Moshe Dayan
Moshe Dayan (; 20 May 1915 – 16 October 1981) was an Israeli military leader and politician. As commander of the
Jerusalem front in the
1948 Arab–Israeli War,
Chief of Staff of the
Israel Defense Forces (1953–1958) during the 1956
Suez Crisis, but mainly as Defense Minister during the
Six-Day War in 1967, he became a worldwide fighting symbol of the new state of Israel. In the 1930s, Dayan joined the
Haganah, the pre-state Jewish defense force of
Mandatory Palestine. He served in the
Special Night Squads under
Orde Wingate during the
Arab revolt in Palestine and later lost an eye in a raid on
Vichy forces in Lebanon during
World War II. Dayan was close to
David Ben-Gurion and joined him in leaving the
Mapai party and setting up the
Rafi party in 1965 with
Shimon Peres. Dayan became Defence Minister just before the 1967 Six-Day War. After the
Yom Kippur War of 1973, during which Dayan served as Defense Minister, he was blamed for the lack of preparedness; after some time he resigned. In 1977, following the election of
Menachem Begin as Prime Minister, Dayan was expelled from the Labor Party because he joined the
Likud-led government as Foreign Minister, playing an important part in negotiating the
peace treaty between Egypt and Israel.
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