Menachem Begin

Menachem Begin was born in Brest-Litovsk in 1913 and studied law in Warsaw, where he joined Betar, the youth movement of Ze'ev Jabotinsky's Revisionist Zionists. Imprisoned by the Soviet authorities in 1940-1941, he reached Palestine with the Polish army and in 1943 took command of the Irgun underground. After independence he founded the Herut party and led the opposition for nearly three decades. In 1977 his Likud bloc won the election, making him prime minister. He shared the 1978 Nobel Peace Prize with Anwar Sadat, resigned in 1983 and died in 1992.

Admirers credit Begin with giving a political voice to Mizrahi Israelis who felt ignored by the Labor establishment, with Israel's first peace treaty with an Arab state, and with a firm defence of Jewish security. Critics recall that the Irgun under his command carried out bombings against the British and took part in the 1948 massacre of Arab villagers at Deir Yassin. The 1982 invasion of Lebanon drew Israel into a long occupation, and an Israeli inquiry later found his government indirectly responsible for the massacre of Palestinians by Lebanese militia at Sabra and Shatila. Rising inflation also damaged his economic record.