Moshe Arens (; 27 December 1925 – 7 January 2019) was an Israeli aeronautical engineer, researcher, diplomat, and

Likud Likud (, ), officially known as Likud – National Liberal Movement (), is a major Right-wing politics, right-wing, political party in Israel. It was founded in 1973 by Menachem Begin and Ariel Sharon in an alliance with several right-wing par ...

politician. A member of the

Knesset The Knesset ( , ) is the Unicameralism, unicameral legislature of Israel. The Knesset passes all laws, elects the President of Israel, president and Prime Minister of Israel, prime minister, approves the Cabinet of Israel, cabinet, and supe ...

between 1973 and 1992 and again from 1999 until 2003, he served as Minister of Defense three times and once as

Minister of Foreign Affairs In many countries, the ministry of foreign affairs (abbreviated as MFA or MOFA) is the highest government department exclusively or primarily responsible for the state's foreign policy and foreign relations, relations, diplomacy, bilateralism, ...

. Arens also served as the Israeli ambassador to the U.S. and was a professor at the Technion in

Haifa Haifa ( ; , ; ) is the List of cities in Israel, third-largest city in Israel—after Jerusalem and Tel Aviv—with a population of in . The city of Haifa forms part of the Haifa metropolitan area, the third-most populous metropolitan area i ...

Early life and education

Arens was born in

Kaunas Kaunas (; ) is the second-largest city in Lithuania after Vilnius, the fourth largest List of cities in the Baltic states by population, city in the Baltic States and an important centre of Lithuanian economic, academic, and cultural life. Kaun ...

, Lithuania, to a

Jewish Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...

family. His father was an industrialist and his mother was a dentist. When he was a year old, his family moved to

Riga Riga ( ) is the capital, Primate city, primate, and List of cities and towns in Latvia, largest city of Latvia. Home to 591,882 inhabitants (as of 2025), the city accounts for a third of Latvia's total population. The population of Riga Planni ...

Latvia Latvia, officially the Republic of Latvia, is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is one of the three Baltic states, along with Estonia to the north and Lithuania to the south. It borders Russia to the east and Belarus to t ...

. 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 in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

, where Arens attended George Washington High School. Arens was a leader in the

Betar The Betar Movement (), also spelled Beitar (), is a Revisionist Zionism, Revisionist Zionist youth movement founded in 1923 in Riga, Latvia, by Ze'ev Jabotinsky, Vladimir (Ze'ev) Jabotinsky. It was one of several right-wing youth movements tha ...

youth movement, and during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

served in the

United States Army Corps of Engineers The United States Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) is the military engineering branch of the United States Army. A direct reporting unit (DRU), it has three primary mission areas: Engineer Regiment, military construction, and civil wo ...

as a

technical sergeant Technical sergeant is the name of three current and two former enlisted ranks in the United States Armed Forces, as well as in the U.S. Civil Air Patrol. Outside the United States, it is used only by the Philippine Army, Philippine Air Force, and ...

. Following the Israeli Declaration of Independence in 1948, Arens emigrated to Israel and joined the militant group Irgun. In 1951, he returned to the United States, and studied engineering at the

Massachusetts Institute of Technology The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a Private university, private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Established in 1861, MIT has played a significant role in the development of many areas of moder ...

and aeronautical engineering at the California Institute of Technology, where he was a student of Qian Xuesen. He then worked for a time in the aircraft industry.Moshe Arens: Particulars
Knesset website

Academic and research career

In 1957, Arens became professor of aeronautics at the Technion, serving in this position until 1962. After retiring from the government, he devoted himself to researching and commemorating the story of the Jewish Military Union (ŻZW), which fought alongside the better known Jewish Combat Organization (ŻOB) in the Warsaw 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. Arens was chairman of the International Board of Governors of

Ariel University Center of Samaria Ariel University (), previously a public college known as the Ariel University Center of Samaria, is an Israeli university located in the urban Israeli settlement of Ariel (city), Ariel in the West Bank. The college preceding the establishment o ...

. He was also a columnist for

Haaretz ''Haaretz'' (; originally ''Ḥadshot Haaretz'' – , , ) is an List of newspapers in Israel, Israeli newspaper. It was founded in 1918, making it the longest running newspaper currently in print in Israel. The paper is published in Hebrew lan ...

newspaper.

Political career

After 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 fought from 6 to 25 October 1973 between Israel and a coalition of Arab world, Arab states led by Egypt and S ...

, Arens entered politics and was elected to the

as a member of

in the 1973 elections. After being re-elected in

1977 Events January * January 8 – 1977 Moscow bombings, Three bombs explode in Moscow within 37 minutes, killing seven. The bombings are attributed to an Armenian separatist group. * January 10 – Mount Nyiragongo erupts in eastern Zaire (no ...

, he became chairman of the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee. He voted against the Camp David Accords and the

Egypt–Israel peace treaty The Egypt–Israel peace treaty was signed in Washington, D.C., United States, on 26 March 1979, following the 1978 Camp David Accords. The Egypt–Israel treaty was signed by Anwar Sadat, President of Egypt, and Menachem Begin, Prime Minist ...

. In 1980, Prime Minister

Menachem Begin Menachem Begin ( ''Menaḥem Begin'', ; (Polish documents, 1931–1937); ; 16 August 1913 – 9 March 1992) was an Israeli politician, founder of both Herut and Likud and the prime minister of Israel. Before the creation of the state of Isra ...

offered 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 the Sinai. He was re-elected again in re-elected again in 1981, but resigned from the Knesset on 19 January 1982 when appointed ambassador to the United States. At this point, he brought his young protégé,

Benjamin Netanyahu Benjamin Netanyahu (born 21 October 1949) is an Israeli politician who has served as the prime minister of Israel since 2022, having previously held the office from 1996 to 1999 and from 2009 to 2021. Netanyahu is the longest-serving prime min ...

, then 32, to work for him in Washington. He returned to Israel in February 1983 after being appointed Minister of Defense, replacing Ariel Sharon, who had been forced out of office following the Kahan Commission's report on the Sabra and Shatila massacre. He was re-elected in 1984, but was only appointed

Minister without Portfolio A minister without portfolio is a government minister without specific responsibility as head of a government department. The sinecure is particularly common in countries ruled by coalition governments and a cabinet with decision-making authorit ...

. After another re-election in 1988 he was appointed Minister of Foreign Affairs (with Netanyahu his deputy), and in 1990 returned to the Defense portfolio. After Likud lost the 1992 elections, Arens retired from politics. He returned in 1999, however, to challenge Netanyahu for the Likud leadership. Although he won only 18% of the vote, Netanyahu appointed him Minister of Defense, replacing Yitzhak Mordechai, who had left Likud to establish the Centre Party. Although Arens returned to the Knesset after the 1999 elections, Likud lost the elections and he left the cabinet. He lost his seat for the final time in

2003 2003 was designated by the United Nations as the International Year of Fresh water, Freshwater. In 2003, a Multi-National Force – Iraq, United States-led coalition 2003 invasion of Iraq, invaded Iraq, starting the Iraq War. Demographic ...

. Arens questioned the wisdom of Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II Israeli procurement, given the neglected state of Israeli ground forces. In an article for Fathom Journal, Arens stated that he was a critic of unilateral withdrawal from the

West Bank The West Bank is located on the western bank of the Jordan River and is the larger of the two Palestinian territories (the other being the Gaza Strip) that make up the State of Palestine. A landlocked territory near the coast of the Mediter ...

and Gaza, accusing its proponents of suffering from "unilateral withdrawal syndrome".

Personal life

While living in the United States, Arens married Muriel F. Eisenberg from

, and she moved to Israel with him. The couple had four children, two boys and two girls: Yigal, Aliza, Raanan, and Ruth. Arens died on 7 January 2019 at the age of 93. Streets in Ramla,

Herzliya Herzliya ( ; , / ) is an affluent List of Israeli cities, city in the Israeli coastal plain, central coast of Israel, at the northern part of the Tel Aviv District, known for its robust start-up and entrepreneurial culture. In it had a populatio ...

and Beit Shemesh are named after him.

Published works

*''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

In 1971, Arens won the Israel Defense Prize. In 2016, Nefesh B'Nefesh awarded him the Bonei Zion Prize.

References

External links

*
Charlie Rose – Moshe ArensMoshe Arens
Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs * {{DEFAULTSORT:Arens, Moshe 1925 births 2019 deaths 20th-century Lithuanian Jews 21st-century American Jews Academic staff of Technion – Israel Institute of Technology Ambassadors of Israel to the United States American emigrants to Israel American people of Lithuanian-Jewish descent Ariel University Betar members Bonei Zion Prize recipients California Institute of Technology alumni Diplomats from Kaunas Engineers from Kaunas George Washington Educational Campus alumni Irgun members Israel Defense Prize recipients Israeli educators Jewish Israeli politicians Israeli writers Jewish American scientists Likud politicians Lithuanian emigrants to the United States Members of the 8th Knesset (1974–1977) Members of the 9th Knesset (1977–1981) Members of the 10th Knesset (1981–1984) Members of the 11th Knesset (1984–1988) Members of the 12th Knesset (1988–1992) Members of the 15th Knesset (1999–2003) Ministers of defense of Israel Ministers of foreign affairs of Israel MIT School of Engineering alumni Moskowitz Prize for Zionism laureates United States Army Corps of Engineers personnel United States Army personnel of World War II United States Army soldiers Lithuanian Zionists Ministers without Portfolio of Israel