Menachem Begin

Overview

Menachem Begin (August 16, 1913–1992) was an Israeli political leader who commanded the Irgun during the revolt against British rule, founded Herut after Israel’s establishment, and served as Israel’s sixth prime minister from 1977 to 1983. He spent nearly three decades leading the parliamentary opposition before Likud’s election victory brought him to office. His premiership combined a landmark peace treaty with Egypt, efforts to bring Ethiopian Jews to Israel, an air strike against Iraq’s Osirak nuclear reactor, and the 1982 Lebanon War. Begin and Egyptian President Anwar Sadat shared the 1978 Nobel Peace Prize for their work toward peace.

Begin’s career crossed several distinct periods of Jewish and Israeli history. He came of age in Ze’ev Jabotinsky’s Revisionist Zionist movement, survived imprisonment by Josef Stalin’s NKVD, and reached the Land of Israel during the Second World War with the Free Polish Army. In Israel, he transformed an underground command into a parliamentary political career. His electoral victory in 1977 ended decades of Labor movement dominance of the government and brought new constituencies, including many Mizrahi Jews, into its governing coalition. As prime minister, he accepted the removal of Israeli forces and Jewish communities from the entire Sinai Peninsula to secure peace with Egypt, while maintaining that Israel had to act against enemies seeking the means to destroy it.

Early life

Begin was born in Brest-Litovsk on August 16, 1913. The fighting between German and Russian armies during the First World War forced his family to flee when he was a child. He later became a disciple of Ze’ev Jabotinsky and rose through Betar, the Revisionist Zionist youth movement. Revisionist Zionism formed part of the Jewish people’s national movement for self-determination in their historical homeland, the Land of Israel. Jabotinsky’s political tradition shaped Begin’s approach to Jewish sovereignty, organized resistance and public leadership.

In 1940, Stalin’s NKVD imprisoned Begin in Siberian labor camps. Nazi Germany’s invasion of the Soviet Union in 1941 changed his circumstances: he was released because of his Polish citizenship and joined the Free Polish Army. He reached the Land of Israel with that army in 1943. These experiences preceded his emergence as a commander in the struggle against British rule. Begin later described Israel’s founding as the culmination of generations of hardship, pioneering work and revolt, with some 600,000 Jews gathered in their homeland at independence.

Career

After reaching the Land of Israel, Begin made contact with the Irgun, a Jewish underground organization. He organized an uprising against British rule that began in 1944, intensified after the Second World War and continued until late 1947. He ordered operations that included the breakout of prisoners from Acre prison and the bombing of British administrative offices in Jerusalem’s King David Hotel. The Irgun campaign made Begin a prominent and divisive figure before independence. Following the establishment of Israel in 1948, he disbanded the organization and entered electoral politics.

Begin founded Herut and entered Israel’s first Knesset at its head. He led the parliamentary opposition from 1948 until 1977, although he joined a National Unity Government formed in 1967. His long opposition career gave Revisionist politics a durable place in Israel’s democratic institutions. During the 1950s, he led opposition to accepting German reparations for the Holocaust. Revisionist newspapers including Ha-Mashkif, Herut and Hayom remained associated with the political tradition of Jabotinsky and Begin.

In 1965, Begin joined Herut with the Liberals to form Gahal, which became a foundation of Likud. He left Golda Meir’s coalition with 26 other Knesset members after Israel accepted the Rogers Plan in 1970. Begin had argued that an extension of the Suez Canal ceasefire with Egypt should be conditioned on a peace treaty recognizing Israel. These positions reflected his insistence that security arrangements be connected to a durable political settlement rather than treated as an end in themselves.

Likud’s victory in the 1977 election made Begin prime minister and marked a historic change in Israeli politics. Widespread support from Mizrahi Jews, particularly in communities outside Israel’s political and economic center, helped bring him to power. His government directed national resources toward development in poorer neighborhoods and sought to liberalize the economy. Ariel Sharon served as agriculture minister in Begin’s first government from 1977 to 1981. Begin’s rise also gave political authority to a movement that had spent decades outside the governing mainstream.

Peace with Egypt became the defining diplomatic achievement of Begin’s premiership. Sadat’s visit to Jerusalem in 1977, made at Begin’s invitation, broke a major Arab political taboo. Begin praised the Egyptian president’s courage in traveling from Cairo and addressed the Knesset after Sadat’s speech. He offered negotiations on every issue without preconditions, whether through direct talks in Jerusalem or Cairo, a Geneva conference, or meetings on neutral ground. Begin traveled to Ismailia, Egypt, in 1977 as contacts advanced. Nessim Gaon also served as a mediator during the rapprochement.

Begin and Sadat did not begin with identical positions on permanent borders or the terms of peace. U.S. President Jimmy Carter intervened personally and met both leaders at Camp David from September 5 to September 17, 1978. After nearly two weeks of negotiation, they reached the Camp David Accords. Sadat insisted that Israel dismantle all Israeli communities in Sinai. Begin accepted the political cost of withdrawing from the entire peninsula, including strategically important areas, in exchange for Egypt’s commitment to peace. Sharon advised him to accept removal of the communities to secure an agreement. The decision drew opposition from some of Begin’s political allies, but he proceeded with it.

Israel’s cabinet confirmed the text of the Egypt–Israel peace treaty on March 19, 1979, and Begin presented it to the Knesset for endorsement the following day. Carter, Sadat and Begin attended the treaty signing later that month. On April 2, Begin became the first Israeli prime minister to visit Cairo. Under the agreement, Israel evacuated its forces and Jewish communities from the Sinai Peninsula. Sadat later described the exchange as Egypt receiving land while Israel received a piece of paper. The treaty nevertheless established a peace between the two states. Sadat’s decisive visit, Begin’s willingness to negotiate and withdraw from Sinai, and Israel’s pursuit of peace were all essential to that result.

Begin also made the rescue of Ethiopian Jews in Sudanese refugee camps a priority after taking office. Under his government, Mossad used a Red Sea diving resort as cover for Operation Brothers, a mission to bring Ethiopian Jews to safety. Begin encouraged their immigration to Israel, helping set the course for the later Operation Moses. His government also renewed Mossad’s search for Nazi war criminals. Earlier Israeli intelligence leaders had concentrated principally on immediate security threats, although the capture of Adolf Eichmann had been a major exception.

Ideology and statements

Begin’s political outlook joined Jewish national self-determination, parliamentary government and a strong emphasis on the state’s duty to defend its people. His account of Israel’s founding placed the achievement within a longer history of Jewish hardship, pioneering and revolt. His opposition to German reparations in the 1950s showed the lasting force of the Holocaust in his public life. His decisions as prime minister also showed that a firm security policy could coexist with far-reaching diplomacy: he concluded peace with Egypt and accepted withdrawal from all Sinai, then ordered military action against Iraq’s nuclear program.

The distinction between those decisions lay in Begin’s assessment of Israel’s security. Egypt’s president offered recognition and a negotiated end to war, creating an opportunity Begin judged worth substantial territorial and political concessions. The Iraqi regime’s effort to acquire nuclear capability presented a different danger. Begin’s determination to protect the Jewish people and prevent another Holocaust shaped his decision to strike the Osirak reactor. The principle associated with that decision became known as the Begin Doctrine: Israel would prevent hostile states committed to its destruction from acquiring nuclear weapons.

Begin’s leadership also changed how the Revisionist movement participated in Israeli government. He took a movement rooted in Jabotinsky’s ideas through underground struggle, decades of parliamentary opposition and, finally, electoral victory. His support among Mizrahi Jews broadened the social base of national leadership. In government, he pursued development programs in poorer neighborhoods alongside economic liberalization. These policies, like the peace treaty and his security decisions, remain central to assessments of his premiership.

Role in attacks or conflicts

As Irgun commander, Begin directed an armed campaign against British rule. The Acre prison breakout freed prisoners and demonstrated the organization’s ability to carry out complex operations. The King David Hotel bombing destroyed offices used by the British administration in Jerusalem and killed people in the building. Those deaths remain an essential part of the operation’s history. Begin’s command of the Irgun and his subsequent decision to disband it after independence mark a transition from underground violence to participation in the institutions of the new state.

In 1981, Begin and his cabinet authorized an Israeli Air Force strike on Iraq’s Osirak nuclear reactor near Baghdad. Military and intelligence experts were consulted before the operation. Israel also sought cooperation from France, Italy and the United States before choosing military action. Israeli aircraft destroyed the reactor and returned to Israel. Begin’s government acted to obstruct the Iraqi regime’s pursuit of nuclear weapons before it could gain that capability. The strike, known as Operation Opera, drew international condemnation, but it hampered Baghdad’s nuclear effort, as became apparent during the 1991 Gulf War. It established the Begin Doctrine as a lasting statement of Israeli preventive self-defense.

Begin authorized Israel’s 1982 invasion of Lebanon to fight the forces of the PLO there. Members of the Abu Nidal Organization attempted to assassinate Israeli ambassador Shlomo Argov on June 3, 1982, immediately before Israel’s military response. The resulting 1982 Lebanon War became the most contentious military undertaking of Begin’s premiership. It brought substantial destruction in Lebanon and criticism of the government’s conduct and objectives. Begin met U.S. President Ronald Reagan weeks after the war began and defended Israel’s military action, while Reagan raised concerns about its effects. Debate over the war continued in Israel as Begin’s health declined.

Death or current status

On August 29, 1983, Begin announced his intention to resign amid failing health and criticism of the Lebanon war. He formally submitted his resignation on September 15. Yitzhak Shamir succeeded him as prime minister on October 10, ending a premiership that had begun with Likud’s 1977 victory and encompassed both the treaty with Egypt and two major security decisions. Begin spent his final years largely in seclusion. He died of a heart attack in 1992.

Legacy

Begin’s legacy rests on achievements and decisions that continue to shape Israel. His election in 1977 established Likud as a governing party and changed the balance of Israeli parliamentary politics. The peace treaty with Egypt showed that he would accept the evacuation of Israeli forces and communities from Sinai for a binding agreement with a former adversary. Sadat and Begin’s shared Nobel Peace Prize recognized the importance of their peacemaking. Years later, an Egyptian school textbook introduced for 2015–2016 depicted them together and presented Israel as a peace partner.

His order to strike Osirak established a different, equally consequential security principle. The Begin Doctrine linked Israel’s defense to preventing enemies committed to its destruction from obtaining nuclear weapons. At the same time, the deaths caused by Irgun operations and the course of the Lebanon war remain part of any full account of his leadership. Begin’s historical significance cannot be reduced to a single role: he was an underground commander, a long-serving opposition leader, a prime minister who made peace, and a leader who ordered preventive military action.

Begin’s public memory is preserved through the Menachem Begin Heritage Center in Jerusalem. On March 28, 1998, the Knesset passed the Menachem Begin Commemoration Law, establishing an official state memorial center to preserve his achievements and legacy. The center displays original documents and photographs and serves as a research institute concerned with Israel’s struggle for independence, security and development. Its educational work connects Begin’s life to the history of the state and to the institutions in which he spent much of his political career.