Ehud Barak

Ehud Barak (Hebrew, אֵהוּד בָּרָק) (Mishmar HaSharon, 12 November February 1942) is an Israeli politician. He was the 10th Prime Minister of Israel, from 1999 to 2001. He was the leader of the Labor Party until January 2011. He also served as Defense Minister and Deputy Prime Minister under Ehud Olmert and Benjamin Netanyahu from 2007 to 2013.

Barak was Commander-in-Chief of the Israel Defense Forces from 1991 to 1995. He was the most decorated soldier in Israel's history along with two other servicemen. He holds degrees in physics, mathematics and economics from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and Stanford University.

Military career

Barak joined the Israel Defense Forces in 1959 and served there for 35 years, rising to the position of Ramatcal (Commander-in-Chief) and holding the rank of Lieutenant General, the highest rank in the Israeli army. During his service as a commando, Barak participated in a secret mission (Operation Youth Spring, Beirut, 1973) in which he disguised himself as a woman to infiltrate terrorists. He was awarded the Distinguished Service Medal and four other decorations for courage and operational efficiency. He is considered the most decorated soldier in the history of Israel.

Barak earned a BS in Physics and Mathematics from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem in 1976, and an MS in Systems Engineering Economics in 1978 from Stanford University in Palo Alto, California.

Political career

In politics, he served as Minister of the Interior (1995) and Minister of Foreign Affairs (1995-1996). He won his seat in the Knesset in 1996, where he was a member of the Knesset's Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee. In 1996, Barak became the leader of the Labor Party.

Prime Minister (1999-2001)

Ehud Barak was elected Prime Minister of Israel on May 17, 1999, and stepped down on March 7, 2001 after losing the elections to Ariel Sharon.

Barak's tenure as prime minister had several notable events, most of them controversial:

• He formed a coalition with the ultra-orthodox Shas party, after Barak promised "the end of corruption" to religious parties.
• Meretz left the coalition after they agreed on the powers granted to a Shas secretary at the Ministry of Education.
• The withdrawal from southern Lebanon.
• The recovery of the bodies of three Israeli soldiers killed by Hezbollah, assisted by United Nations peacemaking forces.
• Peace negotiations with Syria.
• The adoption of the law granting special status to ultra-orthodox Jews to allow their exemption from military service.
• The 2000 Camp David Peace Summit, which could have resolved the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, but without success. Barak, Prince Bandar of Saudi Arabia and U.S. President Bill Clinton blamed Yasser Arafat. Barak said he had exposed "the true intentions of Arafat." Later, Barak was accused by left-wing Israeli politicians of ending the Israeli pacifist movement for having presented Arafat as "a detractor of peace."
• The beginning of the second intifada, that of Al-Aqsa.
• The massacre of 13 Israeli Arabs by the police, and the subsequent murder of an Israeli Jewish civilian by an Arab crowd, in the October 2000 riots.
• Taba's talks with the ANP government, after his mandate had ended.

Later Activities

After his defeat in 2001, Barak resigned his Knesset seat and has spent several years on the fringes of politics. During that period he has been in business. He has divorced his wife, Nava. He announced in early 2005 that he would run to lead the Labor Party again. However, to counter Benjamin Netanyahu's candidacy for the Likud presidency, at the end of August 2005 he urged all Labor leaders to support Shimon Peres, although it was finally Amir Péretz who took over the party leadership, defeating to Peres.

In January 2007, he announced that he would run again as a candidate for the leadership of his party, with a public letter in which he recognized his mistakes and inexperience during his tenure as prime minister. On May 28, he obtained 39% of the votes, finishing in first place, but required 40% support, for which a second round was forced against Ami Ayalon, who placed second (third was the candidate for re-election Amir Péretz and fourth, former Minister Ophir Pines-Paz). On June 12, he narrowly defeats Ayalon, and again becomes leader of the Israel Labor Party, becoming Peretz's successor as Defense Minister. In 2011, he broke away from the party he led to form a new political party, called Ha'Atzma'ut ('Independence').

Ehud Barak is an Honorary Member of the International Raoul Wallenberg Foundation.