Menachem Begin

Menachem Begin
מנחם בגין
Begin in 1978
6th Prime Minister of Israel
In office 21 June 1977 – 10 October 1983
President	Ephraim Katzir Yitzhak Navon Chaim Herzog
Preceded by	Yitzhak Rabin
Succeeded by	Yitzhak Shamir
Ministerial roles
1967–1970	Minister in the PM's Office
1980–1981	Minister of Defense
1983	Minister of Defense
Faction represented in the Knesset
1948–1965	Herut
1965–1973	Gahal
1973–1981	Likud
Personal details
Born	(1913-08-16)16 August 1913 Brest, Grodno Governorate, Russian Empire (present day Belarus)
Died	9 March 1992(1992-03-09) (aged 78) Tel Aviv, Israel
Spouse	Aliza Arnold ​ ​ (m. 1939; died 1982)​
Children	3, including Ze'ev Binyamin
Alma mater	University of Warsaw
Signature
Military service
Allegiance	Poland Yishuv
Branch/service	Anders' Army (1941–1942) Irgun (1943–1948)
Rank	Corporal Leader of the Irgun
Battles/wars	1947–48 civil war in Mandatory Palestine 1948 Arab–Israeli War
Menachem Begin's voice Begin on Israel–United States relations Recorded 10 September 1981

Menachem Begin (

Before the creation of the

Begin was elected to the first Knesset, as head of Herut, the party he founded, and was at first on the political fringe, embodying the opposition to the Mapai-led government and Israeli establishment. He remained in opposition in the eight consecutive elections (except for a national unity government around the Six-Day War), but became more acceptable to the political center. His 1977 electoral victory and premiership ended three decades of Labor Party political dominance.

Begin's most significant achievement as Prime Minister was the signing of a

Menachem Begin was born to Zeev Dov and Hassia Begun in what was then Brest-Litovsk in the Russian Empire (today Brest, Belarus). He was the youngest of three children.^[7] On his mother's side he was descended from distinguished rabbis. His father, a timber merchant, was a community leader, a passionate Zionist, and an admirer of Theodor Herzl. The midwife who attended his birth was the grandmother of Ariel Sharon.^[8]

After a year of a traditional

Begin studied law at the

During his studies, he organized a self-defense group of Jewish students to counter harassment by anti-Semites on campus.^[12] He graduated in 1935, but never practiced law. At this time he became a disciple of Vladimir "Ze'ev" Jabotinsky, the founder of the nationalist Revisionist Zionism movement and its youth wing, Betar.^[13] His rise within Betar was rapid: at 22, he shared the dais with his mentor at the Betar World Congress in Kraków.^[14] The pre-war Polish government actively supported Zionist youth and paramilitary movements. Begin's leadership qualities were quickly recognised.^{[citation needed]} In 1937^[15] he was the active head of Betar in Czechoslovakia and became head of the largest branch, that of Poland. As head of Betar's Polish branch, Begin traveled among regional branches to encourage supporters and recruit new members. To save money, he stayed at the homes of Betar members. During one such visit, he met his future wife Aliza Arnold, who was the daughter of his host. The couple married on 29 May 1939. They had three children: Binyamin, Leah and Hassia.^[16]

Living in Warsaw in Poland, Begin encouraged Betar to set up an organization to bring Polish Jews to Palestine. He unsuccessfully attempted to smuggle 1,500 Jews into

In September 1939, after Germany invaded Poland, Begin, in common with a large part of Warsaw's Jewish leadership, escaped to Wilno (today

In July 1941, just after Germany attacked the Soviet Union, and following his release under the Sikorski–Mayski agreement because he was a Polish national, Begin joined the Free Polish Anders' Army as a corporal officer cadet. He was later sent with the army to Palestine via the Persian Corridor, where he arrived in May 1942.^[17]

Upon arriving in Palestine, Begin, like many other Polish Jewish soldiers of the Anders' Army, faced a choice between remaining with the Anders' Army to fight Nazi Germany in Europe, or staying in Palestine to fight for establishment of a Jewish state. While he initially wished to remain with the Polish army, he was eventually persuaded to change his mind by his contacts in the Irgun, as well as Polish officers sympathetic to the Zionist cause. Consequently, General

During the Holocaust, Begin's father was among the 5,000 Brest Jews rounded up by the Nazis at the end of June 1941. Instead of being sent to a forced labor camp, they were shot or drowned in the river. His mother and his elder brother Herzl also were murdered in the Holocaust.^[19]

Jewish underground

Begin quickly made a name for himself as a fierce critic of the dominant

Begin had also carefully studied the tactics of the

On 1 February 1944, the Irgun proclaimed a revolt. Twelve days later, it put its plan into action when Irgun teams bombed the empty offices of the British Mandate's Immigration Department in Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, and Haifa. The Irgun next bombed the Income Tax Offices in those three cities, followed by a series of attacks on police stations in which two Irgun fighters and six policemen were killed. Meanwhile, Lehi joined the revolt with a series of shooting attacks on policemen.^[21]

The Irgun and Lehi attacks intensified throughout 1944. These operations were financed by demanding money from Jewish merchants and engaging in insurance scams in the local diamond industry.^[22]

In 1944, after Lehi gunmen assassinated

In the summer of 1945, as it became clear that the British were not planning on establishing a Jewish state and would not allow significant Jewish immigration to Palestine, Jewish public opinion shifted decisively against the British, and the Jewish authorities sent feelers to the Irgun and Lehi to discuss an alliance. The result was the Jewish Resistance Movement, a framework under which the Haganah, Irgun, and Lehi launched coordinated series of anti-British operations. For several months in 1945–46, the Irgun fought as part of the Jewish Resistance Movement. Following Operation Agatha, during which the British arrested many Jews, seized arms caches, and occupied the Jewish Agency building, from which many documents were removed, Begin ordered an attack on the British military and administrative headquarters at the King David Hotel following a request from the Haganah, although the Haganah's permission was later rescinded. The King David Hotel bombing resulted in the destruction of the building's southern wing, and 91 people, mostly British, Arabs, and Jews, were killed.

The fragile partnership collapsed following the bombing, partly because contrary to instructions, it was carried out during the busiest part of the day at the hotel. The Haganah, from then on, would rarely mount attacks against British forces and would focus mainly on the Aliyah Bet illegal immigration campaign, and while it occasionally took half-hearted measures against the Irgun, it never returned to full-scale collaboration with the British. The Irgun and Lehi continued waging a full-scale insurgency against the British, and together with the Haganah's illegal immigration campaign, this forced a large commitment of British forces to Palestine that was gradually sapping British financial resources. Three particular Irgun operations directly ordered by Begin: the Night of the Beatings, the Acre Prison break, and the Sergeants affair, were cited as particularly influencing the British to leave due to the great loss of British prestige and growing public opposition to Britain remaining in Palestine at home they generated. In September 1947, the British cabinet voted to leave Palestine, and in November of that year, the United Nations approved a resolution to partition the country between Arabs and Jews. The financial burden imposed on Britain by the Jewish insurgency, together with the tremendous public opposition to keeping troops in Palestine it generated among the British public was later cited by British officials as a major factor in Britain's decision to evacuate Palestine.^[23][24]

In December 1947, immediately following the UN partition vote, the

In the years following the establishment of the State of Israel, the Irgun's contribution to precipitating British withdrawal became a hotly contested debate as different factions vied for control over the emerging narrative of Israeli independence.[25] Begin resented his being portrayed as a belligerent dissident.^[26]

Altalena and the 1948 Arab–Israeli War

After the

Intense negotiations between representatives of the provisional government (headed by Ben-Gurion) and the Irgun (headed by Begin) followed the departure of Altalena from France. Among the issues discussed were logistics of the ship's landing and distribution of the cargo between the military organizations. Whilst there was agreement on the anchoring place of the Altalena, there were differences of opinion about the allocation of the cargo. Ben-Gurion agreed to Begin's initial request that 20% of the weapons be dispatched to the Irgun's Jerusalem Battalion, which was still fighting independently. His second request, however, that the remainder be transferred to the IDF to equip the newly incorporated Irgun battalions, was rejected by the Government representatives, who interpreted the request as a demand to reinforce an "army within an army."

The Altalena reached Kfar Vitkin in the late afternoon of Sunday, 20 June. Among the Irgun members waiting on the shore was Menachem Begin, who greeted the arrivals with great emotion. After the passengers had disembarked, members of the fishing village of Mikhmoret helped unload the cargo of military equipment. Concomitantly with the events at Kfar Vitkin, the government had convened in Tel Aviv for its weekly meeting. Ben-Gurion reported on the meetings which had preceded the arrival of the Altalena, and was adamant in his demand that Begin surrender and hand over all of the weapons:

We must decide whether to hand over power to Begin or to order him to cease his separate activities. If he does not do so, we will open fire! Otherwise, we must decide to disperse our own army.

The debate ended in a resolution to empower the army to use force if necessary to overcome the Irgun and to confiscate the ship and its cargo. Implementation of this decision was assigned to the Alexandroni Brigade, commanded by Dan Even [he] (Epstein), which the following day surrounded the Kfar Vitkin area. Dan Even issued the following ultimatum:

To: M. Begin
By special order from the Chief of the General Staff of the Israel Defense Forces, I am empowered to confiscate the weapons and military materials which have arrived on the Israeli coast in the area of my jurisdiction in the name of the Israel Government. I have been authorized to demand that you hand over the weapons to me for safekeeping and to inform you that you should establish contact with the supreme command. You are required to carry out this order immediately. If you do not agree to carry out this order, I shall use all the means at my disposal in order to implement the order and to requisition the weapons which have reached shore and transfer them from private possession into the possession of the Israel government. I wish to inform you that the entire area is surrounded by fully armed military units and armored cars, and all roads are blocked. I hold you fully responsible for any consequences in the event of your refusal to carry out this order. The immigrants – unarmed – will be permitted to travel to the camps in accordance with your arrangements. You have ten minutes to give me your answer.
D.E., Brigade Commander

The ultimatum was made, according to Even, "in order not to give the Irgun commander time for lengthy considerations and to gain the advantage of surprise." Begin refused to respond to the ultimatum, and all attempts at mediation failed. Begin's failure to respond was a blow to Even's prestige, and a clash was now inevitable. Fighting ensued and there were a number of casualties. In order to prevent further bloodshed, the Kfar Vitkin settlers initiated negotiations between

Begin had meanwhile boarded the Altalena, which was headed for Tel Aviv where the Irgun had more supporters. Many Irgun members, who joined the IDF earlier that month, left their bases and concentrated on the Tel Aviv beach. A confrontation between them and the IDF units started. In response, Ben-Gurion ordered Yigael Yadin (acting Chief of Staff) to concentrate large forces on the Tel Aviv beach and to take the ship by force. Heavy guns were transferred to the area and at four in the afternoon, Ben-Gurion ordered the shelling of the Altalena. One of the shells hit the ship, which began to burn. Yigal Allon, commander of the troops on the shore, later claimed only five or six shells were fired, as warning shots, and the ship was hit by accident.^[28]

There was danger that the fire would spread to the holds which contained explosives, and Captain

About a year later, Altalena was refloated, towed 15 miles out to sea and sunk.[32]

Political career

Herut opposition years

In August 1948, Begin and members of the Irgun High Command emerged from the underground and formed the right-wing political party Herut ("Freedom") party.^[33] The move countered the weakening attraction for the earlier revisionist party, Hatzohar, founded by his late mentor Ze'ev Jabotinsky. Revisionist 'purists' alleged nonetheless that Begin was out to steal Jabotinsky's mantle and ran against him with the old party. The Herut party can be seen as the forerunner of today's Likud.

In November 1948, Begin visited the US on a campaigning trip. During his visit,

The personal animosity between Ben-Gurion and Begin, going back to the hostilities over the Altalena Affair, underpinned the political dichotomy between Mapai and Herut. Begin was a keen critic of Mapai, accusing it of coercive Bolshevism and deep-rooted institutional corruption. Drawing on his training as a lawyer in Poland, he preferred wearing a formal suit and tie and evincing the dry demeanor of a legislator to the socialist informality of Mapai, as a means of accentuating their differences.

One of the fiercest confrontations between Begin and Ben-Gurion revolved around the

In 1973, Begin agreed to a plan by Ariel Sharon to form a larger bloc of opposition parties, made up from Gahal, the Free Centre, and other smaller groups. They came through with a tenuous alliance called the Likud ("Consolidation"). In the elections held later that year, two months after the Yom Kippur War, the Likud won a considerable share of the votes, though with 39 seats still remained in opposition.^{[citation needed]}

Yet the aftermath of the Yom Kippur War saw ensuing public disenchantment with the Alignment. Voices of criticism about the government's misconduct of the war gave rise to growing public resentment. Personifying the antithesis to the Alignment's socialist ethos, Begin appealed to many

In 1977 Begin declared that "between the [Mediterranean] Sea and the Jordan River there shall only be Israeli sovereignty".^[46]

Prime Minister of Israel

1977 electoral victory

On 17 May 1977 the Likud, headed by Begin, won the Knesset elections by a landslide, becoming the biggest party in the Knesset. Popularly known as the Mahapakh ("upheaval"), the election results had seismic ramifications as for the first time in Israeli history a party other than the Alignment/Mapai was in a position to form a government, effectively ending the left's hitherto unrivalled domination over Israeli politics. Likud's electoral victory signified a fundamental restructuring of Israeli society in which the founding socialist Ashkenazi elite was being replaced by a coalition representing marginalized Mizrahi and Jewish-religious communities, promoting a socially conservative and economically liberal agenda.

The Likud campaign leading up to the election centered on Begin's personality. Demonized by the Alignment as

As Prime Minister, Begin presided over various reforms in the domestic field. Tuition fees for secondary education were eliminated and compulsory education was extended to the tenth grade,^[49] while new social programmes were introduced such as long-term care insurance^[50] and a national income support system.^[51] A ban on color television that had been imposed to enforce social equality was abolished, and the minimum age for a driver's license was lowered to 17.^[52]

Begin's economic policies sought to liberalize Israel's

Begin's government has been credited with starting a trend that would move Israel towards a capitalist economy that would see the rise of a consumer culture and a pursuit of wealth and higher living standards, replacing a culture that scorned capitalism and valued social, as well as government restrictions to enforce equality.[52]

In terms of social justice, however, the legacy of the Begin Government was arguably a questionable one. In 1980, the state Social Security Institute estimated that from 1977 to 1980 the number of babies born in poverty doubled, while there had been a 300% increase in the number of families with four to five children below the poverty line. Additionally, the number of families with more than five children below the poverty line went up by 400,% while child poverty estimates suggested that from 1977 to 1981 the number of children living below the poverty line had risen from 3.8% to 8.4%,^[54] while officials at the National Institute of Insurance estimated that the incidence of poverty had doubled during Begin's five years in office.^[55]

Camp David accords

In 1978 Begin, aided by Foreign Minister

Almost overnight, Begin's public image of an irresponsible nationalist radical was transformed into that of a statesman of historic proportions. This image was reinforced by international recognition which culminated with him being awarded, together with Sadat, the Nobel Peace Prize in 1978.

Yet while establishing Begin as a leader with broad public appeal, the peace treaty with Egypt was met with fierce criticism within his own Likud party. His devout followers found it difficult to reconcile Begin's history as a keen promoter of the

Begin was less resolute in implementing the section of the Camp David Accord calling for

Begin took Saddam Hussein's anti-Zionist threats seriously and therefore took aim at Iraq, which was building a nuclear reactor named Osirak or Tammuz 1 with French and Italian assistance. When Begin took office, preparations were intensified. Begin authorized the construction of a full-scale model of the Iraqi reactor which Israeli pilots could practice bombing.^[57] Israel attempted to negotiate with France and Italy to cut off assistance and with the United States to obtain assurances that the program would be halted. The negotiations failed. Begin considered the diplomatic option fruitless, and worried that prolonging the attack would lead to a fatal inability to act in response to the perceived threat.

The decision to attack was hotly contested within Begin's government.

On 6 June 1982, Begin's government authorized the

Resignation

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After Begin's wife Aliza died in November 1982 while he was away on an official visit to Washington DC, he fell into a deep depression. Begin also became disappointed by the war in Lebanon because he had hoped to sign a peace treaty with the government of President

Lehi

resistance to the British.

Tertiated

Begin, in his first meeting with President Carter, used the word tertiated to describe how, during the Holocaust one in three Jews, of the worldwide Jewish population, were murdered.[66] When Carter asked "What was that word, Mr. Prime Minister?" Begin compared it to the Roman army term Decimation and then added "one in three – tertiated!"^[67]

Begin elaborated later on: "When I use the word "Tertiated" I mean to say that we do not accept the known term of "Decimation".^[68] Avi Weiss highlighted: "But the Holocaust is different" and noted "As Menachem Begin once said, during the Holocaust our people were not decimated, but "tertiated" — it was not one in ten, but one in three that were murdered."^[69]

Retirement and seclusion

Begin subsequently retired to an apartment overlooking the Jerusalem Forest and spent the rest of his life in seclusion. According to Israeli psychologist Ofer Grosbard, he suffered from clinical depression.^[70] He would rarely leave his apartment, and then usually to visit his wife's grave-site to say the traditional Kaddish prayer for the departed. His seclusion was watched over by his children and his lifetime personal secretary Yechiel Kadishai, who monitored all official requests for meetings. Begin would meet almost no one other than close friends or family. After a year, he changed his telephone number due to journalists constantly calling him. He was cared for by his daughter Leah and a housekeeper. According to Kadishai, Begin spent most of his days reading and watching movies, and would start and finish a book almost every day. He also kept up with world events by continuing his lifelong habit of listening to the BBC every morning, which had begun during his underground days, and maintaining a subscription to several newspapers. Begin retained some political influence in the Likud party, which he used to influence it behind the scenes.^[71][72][73]

In 1990, Begin broke his hip in a fall and underwent surgery at Shaare Zedek Medical Center. Afterwards, doctors recommended moving him to Ichilov Hospital at the Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Center for rehabilitation. He was released from hospital in March 1991 and subsequently moved to an apartment in the Afeka neighborhood in Tel Aviv. The hospital stay and permanent move to Tel Aviv greatly improved his health and mood and his seclusion somewhat loosened. On Passover eve in 1991, he gave a telephone interview as part of a television broadcast marking fifty years since the death of Ze'ev Jabotinsky. He gave another telephone interview, which would be the last interview of his life, in July 1991.^[74]

Death

On 3 March 1992, Begin suffered a severe heart attack in his apartment, and was rushed to

Begin served as prime minister (Israel's head of government) from 21 June 1977 through 10 October 1983, leading the 18th government during the 9th Knesset and the 19th government during the first portion of the 10th Knesset.

Begin was a member of the Knesset from 1949 through until he resigned in 1983. Begin was twice the Knesset's opposition leader (at the time an unofficial and honorary role). He was first opposition leader from November 1955 through June 1967, holding the role during the entirety of the 3rd, 4th, 5th, and the first portion of the 6th Knessets, during the second premiership of David Ben-Gurion and the premiership of Levi Eshkol] He again served as opposition leader from August 1970 through June 1977, during the last portion of the 7th Knesset and entirety of the 8th Knesset, during which period Golda Meir and Yitzhak Rabin served as prime minister.

Begin was the founding leader of Herut, and served as the party's leader until 1983. He was also made leader of the Likud coalition at its founding in 1973, and also held that position until 1983.

Ministerial posts

Published work

• ISBN 978-0-8402-1370-9
  )
• ISBN 978-0-06-010289-0
  )

See also

• List of Israeli Nobel laureates
• List of Jewish Nobel laureates
• Menachem Begin Heritage Center
• Not one inch

References

1. ^ "Брестский краевед обнаружил в архиве польский паспорт Менахема Бегина". planetabelarus.by.
2. ^ "Poland's urban legend about Menachem Begin". blogs.timesofisrael.com.
3. ^ John J. Mearsheimer and Stephen M. Walt, The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy, at 102 (Farrar, Straus and Giroux 2007).
4. ^ ^{a b} Oren, Amir (7 July 2011). "British Documents Reveal: Begin Refused Entry to U.K. in 1950s". Haaretz.
5. ^ Gwertzman, Bernard. "Christian Militiamen Accused of a Massacre in Beirut Camps; U.S. Says the Toll Is at Least 300" Archived 2 March 2014 at the Wayback Machine. The New York Times. 19 September 1982.
6. ^ Thompson, Ian. Primo Levi: A Life. 2004, page 436.
7. ^ "Menachem Begin Biography". www.ibiblio.org.
8. ^ Lehmann-Haupt, Christopher (19 November 1984). "Books Of The Times". The New York Times.
9. ^ "Museum - מרכז מורשת מנחם בגין". Archived from the original on 13 December 2014. Retrieved 12 December 2014.
10. ^ Bernard Reich, Political Leaders of the Contemporary Middle East and North Africa, Greenwood Press, Westport, 1990 p.71
11. ^ Anita Shapira Begin on the Couch Archived 18 August 2011 at the Wayback Machine, Haaretz Books, in Hebrew
12. ^ Ahronovitz, Esti (22 February 2012). "Begin's Legacy / The Man Who Transformed Israel". Haaretz.
13. ISBN 978-0-440-05553-2
    .
14. ^ Shilon, Avi (2012). Menachem Begin: A Life. New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press. pp. 13–15.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
15. ^ "מנחם בגין". GOV.IL (in Hebrew). Retrieved 21 May 2021.
16. ^ Lehr Wagner, Heather: Anwar Sadat and Menachem Begin: negotiating peace in the Middle East
17. ISBN 978-0-440-05553-2
    .
18. ^ Sources differ on how Begin left Anders' Army. Many indicate that he was discharged, e.g.:
    • Eitan Haber (1979). Menachem Begin: The Legend and the Man. Dell Publishing Company. p. 136.
      ISBN 978-0-440-16107-3
      . "A while later Anders's Chief of Staff, General Ukolitzky, did agree to the release of six Jewish soldiers to go to the United States on a campaign to get the Jewish community to help the remnants of European Jewry. The Chief of Staff, who was well acquainted with Dr. Kahan, invited him to his office for a drink. There were a number of senior officers present, and Kahan realized that this was a farewell party for Ukolitzky. 'I'm leaving here on a mission, and my colleagues are throwing a party but the last document I signed was an approval of release for Menahem Begin.'"
    • Bernard Reich (1990) Political Leaders of the Contemporary Middle East and North Africa Greenwood Publishing Group.
      ISBN 978-0-313-26213-5
      . p. 72. "In 1942 he arrived in Palestine as a soldier in General Anders's (Polish) army. Begin was discharged from the army in December 1943."
    • Harry Hurwitz (2004). Begin: His Life, Words and Deeds. Gefen Publishing House.
      ISBN 978-965-229-324-4
      . p. 9. "His friends urged him to desert the Anders Army, but he refused to do any such dishonourable thing and waited until, as a result of negotiations, he was discharged and permitted to enter Eretz Israel, then under British mandatory rule".
    • "Biography – White Nights" Archived 13 February 2016 at the Wayback Machine. Menachem Begin Heritage Center. Retrieved 16 January 2012. "Many of the new recruits deserted the army upon their arrival, but Begin decidedly refused to follow suit. 'I swore allegiance to the Polish army – I will not desert,' he resolutely told his friends when he was reunited with them on Jewish soil. Begin served in the Polish army for about a year and a half with the rank of corporal... At the initiative of Aryeh Ben-Eliezer and with the help of Mark Kahan, negotiations began with the Polish army regarding the release of five Jewish soldiers from the army, including Begin, in return for which the members of the IZL delegation would lobby in Washington for the Polish forces. The negotiations lasted many weeks until they finally met with success: The Polish commander announced the release of four of the soldiers. Fortunately, Begin was among them."
    Others give differing views, e.g.:
    • Amos Perlmutter (1987). The Life and Times of Menachem Begin Doubleday.
      ISBN 978-0-385-18926-2
      . p. 134. "In the Ben Eliezer-Mark Kahan version, Begin received a complete, honorable release from the Anders Army. The truth is that he only received a one-year leave of absence, a kind of extended furlough, in order to enable him to join an Anders Army Jewish delegation which would go to the United States seeking help for the Polish government-in-exile. The delegation never materialized, mainly due to British opposition. Begin, however, never received an order to return to the ranks of the Army."
19. ISBN 978-0-595-36769-6
    .
20. ^ O'Dwyer, Thomas (28 July 2006). "Free Stater: Just for interest: A story of Dev, Bob Briscoe and Israel/Palestine - "Son of a gun"". freestater.blogspot.com. Retrieved 21 May 2021.
21. ^ ^{a b c d e} Bell, Bowyer J.: Terror out of Zion (1976)
22. ^ Yehuda Bauer, From Diplomacy to Resistance: A History of Jewish Palestine, Jewish Publication Society of America, Philadelphia, 1970 p.325.
23. ^ Hoffman, Bruce: Anonymous Soldiers (2015)
24. ^ Charters, David A.: The British Army and Jewish Insurgency in Palestine, 1945–47 (1989), p. 63
25. ^ Tom Segev, One Palestine, Complete: Jews and Arabs Under the British Mandate, Henry Holt and Co. 2000, p. 490
26. ^ In his book ‘The Revolt’ (1951), Begin outlines the history of the Irgun’s fight against British rule.
27. ^ Begin's Speech on Saturday 15 May 1948 Archived 29 September 2013 at the Wayback Machine
28. ISBN 978-0-297-78399-2
    . Page 107.
29. ^ Morris, 1948, p272: "Altogether eighteen men died in the clashes, most of them IZL". Katz, Days of Fire (an Irgun memoir), p247: 16 Irgun, 2 Hagana. Perliger, Jewish Terrorism in Israel, p27: 16 Irgun and 2 Hagana.
30. ISBN 978-0-333-35152-9
    . Page 249 : "About forty people had been killed in the fighting on the beaches, on board the ship, or while trying to swim ashore."
31. ^ Netanyahu, Benjamin (1993) A Place among the Nations – Israel and the World. British Library catalogue number 0593 034465. Page 444. "eighty-two members of the Irgun were killed."
32. ^ "Aryeh Kaplan, This is the Way it Was at Palyam site". Archived from the original on 8 May 2009. Retrieved 2 November 2013.
33. ^ "Menachem Begin (1913-1992)". www.knesset.gov.il.
34. ^ Schuster, Ruth (4 December 2014). "'This Day in Jewish History / N.Y. Times publishes letter by Einstein, other Jews accusing Menachem Begin of fascism". Haaretz.
35. ^ "The Gun and the Olive Branch" p 472-473, David Hirst, quotes Lilienthal, Alfred M., The Zionist Connection, What Price Peace?, Dodd, Mead and Company, New York, 1978, pp.350–3 – Albert Einstein joined other distinguished citizens in chiding these `Americans of national repute' for honoring a man whose party was `closely akin in its organization, methods, political philosophy and social appeal to the Nazi and Fascist parties'. See text at Harvard.edu Archived 17 December 2007 at the Wayback Machine and image Archived 4 July 2009 at the Wayback Machine. Verified 5 December 2007.
36. ^ Albert Einstein had already publicly denounced the Revisionists in 1939; at the same time Rabbi Stephen Wise denounced the movement as, "Fascism in Yiddish or Hebrew." See Rosen, Robert N., Saving the Jews: Franklin D. Roosevelt and the Holocaust, Thunder's Mouth Press, New York, 2006, p. 318.
37. ^ Colin Shindler (2002). The Land Beyond Promise: Israel, Likud and the Zionist Dream. I. B. Tauris. pp. xviii, 45, 57, 87.
38. ^ "Satellite News and latest stories | The Jerusalem Post". www.jpost.com.
39. ^ "See his Speech (Hebrew)". Archived from the original on 3 May 2008. Retrieved 5 January 2009.
40. ^ Menachem Begin plotted assassination attempt to kill German chancellor, Luke Harding, The Guardian, 15 June 2006
41. ^ Nachman Ben-Yehuda, Political Assassinations by Jews: A Rhetorical Device for Justice, SUNY Press, New York, 1993
42. ^ Report Says Begin Was Behind Adenauer Letter Bomb, Deutsche Welle, 13 June 2006
43. ^ Sudite: I sent the bomb on Begin's order Archived 5 June 2011 at the Wayback Machine, in Hebrew
44. ^ Newsweek 30 May 1977, The Zealot,

    But he quit in 1970 when Prime Minister Golda Meir, under pressure from Washington, renewed a cease-fire with Egypt along the Suez Canal.

45. ^ William B. Quandt, Peace Process, American Diplomacy and the Arab-Israeli Conflict since 1967, p194, ff
46. ^ Steinberg, Gerald M.; Rubinovitz, Ziv (2019). Menachem Begin and the Israel-Egypt Peace Process Between Ideology and Political Realism. Indiana University Press. p. 1976.
47. ^ "Israel forms coalition". Newspapers.com. The Orlando Sentinel. Washington Post Dispatch. 20 June 1977. Retrieved 26 May 2022.
48. ^ "Begin Takes Israeli Post". Newspapers.com. The Times (San Mateo, California). The Associated Press. 21 June 1977. Retrieved 26 May 2022.
49. ^ Policy Implementation of Social Welfare in the 1980s By Frederick A. Lazin. Google Books.
50. ^ "Social Security Programs Throughout the World: Asia and the Pacific, 2010 - Israel". www.ssa.gov. Archived from the original on 9 August 2016. Retrieved 14 September 2016.
51. ^ Public Policy in Israel By David Nachmias and Gila Menachem. Google Books.
52. ^ ^{a b c d} "Article Iphone View Element". Haaretz.
53. ^ Shilon, Avi: Menachem Begin: A Life
54. ^ Discord in Zion: Conflict Between Ashkenazi and Sephardi Jews in Israel G. N. Giladi, 1990. Google Books.
55. ISBN 978-94-009-2187-0
    – via Google Books.
56. YouTube
57. ^ Simons, Geoff: Iraq: From Summer to Saddam. St. Martin's Press, 1996, p. 320
58. ^ "Nuclear Policy - Carnegie Endowment for International Peace". Archived from the original on 9 April 2015. Retrieved 13 November 2011.
59. ^ Striking first: Preemptive and preventive attack in U.S. national security – Karl P. Mueller
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61. ^ Country Profiles -Israel Archived 6 October 2014 at the Wayback Machine, Nuclear Threat Initiative (NTI) updated May 2014
62. ^ Perry, Dan. Israel and the Quest for Permanence. McFarland & Co Inc., 1999. p. 46.
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65. ^ Breaking the silence of cowards Haaretz, 23 August 2002. Retrieved 26 April 2007
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67. ^ Yehuda Avner (17 September 2003). "How to negotiate for 'peace'". Jewish World Review.
68. ^ "Toast by Prime Minister Begin at a dinner in honour of Secretary of State Vance, 9 August 1977". Official Government Document. 9 August 1977. M.Begin to US Ambassador: When I use the word "Tertiated" I mean to say that we do not accept the known term of "Decimation".
69. ^ Avi Weiss (11 April 2018). "Will The Holocaust Be Remembered 100 Years From Now?". The Forward.
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80. ^ Hurwitz p. 239

Further reading

• OCLC 758724969
  .
• Frank Gervasi, The Life and Times of Menahem Begin: rebel to statesman, Putnam, 1979
• Daniel Gordis, Menachem Begin: The Battle for Israel's Soul, Nextbook, 2014
• Harry Hurwitz, Yisrael Medad, Peace in the Making, Gefen Publishing House, 2010
• Ilan Peleg, Begin's Foreign Policy, 1977–1983: Israel's Move to the Right, Greenwood Press, 1987
• Avi Shilon, Begin, 1913–1992, 2007
• Eric Silver, Begin: The Haunted Prophet, Random House, 1984
• Sasson Sofer, Begin: An Anatomy of Leadership, Basil Blackwell, 1988

External links

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Menachem Begin

Official sites

• The Menachem Begin Heritage Center
• PM Sharon's Address at the Opening Ceremony for the Begin Heritage Centre Building, 16 June 2004.
• Menachem Begin – The Sixth Prime Minister at the Official Site of the [Israeli] Prime Minister's Office.
• Menachem Begin on the Knesset website.
  • in English

Miscellaneous links

• The Camp David Accords
• Irgun webpage
• 1948 Letter of some Eminent Jews to New York Times
• Menachem Begin on Nobelprize.org including the Nobel Lecture, 10 December 1978
• Bodies of murdered Clifford Martin and Marvyn Paice
• Menachem Begin Memorial Dedication in Brest, Belarus
  • About the future Begin Monument in Brest, Belarus Archived 2 November 2013 at the Wayback Machine, Vecherniy Brest, Brest, Belarus. (in Russian)
  • Unveiling of the Begin Monument in Brest, Belarus (31 October 2013) Archived 20 April 2014 at the Wayback Machine, Vecherniy Brest, Brest, Belarus. (in Russian)
• Prime Minister Menachem Begin on justice and the rule of law: selected documents on the 20th anniversary of his death at the Israel State Archives (Prime Minister's Office).
• "Menachem Begin: A New Israel", Video Lecture by Henry Abramson.
• Prime Minister Menachem Begin on justice and the rule of law: selected documents on the 20th anniversary of his death on Israel State Archives website

Party political offices
Preceded by new party	Leader of the Herut party 1948–1973	Succeeded by Likud party
Preceded by new party	Leader of the Likud party 1973–1983	Succeeded by Yitzhak Shamir