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Moshe Arens

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Moshe Arens
משה ארנס‎
Arens in April 1999
Ministerial roles
1983–1984Minister of Defense
1984–1988Minister without Portfolio
1988–1990Minister of Foreign Affairs
1990–1992Minister of Defense
1999[1]Minister of Defense
Faction represented in theKnesset
1973–1992Likud
1999–2003Likud
Diplomatic roles
1982–1983Ambassador to the United States
Personal details
Born(1925-12-27)27 December 1925
Kaunas,Lithuania
Died7 January 2019(2019-01-07)(aged 93)
Savyon,Israel
Signature

Moshe Arens(Hebrew:משה ארנס;27 December 1925 – 7 January 2019) was an Israeliaeronauticalengineer, researcher, diplomat, andLikudpolitician. A member of theKnessetbetween 1973 and 1992 and again from 1999 until 2003, he served asMinister of Defensethree times and once asMinister of Foreign Affairs.Arens also served as theIsraeli ambassador to the U.S.and was a professor at theTechnioninHaifa.

Early life and education[edit]

Arens was born inKaunas,Lithuania, to aJewishfamily. 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 inNew York City,where Arens attendedGeorge Washington High School.

Arens was a leader in theBetaryouth movement, and duringWorld War IIserved in theUnited States Army Corps of Engineersas atechnical sergeant.Following theIsraeli Declaration of Independencein 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 Technologyand 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]

Academic and research career[edit]

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 forHaaretznewspaper.[8]

Political career[edit]

Arens meeting withU.S. Secretary of DefenseCaspar Weinbergerin 1983

After theYom Kippur War,Arens entered politics and was elected to theKnessetas a member ofLikudin the1973 elections.After being re-elected in1977,he became chairman of theForeign Affairs and Defense Committee.He voted against theCamp David Accordsand theEgypt–Israel peace treaty.In 1980, Prime MinisterMenachem Beginoffered 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 in1981,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 in1988he 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 BankandGaza,accusing its proponents of suffering from "unilateral withdrawal syndrome".[10]

Personal life[edit]

While living in the United States, Arens married Muriel F. Eisenberg fromNew 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,HerzliyaandBeit Shemeshare named after him.

Published works[edit]

  • Optimum staging of cruising aircraft.Haifa: Technion - Israel Institute of Technology, Department of Aeronautical Engineering, 1959.
  • Some requirements for the efficient attainment of range by air-borne vehicles.Haifa: Technion - Israel Institute of Technology, Department of Aeronautical Engineering, 1959.
  • A hypersonic ramjet using a normal detonation wave.Jerusalem: Weizmann Science Press of Israel, 1960.
  • Moshe Arens, Statesman and Scientist Speaks Out.(With Merill Simon) New York: Dean Books, 1988.
  • Broken covenant: American foreign policy and the crisis between the U.S. and Israel.New York: Simon & Schuster, 1995.
  • Flags Over the Warsaw Ghetto: The Untold Story of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising.Jerusalem: Gefen, 2011.
  • In Defense of Israel: A Memoir of a Political Life.Washington DC: Brookings, 2018.

Awards and recognition[edit]

In 1971, Arens won theIsrael Defense Prize.In 2016,Nefesh B'Nefeshawarded him theBonei Zion Prize.[13]

References[edit]

  1. ^"Ministers by Ministry".Knesset.Retrieved7 January2019.
  2. ^Israeli hawk is new envoy,New York Times
  3. ^Moshe Arens: ParticularsKnesset website
  4. ^abcShipler, David K.; Times, Special To the New York (12 February 1982)."MAN IN THE NEWS; ISRAELI HAWK IS NEW ENVOY".The New York Times– via NYTimes.
  5. ^ab"Haaretz writers".Haaretz.Retrieved31 January2013.
  6. ^"⁨מעריב⁩ | עמוד 15 | 23 פברואר 1968 | אוסף העיתונות | הספרייה הלאומית".nli.org.il.
  7. ^See Dariusz Libionka & Laurence Weinbaum, "Review of Flags over the Warsaw Ghetto" Jewish Political Studies Review 23: 3-4 (Fall 2011)http://jcpa.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/Libionka-Weinbaum.pdf
  8. ^Moshe Arens, Former Israeli Defense Minister and Liberal Likud Veteran, Dies at 93,Haaretz
  9. ^Ginsburg, Mitch (29 October 2014)."Israel to buy second squadron of stealth F-35 jets".timesofisrael.The Times of Israel.Retrieved29 October2014.
  10. ^"Head to head: Moshe Arens and Ami Ayalon discuss coordinated unilateralism".Retrieved11 July2016.
  11. ^Richman, Jackson (9 January 2019)."Tributes Pour in Following Death of Moshe Arens, 93–Israel's Former Defense Minister".The Jewish Voice.
  12. ^Aderet, Ofer (7 January 2019)."Moshe Arens, Former Israeli Defense Minister and Liberal Likud Veteran, Dies at 93".Haaretz.Retrieved7 January2019.
  13. ^"6 immigrants to Israel awarded 'Bonei Zion' prize".timesofisrael.

Further reading[edit]

  • Moshe Arens, statesman and scientist, speaks out,Merrill Simon, with a foreword by Daniel K. Inouye; edited by Judith Featherman. Middle Island, N.Y.: Dean Books, 1988.

External links[edit]

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Moshe_Arens&oldid=1233452193"