone. In these elections, held in 2001, he lost to Ariel Sharon and resigned from the leadership of his party.

Following his resignation, Barak retired from politics and delivered lectures in Israel and abroad on political matters. He was reelected as leader of the Labor Party in 2007 and appointed as Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defense in the government of Ehud Olmert.