Ezer Weizman Ezer Weizman ( , 15 June 1924 - 24 April 2005 ) was the seventh President of Israel , first elected in 1993 and re - elected in 1998 . Before the presidency , Weizman was commander of the Israeli Air Force and Minister of Defense . Biography . Weizman was born in Tel Aviv in the British Mandate of Palestine as Ezer Weizmann on 15 June 1924 . His father , Yechiel , was an agronomist . He grew up in Haifa , and attended the Hebrew Reali School . He married Reuma Schwartz , sister of Ruth Dayan , wife of Moshe Dayan , and they had two children , Shaul and Michal . Weizman was a nephew of Israel ' s first president , Chaim Weizmann . He died of respiratory failure at his home in Caesarea on 24 April 2005 , at the age of 80 . He is not buried on Mt . Herzl , where Israeli presidents and prime ministers are usually interred , but alongside his son and daughter - in - law in Or Akiva . Military career . Weizman was a combat pilot . He received his training in the British Army in which he enlisted in 1942 in order to fight the Nazis . He served as a truck driver in the Western Desert campaigns in Egypt and Libya . In 1943 , he joined the British Royal Air Force ( RAF ) and attended aviation school in Rhodesia . He served with the RAF in India in early 1944 . Weizman ended his service in the RAF as a sergeant pilot . Between 1944 and 1946 , he was a member of the Irgun underground in Mandatory Palestine . Between 1946 and 1947 , he studied aeronautics in England . Weizman was a pilot for the Haganah in the 1948 Arab - Israeli War . He was the commander of the Negev Air Squadron near Nir - Am . In May 1948 , he learned to fly the Avia S - 199 at the České Budějovice air base in Czechoslovakia and participated in Israel ' s first fighter mission , a ground attack on an Egyptian column advancing toward Ad Halom near the Arab town of Isdud south of Tel Aviv . In a battle between Israeli and British RAF aircraft on 7 January 1949 , he flew one of four Israeli Spitfire fighters that attacked 19 British fighters , which were on a rescue mission in Egypt searching for four aircraft that had been destroyed in an earlier IAF attack . An RAF Hawker Tempest was shot down by the IAF , resulting in the death of the pilot . Due to a failure by ground crewmen , most of the RAF aircraft were not armed . After the establishment of the State of Israel , Weizman joined the Israel Defense Forces and served as the Chief of Operations on the General Staff . In 1951 he attended the RAF Staff College , Andover in England . Upon his return he became commander of Ramat David . He served as the commander of the Israeli Air Force between 1958 to 1966 , and later served as deputy Chief of the General Staff . He directed the early morning surprise air attacks against the Egyptian air bases , which resulted in giving the Israelis total air superiority over the Sinai battlefields by totally destroying the Egyptian Air Force in 3 hours . A total of 400 enemy planes were destroyed by the Israeli Air Force on the 1st day of the 6 Day War . Although he became the IDF ' s Deputy Chief of Staff in 1966 , he retired from military service in 1969 . Political career . Upon retiring from the military , Weizman joined the right - wing Gahal party . He served as Minister of Transportation in Levi Eshkol ' s national unity government until Gahal left the coalition in 1970 . Weizman quit Gahal in 1972 , but returned in 1976 , by which time it had become Likud . In 1977 , he became Defense Minister under Menachem Begin . During his term , Israel launched the Litani Operation against the PLO in south Lebanon and developed the IAI Lavi fighter . Over time , Weizman ' s views became more dovish . After the visit to Jerusalem of Egypt ' s president Anwar Sadat in 1977 , Weizman developed a close friendship with him . These relations were a crucial factor in the talks that culminated in the 1978 Camp David accords , followed by a peace treaty with Egypt the following year . In May 1980 , Weizman quit the government . He considered establishing a new party with Moshe Dayan , which led to his ousting from Likud . For the next four years , he put politics on hold and entered the business world . In 1984 , he established a new party , Yahad , which won 3 seats in the 1984 elections . The party joined a national unity government in which Shimon Peres and Yitzhak Shamir served as prime ministers in rotation . In October 1986 , Yachad merged with the Alignment , after Mapam and Yossi Sarid left . Between 1984 and 1990 , Weizman was Minister for Arab Affairs and then Minister of Science and Technology . In 1992 , the Alignment became the Israeli Labor Party . Presidency . On 24 March 1993 , the Knesset elected Weizman , by a majority of 66 to 53 ( against Dov Shilansky , the Likud candidate ) , to serve as the next President of Israel . He assumed office as President on 13 May 1993 . In 1996 , in an attempt to promote the peace process , Weizman invited Yasser Arafat for a private visit to his home in Caesarea . In 1999 , he met with the DFLP leader Nayef Hawatmeh , declaring " I am even prepared to meet with the devil if it helps [ to bring peace ] . " He openly supported withdrawal from the Golan Heights in exchange for peace with Syria , drawing criticism from the right wing parties . At the end of 1999 , newspapers published allegations that Weizman had accepted large sums of money from businessmen before becoming president , without reporting this to the proper authorities . Since the statute of limitations had expired Weizman was not prosecuted , but the controversy compelled him to resign . Weizman ' s resignation took effect on 13 July 2000 . Honours and awards . In 2005 , he was voted the 9th - greatest Israeli of all time , in a poll by the Israeli news website " Ynet " to determine whom the general public considered the 200 Greatest Israelis .