History 244 Israeli Prime Ministers/Political Figures
Ehud Olmert
Who - Kadima prime minister of Israel When - 2006-2009
Ariel Sharon
Who - Likud and Kadima prime minister of Israel When - 2001-2006 (2001-2005 as Likud, 2005-2006 as Kadima)
Menachim Begin
Who - Likud prime minister of Israel When - 1977-1983
Benjamin Netanyahu
Who - Likud prime minister of Israel When - 1996-1999, 2009-present
Yitzhak Rabin
Who - Mapai prime minister of Israel When - 1974-1977, 1992-1995
Ehud Barak
Who - Mapai prime minister of Israel When - 1999-2001
Shimon Peres
Who - Mapai prime minister of Israel, Kadima president of Israel When - 1984-1986,1995-1996
Shimon Peres - significance
Why? - Important because he was the immediate successor to Rabin, was supposed to continue peace talks - Lack of military expertise and image as simply a politician weakened public opinion on him - Lost to Bibi in 1996 in a horribly ran campaign on Mapai's end - similar to 2016 here Impact - His failure to win elections in wake of Rabin's death permanently solidified the fate of the Oslo process, as Likud took power and removed the offer from the table - Although Mapai would come back to power with Barak, this permanently damaged the reputation of Mapai and marked the general shift in Israeli public opinion today to the right
Benjamin Netanyahu - significance
Why? - Instrumental in killing the peace talks in the late 90's and took power away from Mapai - Today, a controversial figure due to his relationship with Barack Obama and his approach to making a change in the Israeli - American relationship - Also controversial due to his opinion on settlements and the continued construction of settlements - Although Bibi represents the right Likud party, his recent favoring for a two-state solution moves the general scope of the knesset more to the left - Bibi's opinions today focus on Israeli security first - everything else comes after (justification of settlements) - Basically savage and doesn't give a **** - during talks with every release of prisoners he would secretly build another settlement (although there wasn't a settlement freeze, that's messed up lol) Impact - Still in power, hoping for a more beneficial relationship with Trump Provided a stalemate in the conflict - willing to compromise but still building settlements Pushed Likud to include negotiations in their platform
Yitzhak Rabin - significance
Why? - Most effective prime minister with peace talks and the Oslo process - Almost reached an agreement with Arafat, most promising peace talks ever accomplished thus far Impact - His assassination is the reason negotiations took a step back in a chain reaction that originally killed negotiations - Since his assassination, general movement of the Israeli government moved to the right, thus making peace talks and negotiations more unlikely - Prior to assassination - accomplished Oslo 1 and 2, setting up the current structure of the Palestinian perspective/PA
Ehud Olmert - significance
Why? - Prime minister during war with Hezbollah 2006, and 2008-2009 war with Gaza - Lacked the security credentials that Sharon had - wanted to make a statement with the war and thus over compensated in Lebanon - Forced to revise policies of strength - Gave the Palestinians the best offer to date for peace - but was abrupt and too weak of a partner for Abass to commit to Impact - Soiled international opinion of IDF further with Lebanon although the future wars revised these mistakes - Moved Israeli politics back to the right with his decisions
Ariel Sharon - significance
Why? - Pulled out of Gaza in 2005 - Formed Kadima, tried starting up negotiations again - Ascended temple mount, arguably started 2nd intifada - General in 1967 war - took over Abu Agheila - Strong on security - reason for trust Impact - Formed a "centrist" party in Kadima, set precedent for other politicians to stand up for beliefs - Ended Israeli occupation in Gaza - resulting in later violence
Ehud Barak - significance
Why? - Started the second round of peace talks, culminated at Camp David, where he tried to rush the process and thus destroyed them - Gave Sharon access to ascend the noble sanctuary, indirectly starting the 2nd intifada Impact - Although he intended to create peace, his ultimate fast and furious attitude to accomplish an agreement against the wishes of many external forces ended the peace process - potentially permanently - His indirect cause in starting the 2nd intifada also potentially permanently ended peace talks and reaffirmed mutual suspicions and hatred on both sides - Last Mapai prime minister to date
Menachim Begin - significance
Why? - Very right policies in order to continue to show Israeli dominance, militarization - Leader of the Irgun, policies far right on the spectrum and more drastic militarily - Won power in the "earthquake election" 1977 - power shift to Likud from labor - Resigned due to the longevity and brutal nature of war in Lebanon (1982-2000) - made false promise that it would be a fast war - Personal struggles spoke to country - was a Soviet war prisoner, family killed in holocaust Impact - Started the Lebanon war which lasted until the 21st century, Barak withdrew forces in 2000 - costly war, general losses (monetary and human) - Marked a trend of power shift in Israel - Started trend for more asymmetric violence for future to become total eventually - Gave legitimacy of power to Hezbollah through the Lebanon - Israel war - the underlying reason that the Hezbollah model is effective and why it exists in the first place
