Ehud Barak (Brug) - Biography
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The most highly decorated Israeli general, a former Chief of Staff and politician. Born 1942
in Mishmar Hasharon in Israel. Barak enlisted to the IDF in 1959. He started his military
service in an armored unit. In 1982 he was appointed head of the Planning Division in the
General Staff. In the 1982 Lebanese War he served as commander of the force that operated
in the Lebanon Valley. In 1983 he was appointed head of the Intelligence Branch and in 1986
commander of the Central Command. After being appointed Deputy Chief of Staff in 1987
became Chief of Staff in 1991.
In 1968 Barak completed a first degree in Physics and Mathematics at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem and in 1987, a second degree in Systems Analysis at Stanford University in California. As Chief of Staff Barak knew about the Oslo talks but did not participate in them and was critical of their results. Several days before ending his duty as CoS he met the Syrian Chief of Staff in Washington, within the framework of the bilateral talks between Syria and Israel. The involvement of Barak and other senior officers in the political process was strongly criticized by the opposition at the time. Barak's reply to this criticism was that "The IDF does not and cannot have a position regarding the essence of the political moves, but its duty is to clarify to the political level the security implications of every possible decision." Barak left the IDF on January 1, 1995, and went to the US for a cooling off period. In July 1995, after a brief period in business, Barak joined Yitzhak Rabin's government as Minister of the Interior. Before his appointment he was accused, in an article in the daily Yedi'ot Aharonot, of having deserted wounded soldiers during a military exercise at Ze'elim, which he had attended in November 1992 as Chief of Staff, and having later given contradictory explanations as to what had actually taken place. Barak strongly denied the allegations. In s special report by State Comptroller Eliezer Goldberg, most of which was published on March 15, 1999, Barak was exonerated from any wrong-doing. In the vote on the Tab`a Agreement (Oslo II) in the Government Barak abstained due to technical reservations. Following the Rabin assassination, he was appointed Minister for Foreign Affairs in the government of Shimon Peres. In the Labor Party primaries held towards the elections to the 14th Knesset (1996) Barak came second. In the primaries to the Labor Party leadership, held in June 1997, he was elected from among four candidates by a 50.33% majority. Barak initiated and struggled within the framework of the Labor Party, for the establishment of "One Israel" - a joint list of the Labor Party, Gesher and Meimad - that will run in the elections to the 15th Knesset. |
