Moshe Arens | |
|---|---|
משה ארנס | |
.jpg) Arens in April 1999 | |
| Ministerial roles | |
| 1983–1984 | Minister of Defense |
| 1984–1988 | Minister without Portfolio |
| 1988–1990 | Minister of Foreign Affairs |
| 1990–1992 | Minister of Defense |
| 1999[1] | Minister of Defense |
| Faction represented in theKnesset | |
| 1973–1992 | Likud |
| 1999–2003 | Likud |
| Diplomatic roles | |
| 1982–1983 | Ambassador to the United States |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1925-12-27)27 December 1925 Kaunas, Lithuania |
| Died | 7 January 2019(2019-01-07) (aged 93) Savyon, Israel |
| Signature |  |
Moshe Arens (Hebrew:משה ארנס; 27 December 1925 – 7 January 2019) was an Israeliaeronautical engineer, researcher, diplomat, andLikud politician. A member of theKnesset between 1973 and 1992 and again from 1999 until 2003, he served asMinister of Defense three times and once asMinister of Foreign Affairs. Arens also served as theIsraeli ambassador to the U.S. and was a professor at theTechnion inHaifa.
Arens was born inKaunas, Lithuania, to aJewish family. His father was an industrialist and his mother was a dentist.[2] When he was a year old, his family moved toRiga,Latvia. where he attended elementary school. In 1939, Arens and his family emigrated to the United States, where his father had business interests. The family settled in New York City, where Arens attendedGeorge Washington High School.
Arens was a leader in theBetar youth movement, and during World War II served in theUnited States Army Corps of Engineers as atechnical sergeant. Following theIsraeli Declaration of Independence in 1948, Arens emigrated to Israel and joined the militant groupIrgun.
In 1951, he returned to the United States, and studied engineering at theMassachusetts Institute of Technology and aeronautical engineering at theCalifornia Institute of Technology, where he was a student ofQian Xuesen. He then worked for a time in the aircraft industry.[3][4][5][6]
In 1957, Arens became professor of aeronautics at theTechnion, serving in this position until 1962. After retiring from the government, he devoted himself to researching and commemorating the story of theJewish Military Union (ŻZW), which fought alongside the better knownJewish Combat Organization (ŻOB) in theWarsaw Ghetto Uprising. Arens has written several articles and a book,Flags over the Warsaw Ghetto, on the revolt. The book has been published in Hebrew, Polish, and English.[7]
Arens was chairman of the International Board of Governors ofAriel University Center of Samaria.[5] He was also a columnist forHaaretz newspaper.[8]
After theYom Kippur War, Arens entered politics and was elected to theKnesset as a member ofLikud in the1973 elections. After being re-elected in1977, he became chairman of theForeign Affairs and Defense Committee. He voted against theCamp David Accords and theEgypt–Israel peace treaty. In 1980, Prime MinisterMenachem Begin offered Arens the post of Minister of Defense, but he turned it down due to his disagreement over the terms of the Egypt–Israel Peace Treaty. Arens did not oppose peace with Egypt, but was opposed to certain aspects of the treaty, and thus did not want to have to oversee Israel's evacuation from theSinai.[4]
He was re-elected again inre-elected again in 1981, but resigned from the Knesset on 19 January 1982 when appointedambassador to the United States. At this point, he brought his young protégé,Benjamin Netanyahu, then 32, to work for him inWashington. He returned to Israel in February 1983 after being appointedMinister of Defense, replacingAriel Sharon, who had been forced out of office following theKahan Commission's report on theSabra and Shatila massacre. He was re-elected in1984, but was only appointedMinister without Portfolio. After another re-election in1988 he was appointed Minister of Foreign Affairs (with Netanyahu his deputy), and in 1990 returned to the Defense portfolio.
After Likud lost the1992 elections, Arens retired from politics. He returnedin 1999, however, to challenge Netanyahu for the Likud leadership. Although he won only 18% of the vote, Netanyahu appointed him Minister of Defense, replacingYitzhak Mordechai, who had left Likud to establish theCentre Party. Although Arens returned to the Knesset after the1999 elections, Likud lost the elections and he left thecabinet. He lost his seat for the final time in2003.
Arens questioned the wisdom ofLockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II Israeli procurement, given the neglected state of Israeli ground forces.[9] In an article for Fathom Journal, Arens stated that he was a critic of unilateral withdrawal from theWest Bank andGaza, accusing its proponents of suffering from "unilateral withdrawal syndrome".[10]
While living in the United States, Arens married Muriel F. Eisenberg from New York City, and she moved to Israel with him. The couple had four children, two boys and two girls: Yigal, Aliza, Raanan, and Ruth.[4] Arens died on 7 January 2019 at the age of 93.[11][12] Streets inRamla,Herzliya andBeit Shemesh are named after him.
In 1971, Arens won theIsrael Defense Prize. In 2016,Nefesh B'Nefesh awarded him theBonei Zion Prize.[13]
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