Yitzhak Shamir — underground leader, spymaster, parliamentarian and the seventh Prime Minister of the State of Israel – died yesterday. The following description of his life is an edited excerpt from the website of the Israeli Foreign Ministry:
He was born Yizhak Yzernitzky in Ruzinoy, Poland in 1915. He attended Bialystok Hebrew secondary school and at age 14 joined Vladimir Jabotinsky’s Betar youth movement. In 1935 he left Warsaw, where he was studying law, moved to Palestine and enrolled at the Hebrew University.
In 1937, opposing the mainstream Zionist policy of restraint vis-à-vis the British Mandatory administration, Shamir joined the Irgun Tzeva'i Le'umi (Etzel) — the Revisionist underground organization — and in 1940 became a member of the small, but more militant, faction led by Avraham Stern, the Lehi (Lohamei Herut Israel — Fighters for the Freedom of Israel), that broke away from the larger body. There, as part of the leadership troika, he coordinated organizational and operational activities.
Twice arrested by the British — during and after World War II — Shamir escaped both times, the second time in 1947 from the British prison camp in Eritrea to neighboring French Djibouti. Granted political asylum in France, he returned to Palestine in 1948 and resumed command of the Lehi until it was disbanded following the establishment of the State of Israel.
Shamir joined Israel's security services in the mid-1950s and held senior positions in the Mossad. He returned to private commercial activity in the mid-1960s and became involved in the struggle to free Soviet Jewry. In 1970 he joined Menachem Begin's opposition Herut party and became a member of its Executive. In 1973 he was elected a Member of Knesset for the Likud party — a position he held for the next 23 years. Shamir served as Minister of Foreign Affairs between 1980 and 1983. Following the resignation of Menachem Begin in October 1983, Yitzhak Shamir became Prime Minister.
Here are the final two paragraph of a February 16, 1984 address by Prime Minister Shamir to the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations:
Sometimes when we are caught up in the problems of the day and weighted down by burdens and anxieties, we should pause and reflect on the great transformation that has taken place in our own lifetimes. Perhaps our greatest source of faith in the future is the knowledge that we have a wonderful and dedicated young generation that is ready and willing to defend the State and to develop it; that is capable of taking the helm in the constant striving to make Israel strong, secure and successful.
We are after all an ancient people with a rich experience both in our own land and in the
dispersion. In the course of our long history, we have experienced Jewish sovereignty over many hundreds of years and its destruction, once and twice. We have behind us an impressive record of achievements, and some blunders as well. This immense wealth of experience provides us with an exceptional guide in our inevitable march toward realizing the age-old Jewish dream of securing the permanent existence of the third Jewish commonwealth. We will continue to build it and strengthen it with confidence, tenacity and wisdom.