Weizman, the nephew of Chaim Weizmann, was Israel’s seventh president from 1993 to 2000. He was a founder of the Israeli Air Force and became its commander in 1958. As defense minister in the first Likud-led government, he helped negotiate the Camp David Accords. He resigned from the Cabinet in 1980 because of Menachem Begin’s refusal to hold peace talks with Palestinians and was fired as science minister in 1990 over contacts with the PLO. He eventually launched a center-of-left political party and spent the rest of his political career advocating for peace and assisting the Israel’s Arab sector.
