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Moshe Dayan

moshe dayan

Moshe Dayan

The fourth Chief of Staff of the Israel Defense Forces (1953–1958) and Minister of Defense (1967-1974)

(1915 - 1981)

Moshe Dayan was born in 1915 on kibbutz Deganya Alef. When he was only 14 years old, Dayan joined the Haganah, an underground defence organisation. During the Arab riots of 1936-1939, he served with the special police force in the Jezreel Valley and Galilee. When the British outlawed the Haganah in 1939, Dayan was arrested and imprisoned for two years. Upon his release in 1941, Dayan joined the British army, where he fought in Allied operations against French Vichy forces in Lebanon during World War II. Dayan was wounded in battle in Lebanon and lost his left eye.

Dayan remained active in the Haganah until 1948. During the 1948 War of Independence, he commanded the defence of settlements in the Jordan Valley and he later commanded the Jerusalem front. In 1949, he participated in armistice talks with Jordanian officials at Rhodes. Dayan rised to the rank of chief of operations at General Headquarters in 1952, and, in 1953, he was elected Chief of Staff of the armed forces. On October 29, 1956, Dayan led Israel's Suez campaign, an invasion of the Sinai Peninsula, after Egypt, Syria and Jordan signed a pact stating as their goal the destruction of Israel.

Dayan left the military in 1958 and entered his second career - politics. He joined Israel's Labour Party, Mapai, and was elected to the Knesset in 1959. He served as Minister of Agriculture in the government of David Ben-Gurion from 1959 until 1964. In 1964, Dayan resigned as Minister of Agriculture and joined Ben-Gurion in forming a new party called Rafi (Alliance of Israel's Workers). Dayan did not stay out of the government for long, however. One year later, Dayan was re-elected to the Knesset representing Rafi, which later rejoined the Labour Party.

Dayan was appointed Minister of Defence under Prime Minister Levi Eshkol and served in this position during the Six-Day War in 1967 and the Yom Kippur War in 1973. Israel's lack of preparation for the Yom Kippur War, which led to the heavy losses it suffered during that war, was blamed on Defence Minister Dayan and an outraged public demanded his resignation. The president of the Supreme Court set up a commission to investigate the performance of generals during the war. The commission recommended the resignation of the Chief of Staff, but reserved judgement on Dayan. The press and the public, however, condemned him. After attending a military funeral at which bereaved parents had called him a murderer of their sons, Dayan submitted his resignation in 1974.

In 1977, newly elected Likud Prime Minister Menachem Begin gave Dayan a second chance by offering him the post of Minister of Foreign Affairs. In May 1977, Dayan began negotiating with the Egyptians, holding secret meetings with officials. Eventually, a peace agreement, the Camp David Accords were drawn up and signed in 1978.

In 1979, Dayan resigned as Foreign Minister and in 1981 he formed the Telem party, which advocated unilateral disengagement from the territories Israel acquired in 1967. The party received only two mandates in the subsequent elections.

In 1979, Dayan was diagnosed with colon cancer. He died in October 1981 in Tel Aviv and was buried in Moshav Nahalal.

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