Yigal Allon, 1918-1980CIE+
Allon led the Palmach and was an IDF major general who oversaw the Southern Command. He served in the Knesset from 1955 until his death. After the 1967 war, he proposed returning the West Bank…
Natan Alterman, 1910-1970CIE+
A Warsaw native who moved to Tel Aviv as a teen, Alterman was a playwright, poet, journalist and translator who influenced Labor Zionism and socialist Jewish policies despite never holding political office. He opposed martial…
Abba Eban, 1915-2002CIE+
A native of Cape Town, South Africa, who was raised in England and made aliyah in 1944, Eban was a diplomat, politician and writer. With the Jewish Agency’s U.N. delegation, he was heavily involved in…
Levi Eshkol, 1895-1969CIE+
Eshkol, Israel’s third prime minister, was a farm worker after arriving from Ukraine in 1914. He organized labor and became a Mapai and Jewish Agency leader. He raised money for arms and for immigrant absorption….
Lyndon Johnson, 1908-1973CIE+
The 36th U.S. president, Johnson increased U.S. economic and military support for Israel. Unlike Dwight Eisenhower in 1956, Johnson did not demand Israel’s immediate withdrawal from captured territory after the 1967 war. He outlined five…
Ariel Sharon, 1928-2014CIE+
Sharon led IDF commandos in the 1950s, was a field commander in 1967 and drove the Sinai counteroffensive in 1973. As defense minister, he launched the First Lebanon War, which resulted in an 18-year occupation,…
