Shimon Peres is an Israeli politician and statesman whose career lasted more than seven decades. During this time he was a deputy, held ministerial posts, served as president for 7 years and was at the same time the oldest acting head of state. In addition to political activity, Peres became famous for books, publications and articles on the Arab-Israeli conflict.
A family
A politician was born on August 2, 1923 in the Polish Republic (now this territory belongs to Belarus). His boy's name was Senya Persky. His father was a lumber buyer, and his mother was a librarian and teacher of the Russian language. In addition, he had a famous distant relative, Lauren Bacall, recognized as one of the greatest stars in Hollywood.
However, in numerous interviews, Shimon Peres said that his maternal grandfather, who had the academic title of rabbi and was a descendant of the famous founder of the Volozhin yeshiva, had the greatest influence on his life.
Grandfather remained in the memory of Peres the wisest man. He introduced his grandson to history, religious laws, instilled a love of Russian classics and Jewish poetry. As a result, at a young age, the future politician wrote his first poems, which subsequently received flattering reviews from the national poet Chaim Bialik.
Children's passion remained with Peres for life. Some literary creations were published, the most famous of them was in the form of reports called "From the Diary of a Woman." Perez released him under a female pseudonym. In addition, he translated literary works into Hebrew and was fond of philosophy, opera and theater.
Relocation to Israel
Shimon Peres was 8 years old when his father went to Palestine to trade grain. After 3 years, his wife and children followed him. Grandfather did not go with them, and after 7 years, together with other relatives, he was burned in the synagogue by the Germans.
Shimon went to a gymnasium in Tel Aviv. After graduating from it, he entered the Kibbutz labor school. There he met Sonya Gelman and married her in 1945. After receiving his first education, Peres began working as a farmer and joined the movement in favor of the unification and revival of the Jewish people.
At 18, he served as secretary of the youth socialist organization, then he joined the MAPAI party, and already at 24, he worked in the department of the military underground organization of Hagan.
The first steps on the career ladder
Loyalty to his cause helped Shimon Peres become an assistant general director of the Israeli Ministry of Defense. During the Arab-Israeli war, he bought weapons and equipment, recruited military personnel. In 1948, he became the head of the maritime department, and a year later - the head of the delegation of the Department of Defense, heading for America.
He successfully combined work with studies at New York and Harvard Universities. At 28, he became deputy general manager, and a year later he already held his post.
Although Perez was the youngest general director in the history of the Israeli Ministry of Defense, he successfully fulfilled his duties, improved relations with France, took control of the country's budget and production enterprises, and transferred the latter to military tracks. The politician understood the importance of the development of science and technology, he supported research in the military sphere, and contributed to the creation of nuclear research centers.
Strategic Alliance with France
Shimon Peres did not just establish military relations with France - she began to help Israel in the arms business and supply tanks. Soon she replaced England, becoming the main source of supply of ammunition, and after a secret visit by Peres to the French aviation commander, Israel had two of the most modern fighters, an aircraft, additional tanks, radars and guns.
Rapprochement with France was not an easy task. Peres had to make a lot of efforts to overcome the hostility of some of the dignitaries, to adapt to the frequent change of government. But the results exceeded all expectations, Israel had the opportunity to purchase military equipment for millions of dollars, a strategic alliance was established.
Sinai Campaign
France not only helped Israel arm itself. Representatives of the director of the French Ministry of Defense offered active assistance in the attack on Egypt. This was interesting to senior management, and soon a meeting of delegations from Israel, France and Britain took place. They coordinated the actions of their troops, developed a plan of operation. The subsequent Suez crisis ended with the military defeat of Egypt, and Perez was awarded the Legion of Honor.
At the end of the Sinai Campaign, Shimon Peres began to strengthen the army and prepare new scientific research. He began to build relations with Germany. Continuing to make purchases of foreign equipment, Perez decided to develop military production in Israel itself, and soon the first training aircraft was produced there.
His next goal was to obtain nuclear weapons. The construction of reactors and the production of radioactive metals was supported by France. All information regarding the design of the bombs was classified.
First ups and downs
Political takeoff in the biography of Shimon Peres began in 1959, when he became a deputy, and after a month and a half, and deputy minister of defense. At the new post, he continued to work in the direction he had taken: he did not give up his intention to create a military industry in Israel and develop a nuclear program, and increased the supply of French weapons and technologies.
However, when a conflict occurred in the Mapai political party, Shimon had to leave it. Leaving his post as deputy, he became one of the founders of the movement called the "List of Israeli Workers." So he was in opposition to the government.
Shimon Peres quote about this time well reflects the cardinality of the changes that took place in his life. He recalled how he sat in a small stuffy room, wallowing in petty cares and affairs and collecting funds for the functioning of his movement, while only six months ago he had disposed of the apparatus of the Ministry of Defense and incredible money passed through his hands.
Ministerial posts
Disagreements in Mapai were resolved, and soon she, together with the "List of Israeli Workers" and another Jewish political party, united to create Avoda. Another name for the new entity was the Labor Party, Perez took one of the two secretaries in it.
When Avoda won the election, Perez became Minister of Absorption, then Transport, and then Communications. The politician actively took up the fulfillment of new duties, carried out the accession of Israel to satellite communications and improved telephone lines.
Interaction with the Prime Minister
Yitzhak Rabin, who became the new party leader, nominated Peres to the post of Minister of Defense. But he soon regretted this decision, as politicians became intra-party rivals. Their enmity interfered with work, they could not get rid of disagreements on the establishment of diplomatic relations with Jordan. But when the terrorists seized the plane with Israeli citizens on board, Perez was able to persuade Rabin to abandon the negotiations, as originally planned, and carry out a military operation to free the hostages. The raid was successfully completed.
The conflict with Rabin ended when the shadow of financial scandals fell on the current prime minister. Perez took the place of the opponent and began to actively prepare for the next election, but was defeated. Then he had to become the leader of the parliamentary opposition and the deputy chairman of the non-governmental organization of the Socialist International.
Failures in Avoda
Perez did not intend to retreat, and again participated at the head of Avoda in the elections. However, failure befell him this time. The third election also did not end with the victory of Peres and his Labor Party, and he took up the post of prime minister in the government of national unity, the post of minister of the interior and, at the same time, religious issues. Here he achieved certain successes: troops were withdrawn from Lebanon, and the domestic political situation in the country stabilized. Then he took the post of Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance.
In a new post, he decided to intrigue against the center-right Likud party, which disrupted negotiations with the Palestinians. The ultra-religious parties were to help him in this, but they violated the agreement after the fall of the government, and a new leadership was formed without the participation of the Labor Party.
Inside the party, there were many who were dissatisfied with such a situation and, without detracting from the merits of Peres as an outstanding politician, they believed that he was not suitable for the role of their leader. Rabin returned to leadership. Then Shimon took over as Minister of Foreign Affairs. Improving relations with the Middle East and concluding agreements with the UN and Jordan was largely due to Shimon Peres, for which he received the Nobel Prize in 1994.
The politician made his last attempt to become the leader of the Labor Party in 1996, a year after the murder of Rabin by ill-wishers. He was nominated by a candidate from Avoda for the post of prime minister, but was defeated and left the party.
"Forever the second"
A series of failures in the biography of Shimon Peres, which began with his first election as the leader of the Avoda, did not end with his withdrawal from the party. Having worked as the Minister of Regional Cooperation, he again headed the Labor Party, but a year later ceded it to another. While he was deputy prime minister, the party changed leadership and, after the resignation of its next leader, his post reassigned to Shimon. But this did not last long: the politician after a while lost the election again and moved to the party of Kadima, where he took only the second place. Many times missing the opportunity to occupy a leading position in any party, he always remained in big politics.
Presidency
For a long time, the talented politician was predicted to play the role of president, but in 2000, he lost the election to Moshe Katsavu. However, after 6 years, Katsav became the object of scandalous accusations. Many wanted to see Peres as his successor, which happened in 2007.
Perez scored less than half of the votes in the first round of elections, but in the second two other candidates withdrew. The post of head of state passed to Peres for lack of other candidates. On July 15, 2007, he laid a wreath at the memorial to the fallen soldiers and went through an inauguration. After taking the oath, he said that he intended to make the state a peacemaking and kind word, he remembered the people who played a big role in his political career - the first Prime Minister of Israel Ben-Gurion and his rival Rabin.
The political credo of the new president was well reflected by the quote of Shimon Peres about his dreams of a renewed Middle East, where there would be no enmity between peoples. At the same time, he claimed that he did not care about the rumors that were spreading about him, and he was going to persistently achieve his goal.
More than half of Israeli citizens were satisfied with his policies and wanted to see him as president for a second term. However, Perez abandoned this prospect and in 2014 transferred the post to his successor. He himself took up his foundation and founded the center of modern technology.
Opinion on politics in Russia
Of course, an experienced politician had a definite opinion on the internal and external affairs of different countries. The words of Shimon Peres about Putin and Russian politics are interesting. He believed that Vladimir Vladimirovich in his activities is guided by outdated rules. To such a conclusion Peres was prompted by the history of the company of Leonid Nevzlin and Mikhail Khodorkovsky. The politician suggested that Putin selected the company to control revenues, and thereby prevented the transformation of Russian culture. As a result, Khodorkovsky was exiled to Siberia, and Nevzlin emigrated to Israel. Not a flattering way, he also spoke about the annexation of Crimea to Russia, the situation in the eastern part of Ukraine and the bombing of Syria from Iran.
About Putin and America, Shimon Peres said that victory will never be on the side of Russia, regardless of the actions of its president. He argued that the Russian people are dying out, and this is the president’s fault, which they will not forgive. America has nothing to worry about, as its territory borders on friendly Mexico and Canada, while Japan, China and Afghanistan, next to Russia, are unhappy that the vast country does not share land and fresh water.
Death
The extinction of the former president began in 2016, when he had a myocardial infarction. Perez was urgently hospitalized in a hospital where he underwent arterial catheterization. After the operation, improvement came, but in September the politician had a stroke, after which his condition was assessed by doctors as serious. Peres had to be put into an artificial coma and connected to a life support device.
This procedure did not give the expected effect, new problems began to appear in the form of renal failure and other pathologies. Doctors could not do anything, and the politician died on September 28, 2016.
His wife died 5 years earlier than him. The last 20 years, the couple did not live together, although they did not divorce. They left two sons, a daughter and six grandchildren. None of them followed in the footsteps of their father: the daughter became a professor-philologist, the eldest son became an agronomist and a veterinarian, and the youngest became a pilot and then a businessman.
Hoaxes in biography
The official biography of the politician raised questions from some individuals. So, the correspondent David Bedein considered falsifying Peres’s allegations of military service and leadership in the naval forces on the basis of Israeli military documents, which indicated that the future president did only clerical work in the Ministry of Defense, and therefore could not take part in activities of Haganah and other groups. Moreover, the fact that the politician did not serve in military units was the subject of ridicule at the beginning of his career.
The information that Perez was nothing more than a political clerk was confirmed by university professor Yitzhaki, who is a major specialist in the personnel of the Israel Defense Forces. Perez's spokeswoman and his biographer were not so categorical. They agreed that Shimon did not serve in the army, but claimed that he still led the country's naval forces, but at the same time voiced different dates for this event. Answering questions, the spokeswoman reminded reporters how much Peres did for the country, regardless of how true his military biography was. The politician himself claimed that he was an ordinary in the army and refused higher ranks until he was made head of the navy.
