Lt. Gen. Ehud Barak (1991-1995)

“Until the wolf shall lay with lamb, we’d better be the wolves.”

–Ehud Barak

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He was born on February 12, 1942 in Kibbutz Mishmar Hasharon in pre-state Israel.

Ehud Barak was drafted into the IDF in 1959 and soon after was recruited to the elite Sayeret Matkal commando unit.

After accomplishing the officers course with distinction, he became amongst other commands, the commander of Sayeret Matkal. While he held this position he took part in various known operations such as “Operation Isotope”, in which they had to free hostages on the hijacked Sabena Flight 571. Barak is also famous for the Operation Spring of Youth, in which he dressed up as a woman in order to complete his mission. Also in Operation Entebbe he was one of the key commanders.

He became the commander of the 401st armored corps and served in other similar command positions until he became the head of the planning directorate and later the head of the Intelligence Directorate and the Central Command.

In 1991 he became the General Chief of Staff of the IDF and served in this position until 1995.

Ehud Barak is one of the most decorated soldiers in the Israel Defense Forces. He was awarded with the Medal of Distinguished Service and four Chief of Staff citations. In addition he was awarded with two other decorations from the US, the Legion of Merit and the Department of Defense Medal for Distinguished Public Service.

After he finished his term, Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin appointed him as Interior Minister. Less than half a year later, after Rabin’s assassination and a new formation of the government, he became the Israel's Foreign Minister. After a few years as head of the Labor Party he became Prime Minister from 1999 until 2001. He later served as Minister of Defense from 2007 to 2013.