Ehud
Barak
Zionist, *
born Ehud Brog, on 12 February
1942
B. was born on 12 February 1942 in kibbutz Mishmar HaSharon in Mandate Palestine. He is the eldest of four sons of Esther (née Godin) and Israel Brog. Ehud hebraized his family name from "Brog" to "Barak" in 1959, when he joined the Israeli
army. B. earned his bachelor's degree in physics and mathematics from the Hebrew University in Jerusalem in 1968, and his master's degree in engineering-economic systems in 1978 from Stanford University in Palo
Alto, California.
B. served in the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) for 35 years, rising to the position of Chief of the General Staff and the highest
rank of the Israeli military. In a 1973 covert mission in Beirut, he was disguised as a woman in order to assassinate members of the Palestine Liberation
Organization. Barak also masterminded the Tunis Raid in 1988, in which PLO leader Abu Jihad was
assassinated. These operations made him the most decorated soldier in Israeli history.
In addition he was awarded in 1993 the Legion of Merit (Commander) by the United
States.
As a politician, B. served as Minister of the Interior (1995) and then as Minister of Foreign Affairs (1995-1996). In 1996
B. became the leader of the Labor Party. He was elected Prime Minister of Israel
in 1999 and served until 2001. In May, 2000 Israel withdrew from Southern
Lebanon. B. also took part in the Camp David 2000 Summit which was meant to finally resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict but
failed.
After losing the 2001 elections to Ariel Sharon,
B. left Israel to work as a senior advisor with U.S.-based Electronic Data Systems. He also partnered with a private equity company.
After winning back the leadership of the Labor party, B. was appointed Minister of Defense
in June 2007, as part of Prime Minister Olmert's cabinet reshuffle. In December and January of 2008,
B. led as defense minister the bombardment and subsequent invasion of the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip. Since the beginning of the
attack, B. has seen significant improvement in the views held by the public of himself and his
party.
During his military service
B. met his future wife, Naava. They had three daughters together. Ehud and Naava divorced in August 2003.
In July 2007 Ehud married Nili Priel.
Literatur über
/ Writings concerning B.: 
Letzte Änderung / Last update: 07.01.2009
|
