Binyamin "Fuad" Ben-Eliezer (, he, בנימין "פואד" בן אליעזר; 12 February 1936 – 28 August 2016) was an Iraqi-born Israeli politician and general. He served as a member of the

Knesset The Knesset ( he, הַכְּנֶסֶת ; "gathering" or "assembly") is the unicameral legislature of Israel. As the supreme state body, the Knesset is sovereign and thus has complete control of the entirety of the Israeli government (with ...

between 1984 and 2014, and held several ministerial posts, including Minister of Industry, Trade and Labour; Minister of Defense; and

Deputy Prime Minister A deputy prime minister or vice prime minister is, in some countries, a government minister who can take the position of acting prime minister when the prime minister is temporarily absent. The position is often likened to that of a vice president ...

. He served as leader of the

Israeli Labor Party The Israeli Labor Party ( he, מִפְלֶגֶת הָעֲבוֹדָה הַיִּשְׂרְאֵלִית, ), commonly known as HaAvoda ( he, הָעֲבוֹדָה, , The Labor), is a social democratic and Zionist political party in Israel. The p ...

between 2001 and 2002.

Biography

Ben-Eliezer was born in

Basra Basra ( ar, ٱلْبَصْرَة, al-Baṣrah) is an Iraqi city located on the Shatt al-Arab. It had an estimated population of 1.4 million in 2018. Basra is also Iraq's main port, although it does not have deep water access, which is han ...

in southern

Iraq Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to the north, Iran to the east, the Persian Gulf and K ...

to an Iraqi-Jewish family, the son of Saleh and Farha Elazar. His name at birth was Fuad Elazar. He

immigrated Immigration is the international movement of people to a destination country of which they are not natives or where they do not possess citizenship in order to settle as permanent residents or naturalized citizens. Commuters, tourists, and ...

to Israel in 1950, where his name was Hebraized to Binyamin Ben-Eliezer. He was drafted into the Israel Defense Forces in 1954 and became a career soldier. He lived in Rishon LeZion and was married with five children. Some of his granddaughters live in the United States. He was fluent in Hebrew, Arabic and English.

Military career

Ben-Eliezer was drafted into the IDF in 1954 and served in the Golani Brigade. He served in the Brigade as a soldier and as a

squad leader ''Squad Leader'' is a tactical wargames, tactical level board war game originally published by Avalon Hill in 1977. It was designed by John Hill (game designer), John Hill and simulates on infantry combat in Europe during World War II. One of th ...

. In 1956 he became an

infantry Infantry is a military specialization which engages in ground combat on foot. Infantry generally consists of light infantry, mountain infantry, motorized infantry & mechanized infantry, airborne infantry, air assault infantry, and mar ...

officer after completing

Officer Candidate School An officer candidate school (OCS) is a military school which trains civilians and enlisted personnel in order for them to gain a commission as officers in the armed forces of a country. How OCS is run differs between countries and services. Ty ...

and return to the Golani Brigade, and fought in the Sinai war. Ben-Eliezer served as a Commander of sayerert shaked in the

Six-Day War The Six-Day War (, ; ar, النكسة, , or ) or June War, also known as the 1967 Arab–Israeli War or Third Arab–Israeli War, was fought between Israel and a coalition of Arab states (primarily Egypt, Syria, and Jordan) from 5 to 10 Ju ...

and was wounded in the

War of Attrition The War of Attrition ( ar, حرب الاستنزاف, Ḥarb al-Istinzāf; he, מלחמת ההתשה, Milhemet haHatashah) involved fighting between Israel and Egypt, Jordan, the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) and their allies from ...

. In the

Yom Kippur War The Yom Kippur War, also known as the Ramadan War, the October War, the 1973 Arab–Israeli War, or the Fourth Arab–Israeli War, was an armed conflict fought from October 6 to 25, 1973 between Israel and a coalition of Arab states led by E ...

he served as a brigade Executive officer. In 1977, he was appointed First Commanding Officer in

Southern Lebanon Southern Lebanon () is the area of Lebanon comprising the South Governorate and the Nabatiye Governorate. The two entities were divided from the same province in the early 1990s. The Rashaya and Western Beqaa Districts, the southernmost distri ...

, serving as the army liaison between the Lebanese Christian

militia A militia () is generally an army or some other fighting organization of non-professional soldiers, citizens of a country, or subjects of a state, who may perform military service during a time of need, as opposed to a professional force of r ...

s and Israel. He was Military Governor of the

Israeli-occupied West Bank The Israeli occupation of the West Bank began on 7 June 1967, when Israeli forces captured and occupied the territory (including East Jerusalem), then occupied by Jordan, during the Six-Day War, and continues to the present day. The status of ...

(1978–81) and was

Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories The Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT) is a unit in the Israeli Ministry of Defense that engages in coordinating civilian issues between the Government of Israel, the Israel Defense Forces, international organizati ...

from 1983 until 1984. He completed his military service with the rank of

Brigadier General Brigadier general or Brigade general is a military rank used in many countries. It is the lowest ranking general officer in some countries. The rank is usually above a colonel, and below a major general or divisional general. When appointed ...

Political career

After retiring from the army, Ben-Eliezer was briefly a member of the Tami Party, a grouping of Israeli Jews of "Mizrahi" or Middle Eastern origin. Ben-Eliezer was first elected to the

1984 Events January * January 1 – The Bornean Sultanate of Brunei gains full independence from the United Kingdom, having become a British protectorate in 1888. * January 7 – Brunei becomes the sixth member of the Association of Southeas ...

on the Yahad list, which merged into the Alignment during his first term. He was re-elected in

1988 File:1988 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The oil platform Piper Alpha explodes and collapses in the North Sea, killing 165 workers; The USS Vincennes (CG-49) mistakenly shoots down Iran Air Flight 655; Australia celebrates its Bicenten ...

and 1992, by which time the Alignment had become the Labor Party. In July 1992 he was appointed Minister of Housing and Construction in

Yitzhak Rabin Yitzhak Rabin (; he, יִצְחָק רַבִּין, ; 1 March 1922 – 4 November 1995) was an Israeli politician, statesman and general. He was the fifth Prime Minister of Israel, serving two terms in office, 1974–77, and from 1992 until h ...

's government. He retained his seat in the 1996 elections, but lost his place in the cabinet as Labor went into opposition. Following Ehud Barak's victory in the 1999 Prime Minister election, Ben-Eliezer returned to the cabinet as Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Communications. From October 2000 to 3 March 2001, he also served as Minister of Housing and Construction. After Ariel Sharon's victory in the special election for Prime Minister in 2001, Ben-Eliezer was appointed Minister of Defense in the national unity government, and served as Labor Party leader following Barak's resignation until

Amram Mitzna Amram Mitzna ( he, עמרם מצנע, born 20 February 1945) is an Israeli politician and former general in the IDF. He is a former mayor of Haifa (1993–2003) and Yeruham (2005–2010) and led the Labor Party from 2002 to 2003. In 2012 he joine ...

was elected in 2002. He left the post on 2 October 2002 when Labor withdrew from the coalition. Re-elected again in 2003, Ben-Eliezer served as Minister of National Infrastructure from 10 January 2005 until 23 November, when Labor left the government. In the Labor Party leadership election on 9 November 2005, he came third with 16.8% of the vote, behind

Amir Peretz Amir Peretz ( he, עָמִיר פֶּרֶץ; born on 9 March 1952) is an Israeli politician who served as a member of the Knesset for the Labor Party. A Knesset member almost continuously from 1988 to 2021, he has served as Minister of Defen ...

and Shimon Peres. He retained his seat again in the

2006 elections The following elections occurred in the year 2006. * Elections in 2006 * Electoral calendar 2006 * 2006 Acehnese regional election * 2006 American Samoan legislative election * 2006 Bahraini parliamentary election * 2006 Costa Rican president ...

, and was appointed Minister of National Infrastructure in Ehud Olmert's government. In March 2007, Ben-Eliezer was forced to cancel a trip to

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Medit ...

after being warned by Egyptian intelligence that he could be arrested, when Egyptian media and opposition implicated him in the 'massacre' of 250 Egyptian POWs during the Six-Day War following an Israeli documentary. However, the allegations are disputed by both Binyamin Ben-Eliezer and the documentary film-maker Ran Edelist. Placed eighth on the party's list, he was re-elected again in the 2009 elections and appointed Minister of Industry, Trade and Labour. He resigned from the cabinet after Ehud Barak left the Labor Party to establish

Independence Independence is a condition of a person, nation, country, or state in which residents and population, or some portion thereof, exercise self-government, and usually sovereignty, over its territory. The opposite of independence is the statu ...

in January 2011. He contracted

pneumonia Pneumonia is an inflammatory condition of the lung primarily affecting the small air sacs known as alveoli. Symptoms typically include some combination of productive or dry cough, chest pain, fever, and difficulty breathing. The severi ...

in March 2011 and was put into a medically

induced coma An induced comaalso known as a medically induced coma (MIC), barbiturate-induced coma, or drug-induced comais a temporary coma (a deep state of unconsciousness) brought on by a controlled dose of an anesthetic drug, often a barbiturate such as pe ...

, eventually making a full recovery. He was re-elected in the

2013 elections The following elections were occurred in the year 2013. Asia * 2013 Armenian local elections 26 May, 17 November, and 8 December 2013 * 2013 Armenian presidential election 18 February 2013 * 2013 Bangladeshi presidential election 22 April 2013 ...

, but resigned from the Knesset for health reasons in December 2014, and was replaced by

Raleb Majadele Raleb Majadele ( ar, غالب مجادلة, Levantine Arabic: ; he, ראלב מג'אדלה, ; also spelt Ghaleb Majadele, born 5 April 1953) is an Israeli Arab politician. He served as a member of the Knesset for the Labor Party in three spells ...

. Ben-Eliezer was a candidate to succeed Shimon Peres as

President of Israel The president of the State of Israel ( he, נְשִׂיא מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, Nesi Medinat Yisra'el, or he, נְשִׂיא הַמְדִינָה, Nesi HaMedina, President of the State) is the head of state of Israel. The posi ...

in 2014, but withdrew after allegations of corruption surfaced against him.

Views and opinions

Ben-Eliezer was considered a hawk on foreign policy and was one of the main architects of the invasion of Lebanon as well as a strong proponent for Operation Defensive Shield. He advocated halting peace talks with Palestinians until there was an end to violence against Israelis, although he believed once their leadership is able to put a stop to terrorism and abandon it as a political tool there should be "compromise" in final status talks with the Palestinian Authority. Ben-Eliezer warned in 2012: "So far Palestinians have kept quiet, but one day they will awake and the explosion will happen. People don't accept eingunder military rule for 50 years."

Death

On the afternoon of 28 August 2016, Binyamin died at the

Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Center Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Center ( he, המרכז הרפואי תל אביב ע"ש סוראסקי; commonly referred to as Ichilov Hospital) is the main hospital complex serving Tel Aviv, Israel and its metropolitan area and the second-largest h ...

from kidney disease.Former Israeli Defense Minister Binyamin Fuad Ben-Eliezer Dies at Age 80
/ref> He was 80 years old.

References

External links

*
Binyamin Ben-Eliezer
Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs {{DEFAULTSORT:Ben-Eliezer, Binyamin 1936 births 2016 deaths 20th-century Israeli military personnel Alignment (Israel) politicians Iraqi emigrants to Israel Iraqi Jews Israeli generals Israeli Mizrahi Jews Israeli Labor Party leaders Jewish Israeli politicians Leaders of the Opposition (Israel) Members of the 11th Knesset (1984–1988) Members of the 12th Knesset (1988–1992) Members of the 13th Knesset (1992–1996) Members of the 14th Knesset (1996–1999) Members of the 15th Knesset (1999–2003) Members of the 16th Knesset (2003–2006) Members of the 17th Knesset (2006–2009) Members of the 18th Knesset (2009–2013) Members of the 19th Knesset (2013–2015) Ministers of Communications of Israel Ministers of Defense of Israel One Israel politicians People from Basra Yahad (defunct political party) politicians