Menachem Begin, former commander of the militant Irgun, founded the right-wing Likud party and became Prime Minister in 1977. Despite his hawkish reputation, he engaged in groundbreaking diplomacy, signing the 1978 Camp David Accords with Egyptian President Anwar Sadat under US mediation. This led to the 1979 Egypt-Israel Peace Treaty, yielding the Sinai Peninsula for peace and earning him the Nobel Peace Prize. However, Begin maintained a stern defense posture, authorizing the 1981 bombing of Iraq's nuclear reactor and launching the 1982 invasion of Lebanon before resigning in 1983.
Timeline
Category
Element
Year
Menachem Begin
1913
Birth of Menachem Begin (Period: August 16, 1913, Location: Brest, present-day Belarus)
1914
World War I (Period: 1914–1918 (Childhood), Location: Around Brest-Litovsk, Eastern Europe)
1929
Joining the Betar Movement (Age: 15 years old, Period: Circa 1929, Location: Poland, Brest-Litovsk)
1939
World War II (Age: 25 years old, Period: 1939–1945, Location: Poland, Lithuania, Soviet Union, Palestine, etc.)
Marriage (Menachem Begin, Aliza Arnold, Age: 25 years old, Period: May 29, 1939, Location: Truskavets (then Poland, now Ukraine))
1940
Arrest and Detention by Soviet Authorities (Age: 26 years old, Period: 1940–1941, Location: Vilnius, Soviet Labor Camps)
1943
Appointment as Commander of Irgun (Menachem Begin, Age: 29 years old, Period: 1943, Location: Palestine)
1944
Jewish Armed Resistance in Mandatory Palestine / Israeli War of Independence (Age: 30 years old, Period: 1944–1948, Location: Mandatory Palestine (Jerusalem, Acre, Tel Aviv, etc.))
1946
King David Hotel Bombing (Age: 32 years old, Period: July 22, 1946, Location: Jerusalem, King David Hotel)
1947
Acre Prison Breach (Age: 33 years old, Period: May 4, 1947, Location: Acre (now Northern Israel))
1948
Founding of Herut Party (Age: 34 years old, Period: 1948, Location: Israel)
1973
Formation of Likud and Appointment as Prime Minister (Menachem Begin, Age: 59 years old, Period: 1973–1977, Location: Israel)
1981
Operation Opera (Bombing of the Osirak Reactor, Age: 67 years old, Period: June 7, 1981, Location: Tammuz (Osirak) Reactor near Baghdad, Iraq)
1982
First Lebanon War (Age: 68 years old, Period: 1982–1983 (During Premiership), Location: Southern Lebanon, Beirut area)
1983
Resignation as Prime Minister (Menachem Begin, Age: 70 years old, Period: September 1983, Location: Israel)
1992
Death of Menachem Begin (Age: 78 years old, Period: March 9, 1992, Location: Tel Aviv, Israel)
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