obituaries
Yitzhak Shamir: Patriot, Prime Minister
Alexander Zvielli
Jerusalem Post
itzhak Shamir, a leader of the
pre-state Lehi underground
movement, who later rose to
become a prime minister in the national
unity governments of the 1980s, died
June 30, 2012, at age 96.
Despite a political odyssey that took
him from the far-right fringes of the
Zionist movement to the mainstream of
Israeli politics, Shamir never compro-
mised on his belief in an Israel whose
borders would include Jewish sovereignty
over all of Judea and Samaria.
Right-wing supporters admired him as
a stalwart defender of the Land of Israel,
and left-wing critics assailed him as an
inflexible hardliner. But even his political
detractors credited him with being a pub-
lic figure of iron integrity, rare modesty
and fearless courage, and a genuine fam-
ily man and true Israeli patriot.
A former Mossad agent, Likud MK and
Knesset speaker, he was serving as foreign
minister when he became prime minister
in 1983 following the sudden resignation
of Menachem Begin and was handed the
reins of power during one of the most
troubled periods in the nation's history.
Many pundits believed he would soon be
defeated in elections or unseated by more
charismatic rivals in his own party.
But the following year, after close elec-
tions in which neither Likud nor Labor
could form a coalition, Shamir and Labor
Party leader Shimon Peres formed a unity
government in which they alternated the
prime minister and foreign minister posi-
tions after two years. Working together,
they provided steady leadership that
oversaw an IDF withdrawal in Lebanon
down to the security zone, and eased the
economy back to recovery from one of its
worst recessions.
Shamir's electoral victory over Peres in
the 1988 elections was shadowed by the
spreading of the Palestinian intifada that
had begun the year before.
Conflicts over direction of the peace
process led to Peres and Labor breaking
up the unity government in 1990 after an
unsuccessful attempt to wrest the govern-
ment from Shamir.
Ironically, despite what many regarded
as his hardline stances, Shamir become
the first prime minister to negotiate
directly with the Palestinians when pres-
sured by the United States to attend the
1991 Madrid conference.
After being decisively defeated by
Yitzhak Rabin in 1992, Shamir served
a few more years in the Knesset before
retiring to a quiet life in Tel Aviv with his
wife, Shulamit.
The Underground Man
and operational activities. A tough dis-
Shamir was born in Ruzinov, Eastern
ciplinarian, few people suspected that
Poland, and was educated at the Hebrew
this rather kind-looking, soft-spoken
Gymnasium in Bialystok, well-known
gentleman was a totally dedicated, hard
for its strong Hebrew and Zionist lean-
underground commander.
ings. He studied law at the University of
Many controversial Lehi activities,
Warsaw before making aliyah in 1935
conducted under Shamir's command
to continue his studies at the Hebrew
made history. In November 1944, two
University.
Lehi members, Eliahu Hakim and Eliahu
In Poland, he belonged to Betar, the
Bet-Zuri assassinated Lord Moyne,
Revisionist youth movement, and in
British minister of state for the Middle
Jerusalem, after the Arab riots broke out
East in Cairo. They were caught and
in 1936, he joined Irgun Zvai Leumi, the
hanged in March 1945.
national military under-
In July 1945, how-
ground organization.
ever, when Britain had
Shamir never forgot
shown no inclination
the tragic circumstances
to alter the White
of the death of his father
Paper and stopped
who was murdered dur-
almost entirely the
ing the Holocaust by
Jewish immigration
Polish farmers, friends of
and purchase of land,
his youth, when he came
Lehi and Irgun agreed
to them seeking sanctu-
to cooperate and, in
ary after he escaped from
November, Haganah
a death train. Yitzhak's
joined together the
sister, her husband and
newly-established
their children were also
Tnuat Hameri Haivri
Yitzhak Shamir
murdered by a Polish
(Hebrew Resistance
forest guard that previ-
Movement) in an
ously worked for them, and in whose
attempt to fight the British policy.
home they tried to hide. Their tragic fate
Lehi carried out sabotage operations
continued to haunt Shamir throughout
and armed attacks on military objec-
his life.
tives, government installations, army
In June 1940, after Irgun decided on a
camps and airfields. It attacked indi-
wartime truce with the British, Shamir
vidual members of police and of the
faced a heavy test. He had to decide
hated Mandatory Criminal Investigation
whether to join those Irgun members
Department. In April 1947, Lehi mailed
or to join the Stern group, a splinter of
bombs outside Palestine to British states-
Irgun, founded by "Yair" Avraham Stern,
men responsible for closing the gates of
who pledged to continue the struggle
Palestine to the Jewish remnant.
against the British occupation and
During this period, Shamir was arrest-
opposed the voluntary enlistment of Jews ed twice: in 1941 and 1946, and twice he
into the British forces.
escaped. The second time, he was sent
Shamir choose to join the Stern group,
to a detention camp in Eritrea. He and
which after "Yair" was murdered by
another Herut leader tunneled their way
the British officers of the Mandatory
out under the wire, and Shamir managed
Criminal Investigation Department,
to get to Djibouti.
on February 12, 1942, became Lehi
Eventually, the French agreed to give
(Lohamey Herut Israel).
him political asylum and he arrived in
There could have been little doubt that France. But in May 1948, he made his
this choice was motivated by Shamir's
way back to Palestine to fight in the
perception that Britain was an enemy, an
battle for independence.
occupant who was never to be trusted
On May 29, 1948, most members of
if Eretz Yisrael was to be liberated. The
the Lehi enlisted in the newly formed
1939 White Paper thwarting Jewish
IDF, except for a hard core headed by
immigration convinced him that Britain
Shamir. The final disbanding of Lehi
would ultimately disregard any Jewish
came only after its assassination of the
contribution to the war effort and would
U.N. Mediator, Count Folke Bernadotte
continue to side with Arabs. In the Stern
in Jerusalem on Sept. 17, 1948. Shamir,
group, Shamir assumed an underground
accused of being one of the ringlead-
name of "Michael," after Michael Collins
ers of the ambush, was arrested in a
who led the Irish Republican Army in its
roundup of Lehi members by the newly
struggle with Britain.
formed Israeli government, but was later
After the death of Yair, Shamir became
released.
a member of Lehi's triumvirate leader-
Shamir's years in the underground
ship and coordinated its organizational
were over.
Out Of The Shadows
While on the run from British authori-
ties, Shamir still managed to get married
and have two children. It wasn't easy for
him to adapt to the normal civilian life.
His return to public service came in
1955, when David Ben-Gurion person-
ally approved his enlistment in the
Mossad, where he served for 10 years.
He was stationed for much of that time
in Paris, becoming fluent in French. In
the Mossad he was reputed to be a most
dependable agent and a "brilliant opera-
tions many' True to his discrete character,
he never publicly discussed his work for
the Israeli espionage agency.
In 1965, he retired from the Mossad
and returned to business. He then
started spending evenings and weekends
working for Begin's opposition Herut
party
In 1973, Shamir was elected to the
Eighth Knesset, and was elected chair-
man of Herut, now part of the larger
Likud party. With his experience of
working clandestinely on behalf of the
Soviet Jewry, Shamir set up a new Likud
immigrants' department and was elected
to the party executive. In 1977, after the
Likud's victory in the general elections,
he was chosen as Knesset Speaker.
Shamir never complained that he was
offered a largely ceremonial post, having
been passed over by Begin for a cabinet
post.
In his memoirs, Shamir stressed that
Jewish people always suffered because of
the personal ambition of their leaders; all
he wanted was to be a faithful servant of
the Jewish people.
Begin's reluctance to appoint Shamir
to his cabinet might have been due to the
perception of him as an almost inflexible
hard-liner in the matters of defense and
foreign policy. In 1978, Shamir abstained
in the Knesset vote on the Camp David
accords and, in March 1979, he again
abstained in the vote on the Israel-
Egyptian peace treaty.
In 1980, Shamir finally got his cabi-
net posting after Begin appointed him
as foreign minister after Moshe Dayan
resigned in a policy dispute over grant-
ing autonomy to the Palestinians. Shamir
then surprised his critics, who believed
his policy views were too extreme for
such a sensitive position.
He had a good public relations sense
and firmly believed that Israel's case
would be much better understood
abroad if it were projected more effec-
tively. Shamir undertook much bridge-
building with Europe, Latin America,
Africa and Asia, and proved to be a hard
worker who put in 12-hour days at the
office.
Yitzhak Shamir on page 54
48 July 5
a 2012
Obituaries