The past as prologue: The Galant affair
1979, Weizman in May 1980.
They were replaced by two unreconstructed hawks: Ytzhak Shamir became foreign minister in March 1980, and General (Ret.) Ariel Sharon became defense minister in June 1981.
Begin, who, between 1977 and 1980 was surrounded by pragmatists, now found himself surrounded by ultra-hawks (the moderate chief of staff, Mordechai Gur, was replaced by the hawkish Rafael Eytan in April 1978, in what Weizman later described as the biggest mistake of his public life).
Begin, himself a hawk, moved Israel to a more hawkish and militaristic course, resulting in the June 1982 invasion of Lebanon.
3. The present
The pragmatists:
- Gen. Gabi Ashkenazi (b. 1954) — IDF chief of staff, 14 February 2007 - 14 February 2011
- Gen. Benny Ganz (b. 1959) — IDF chief of staff, 14 February 2011 - present
- Gen. Gadi Eisenkot (b. 1960) — head of the Northern Command, September 2006 - present
- Gen. Amos Yadlin (b. 1951) — head of Military Intelligence, 5 January 2006 - 5 November 2010
- Yuval Diskin (b. 1956), head of Shin Bet (internal security), 5 May 2005 - 5 May 2011
- Meir Dagan (b. 1945), head of Mossad , 10 September 2002 - 6 January 2011
- Boaz Harpaz (b. 1966), served in Military Intelligence and rose to Lt. Col.; left MA under a cloud in 2004.
The hawks:
- Benjamin Netanyahu (b. 1949), prime minister, 31 March 2009 - present
- Ehud Barak (b. 1942), defense minister, 31 March 2009 - present
- Tamir Pardo (b. 1953) — head of Mossad, 6 January 2011 - present
- Gen. Yoav Galant (b. 1958), head of the Southern Command, 21 October 2005 - 21 October 2010
Israelis worry about Iran’s nuclear program, but they differ about two issues: how soon will Iran have the bomb, and what should Israel do about it.
Both hawks and pragmatists see the Iranian nuclear program as a problem for Israel, but the hawks see it as an immediate threat better dealt with militarily, while the pragmatists see the problem as emerging farther down the line, and they also believe that a combination of diplomacy, economic sanctions, and a covert campaign is a better approach than an military attack on Iran’s facilities.
The pragmatists are also more willing to make concessions to Syria and the Palestinians in order to achieve peace agreements with both.
As the list of the main actors in this drama shows, the hawkish Netanyahu and Barak were out-numbered by the pragmatists at the upper echelons of the Israeli security establishment.
Both felt, however, that time was
