Prime Minister of Israel
What was the position of Yitzhak Shamir between Aug 1988 and Mar 1991?
Yitzhak Shamir Yitzhak Shamir ( , ; born Yitzhak Yezernitsky ; October 22 , 1915 – June 30 , 2012 ) was an Israeli politician and the seventh Prime Minister of Israel , serving two terms , 1983–1984 and 1986–1992 . Before the establishment of the state of Israel , Shamir was a leader of the Zionist militant group Lehi . After the establishment of the Israeli state he served in the Mossad between 1955 and 1965 and as a Knesset Member . He served as the sixth Speaker of the Knesset , and as Foreign Affairs Minister . Shamir was the countrys third-longest-serving prime minister , after David Ben-Gurion and Benjamin Netanyahu . Early and personal life . Yitzhak Yezernitsky ( later Yitzhak Shamir ) was born in the predominantly Jewish village of Ruzhany , Grodno province , Russian Empire ( now Belarus ) , which after World War I returned to Poland , as the son of Perla and Shlomo , owner of a leather factory . Those close to Shamir noted that he often recalls his childhood and youth in Belarus . Shamir later moved to Białystok , Poland , and studied at a Hebrew high school network . As a youth , he joined Betar , the Revisionist Zionist youth movement . He studied law at the University of Warsaw , but cut his studies short in order to emigrate to what was then Mandatory Palestine . Shamir once stated that every Pole sucked anti-Semitism with his mothers milk . The comment caused controversy within Poland and was condemned . His parents and two sisters died during the Holocaust . Shamir claimed his father was killed just outside his birthplace in Ruzhany by villagers who had been his childhood friends , after he had escaped from a German train transporting Jews to the death camps , though this was never confirmed . His mother and a sister died in the concentration camps , and another sister was shot dead . Shamir once told Ehud Olmert that when his father , living under Nazi occupation , had been informed that the extermination of the Jews was imminent , his father had replied that I have a son in the Land of Israel , and he will exact my revenge on them . According to an obituary , he had dreamed of living in the Land of Israel since he was a boy , and felt immediately at home when he eventually moved there . In 1935 , Shamir emigrated to Palestine , where he worked in an accountants office . He later adopted as his surname the name he used on a forged underground identity card , Shamir . He told his wife this was because Shamir means a thorn that stabs and a rock that can cut steel . In 1944 he married Shulamit , whom he met in a detention camp when she migrated to Mandate Palestine from Bulgaria by boat in 1941 and was incarcerated because she entered the territory illegally . They had two children , Yair and Gilada . Shulamit died on July 29 , 2011 . Zionist activism . Shamir joined the Irgun Zvai Leumi , a Zionist paramilitary group that opposed British control of Palestine . When the Irgun split in 1940 , Shamir joined the more militant faction Lehi , also known as the Stern Gang , headed by Avraham Stern . Shamir was imprisoned by British authorities in 1941 . A few months after Stern was killed by the British in 1942 , Shamir and Eliyahu Giladi hid under a stack of mattresses in a warehouse of the detention camp at Mazraa , and at night escaped through the barbed wire fences of the camp . Shamir , together with Giladi , Anshell Shpillman and Yehoshua Cohen , reorganized the movement into cells and trained its members . In his memoirs , Shamir admitted in 1994 what had long been suspected : that the killing of Giladi in 1943 was ordered by Shamir himself , allegedly due to Giladi advocating the assassination of David Ben-Gurion , and arguing for other violence deemed too extremist by fellow Stern members . In 1943 , he became one of the three leaders of the group , serving with Nathan Yellin-Mor and Israel Eldad . Shamir sought to emulate the anti-British struggle of the Irish Republicans and took the nickname Michael after Irish Republican leader Michael Collins . Shamir plotted the 1944 assassination of Lord Moyne , British Minister for Middle East Affairs , and personally selected Eliyahu Hakim and Eliyahu Bet-Zuri to carry it out . Moyne had been targeted due to his perceived role as an architect of British restrictions on Jewish immigration to Palestine , and in particular , the Patria disaster , which was blamed on him . In July 1946 , Shamir was arrested . He had been walking in public in disguise and a British police sergeant , T.G . Martin , recognized him by his bushy eyebrows . Arrested , he was exiled to Africa , and interned in Eritrea by British Mandatory authorities . Lehi members subsequently tracked down and killed Martin in September 1946 . On January 14 , 1947 , Shamir and four Irgun members escaped the Sembel Prison ( a British Detention Camp ) through a tunnel they had dug , 200 feet in length , and Mayer Malka of Khartoum subsequently arranged for them to be hidden in an oil truck for three days as it was driven over the border to French Somaliland . They were re-arrested by the French authorities , but Shamir with Malkas assistance , was eventually allowed passage to France and granted political asylum . Lehi sent him a forged passport , with which he entered Israel after the Israeli Declaration of Independence in 1948 . During the 1948 Arab–Israeli War , most of Lehis members joined the newly formed Israel Defense Forces . Lehi formally disbanded on May 29 , 1948 . However , the Lehi group in Jerusalem continued to function independently , outside government control . During a UN-imposed truce , Shamir , Eldad , and Yellin-Mor authorized the assassination of the United Nations representative in the Middle East , Count Folke Bernadotte , who was killed in September 1948 , when Lehi gunmen ambushed his motorcade in Jerusalem . Lehi had feared that Israel would agree to Bernadottes peace proposals , which they considered disastrous , unaware that the provisional Israeli government had already rejected a proposal by Bernadotte the day before . The Israeli provisional government drafted an ordinance for the prevention of terrorism and then invoked it to declare Lehi a terrorist organisation , consequently rounding up 200 of its members for administrative detention ( prison ) . They were granted amnesty some months later and given a state pardon . Anti-Polonism . Shamir publicly declared his animus for Poles by stating that every Pole sucked anti-Semitism with his mothers milk . Shamir contradicted his spokesman , who attempted to keep the comment off the record , and insisted that he wanted his comment publicized . The comment caused controversy within Poland as being slanderous and libelous . Furthermore , Adam Michnik addressed the comment by stating the stubborn categorization of Poland as an anti-Semitic nation was used in Europe and America as an alibi for the betrayal of Poland at Yalta . The nation so categorized was seen as unworthy of sympathy , or of help , or of compassion . Mossad . In the first years of Israels independence , Shamir managed several commercial enterprises . In 1955 , he joined the Mossad , serving until 1965 . During his Mossad career , he directed Operation Damocles , the assassinations of German rocket scientists working on the Egyptian missile programme . He ran a unit that placed agents in hostile countries , created the Mossads division for planning and served on its General Staff . Shamir resigned from the Mossad in protest over the treatment of Mossad Director-General Isser Harel , who had been compelled to resign after Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion ordered an end to Operation Damocles . Political career . In 1969 , Shamir joined the Herut party headed by Menachem Begin and was first elected to the Knesset in 1973 as a member of the Likud . He became Speaker of the Knesset in 1977 , and Foreign Minister in 1980 which he remained until 1986 , concurrently serving as prime minister from October 1983 to September 1984 after Begins resignation . Prime Minister . Shamir had a reputation as a Likud hard-liner . In 1977 he presided at the Knesset visit of Egyptian President Anwar Sadat . He abstained in the Knesset votes to approve the Camp David Accords and the Peace Treaty with Egypt . In 1981 and 1982 , as Foreign Minister , he guided negotiations with Egypt to normalize relations after the treaty . Following the 1982 Lebanon War he directed negotiations which led to the May 17 , 1983 Agreement with Lebanon , which did not materialize . His failure to stabilize Israels inflationary economy and to suggest a solution to the quagmire of Lebanon led to an indecisive election in 1984 , after which a national unity government was formed between his Likud party and the Alignment led by Shimon Peres . As part of the agreement , Peres held the post of Prime Minister until September 1986 , when Shamir took over . As he prepared to reclaim the office of prime minister , Shamirs hard-line image appeared to moderate . However Shamir remained reluctant to change the status quo in Israels relations with its Arab neighbors , and blocked Peress initiative to promote a regional peace conference as agreed in 1987 with King Hussein of Jordan in what has become known as the London Agreement . Re-elected in 1988 , Shamir and Peres formed a new coalition government until the dirty trick of 1990 , when the Alignment left the government , leaving Shamir with a narrow right-wing coalition . During this period the Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip launched the first Intifada , which was suppressed with force by the Israeli government . Shamir urged the US government to stop granting refugee visas to Soviet Jews , persuading it that they were not refugees because they already had a homeland in Israel , and were only moving to the United States for economic reasons . He also termed the emigration of Soviet Jews to the United States rather than to Israel defection , and called the issuing of US refugee visas to Soviet Jews when Israel was already willing to take them in an insult to Israel . In 1989 , a wave of Jewish emigration began from the Soviet Union after the Soviets allowed their Jewish population to emigrate freely . In October of that year , the US agreed to his requests , and stopped issuing refugee visas to Soviet emigrants . Subsequently , Israel became the main destination of Soviet Jewish emigrants . Over one million Soviet immigrants would subsequently arrive in Israel , many of whom would have likely gone to the United States had Shamir not pressed the US government to change its policy . During the Gulf War , Iraq fired Scud missiles at Israel , many of which struck population centers . Iraq hoped to provoke Israeli retaliation and thus alienate Arab members of the United States-assembled coalition against Iraq . Shamir deployed Israeli Air Force jets to patrol the northern airspace with Iraq . However , after United States and Netherlands deployed Patriot antimissile batteries to protect Israel , and US and British special forces began hunting for Scuds , Shamir responded to American calls for restraint , recalled the jets , and agreed not to retaliate . During his term , Shamir reestablished diplomatic relations between Israel and several dozen African , Asian and other countries . In May 1991 , as the Ethiopian government of Mengistu Haile Mariam was collapsing , Shamir ordered the airlifting of 14,000 Ethiopian Jews , known as Operation Solomon . He continued his efforts , begun in the late 1960s , to bring Soviet Jewish refugees to Israel . Shamir restored diplomatic relation between the Soviet Union and Israel in October 1991 , and following its dissolution , established relations between Israel and his native Belarus in May 1992 . Shamir was dedicated to bringing Jews from all over the world to Israel , and called on American Jews to emigrate to Israel in spite of a higher standard of living in the US , saying that he expected even American Jewish youth to realize that man does not live by bread alone but to learn and understand Jewish history , the Bible.. . and reach the only conclusion : to come on aliya to Israel . Relations with the US were strained in the period after the war over the Madrid peace talks , which Shamir opposed . As a result , US President George H.W . Bush was reluctant to approve loan guarantees to help absorb immigrants from the former Soviet Union . Finally Shamir gave in and in October 1991 participated in the Madrid talks . His narrow , right-wing government collapsed : the participation of Palestinians in the elections from the West Bank and Gaza , was mandated by law . New elections were necessarily called . Electoral defeat and retirement . Shamir was defeated by Yitzhak Rabins Labour in the 1992 election . He stepped down from the Likud leadership in March 1993 , but remained a member of the Knesset until the 1996 election . For some time , Shamir was a critic of his Likud successor , Benjamin Netanyahu , as being too indecisive in dealing with the Arabs . Shamir went so far as to resign from the Likud in 1998 and endorse Herut , a right-wing splinter movement led by Benny Begin , which later joined the National Union during the 1999 election . After Netanyahu was defeated , Shamir returned to the Likud fold and supported Ariel Sharon in the 2001 election . Subsequently , in his late eighties , Shamir ceased making public comments . Illness and death . In 2004 , Shamirs health declined , with the progression of his Alzheimers disease , and he was moved to a nursing home . The government turned down a request by the family to finance his stay at the facility . Shamir died on the morning of June 30 , 2012 , at a nursing home in Tel Aviv where he had spent the last few years as a result of the Alzheimers disease he had suffered since the mid-1990s . He was given a state funeral , which took place on July 2 at Mount Herzl , Jerusalem , and was buried beside his wife , Shulamit , who had died the previous year . As his body was lying in state Speaker of the Knesset Reuven Rivlin laid a wreath on his coffin and said : Shamir was buried at Mount Herzl . Reactions . Israeli President Shimon Peres said that Yitzhak Shamir was a brave warrior for Israel , before and after its inception . He was a great patriot and his enormous contribution will be forever etched in our chronicles . He was loyal to his beliefs and he served his country with the utmost dedication for decades . May he rest in peace . Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahus office issued a statement upon hearing of his death that read : [ Shamir ] led Israel with a deep loyalty to the nation . [ The Prime Minister ] expresses his deep pain over the announcement of the departure of Yitzhak Shamir . He was part of a marvelous generation which created the state of Israel and struggled for the Jewish people . This was despite previous feuds between the two once-Likud members . He was also mourned in the Knesset . Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman added that Shamir contributed greatly to the foundation of the state , which he served his entire life with loyalty and unwavering dedication . He set an example in each position that he held . I had the privilege to be personally acquainted with Shamir , and I will always remember him and his great contribution to the state ; while Defense Minister Ehud Barak said : His whole life , Shamir was as stable as granite and maintained focus without compromises . He always strived to ensure Israels freedom . His devotion knew no bounds [ and he ] always sought whats right for the people of Israel and for the countrys security . Leader of the Opposition and Labor Party head Shelly Yachimovich offered her condolences to Shamirs family saying that he was a determined prime minister who dedicated his life to the state . He followed his ideological path honestly and humbly , as a leader should . The citizens of Israel will always remember the wisdom he demonstrated during the First Gulf War . He showed restraint and saved Israel from undue entanglement in the Iraq War . This decision proved to be a brave and wise act of leadership . His daughter Gilada Diamant said : [ My father ] belonged to a different generation of leaders , people with values and beliefs . I hope that we have more people like him in the future . His political doing has undoubtedly left its mark on the State of Israel . Dad was an amazing man , a family man in the fullest sense of the word , a man who dedicated himself to the State of Israel but never forgot his family , not even for a moment . He was a special man . Awards and recognition . In 2001 , Shamir received the Israel Prize , for his lifetime achievements and special contribution to society and the State of Israel . Published works . He wrote Sikumo shel davar , a book which was published in English by Weidenfeld and Nicolson , London , as Summing Up : An autobiography ( 1994 ) .