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Yitzhak Shamir
Leader of the lehi/stern gang, 1943-1948
Prime Minister of Israel, 1983-1984, 1986-1992
Yitzhak Shamir (1915-2012) was a charismatic and hardline right-wing Zionist and Israeli leader, originally from Belarus. He immigrated to Palestine in 1935; his entire family was murdered in the Holocaust. This pushed him in a militant direction, first joining the Irgun and then, in 1940, the more extreme militant group Lehi. He helped plan the assassination of Lord Moyne in 1944. He was arrested by the British in 1946 but escaped a year later, eventually making his way to Israel after its establishment. He had a career in the Mossad, after which he went into politics, joining Menachem Begin’s right-wing Likud Party. He served as Speaker of the Knesset and Foreign Minister before twice assuming the post of Prime Minister. He maintained a hardline right-wing perspective, opposing peace negotiations with the Arabs. But he expanded Israel’s diplomatic reach, especially with Africa, and launched Operation Solomon to rescue Ethiopian Jewry. He most famously showed restraint during the First Gulf War in 1991, when Israel did not retaliate for missile attacks from Iraq. He encouraged Jews the world over to make aliyah to Israel, and was remembered as a great patriot and brave fighter.