Israeli Prime Ministers
Part 2
Aims:
 To learn the names and a bit about the later Israeli Prime Ministers.
 To find out about the issues surrounding their time in office.
Volume 32
Issue 16
Shabbat Mishpatim 5775
Bnei Akiva is proud to be supported by
Shalom Roshim, Sganim v’Madrichim,
Back at Shabbat Mishpatim, we learned about the first 5 Israeli Prime Ministers,
from the beginning of the State. Now, on our high following an inspiring Yom
Hazikaron and Yom Ha’atzmaut, it’s a good time to look at some others! We will
learn about the 3 most recent Prime Ministers later this term.
This choveret should NOT be a history textbook! That is why it also raises a challenge
that faced each PM during their term in office. Discuss these in your madrichim’s
meeting and with your chanichim. The message is that the State of Israel has not
been an easy ride – these leaders found themselves at the head of a young and
reborn nation, starting to rebuild an ancient civilisation surrounded by enemies. I
hope you are stimulated and excited by this topic and that it will help improve the
Israel knowledge of all Bnei Akiva svivot!
Bevirkat Chaverim l’Torah v’Avodah
Marina Spiers
Ovedet Chinuch 5775
[email protected] 0208 209 1319 ext 6
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MENACHEM BEGIN 1977-83
Before the establishment of the State, Begin was a leader of
the Irgun - a breakaway group from the mainstream defence
force of the Jewish population at the time, the Haganah.
He was the founder of the Likud party, which is now led by the
current Prime Minister, Binyamin Netanyahu! His elections as
Prime Minister ended over 30 years of Left Wing leadership.
In 1979 he and the Egyptian President, Anwar Sadat, famously
signed a peace treaty between Israel and Egypt following the
Camp David Accords. They were awarded a joint Nobel Peace Prize for this.
Begin authorised the bombing of the Osirak Iraqi nuclear facilities and the 1982
invasion of Lebanon.
Peace with an enemy nation?
The Independence (1948), Suez (1956), 6 Day (1967) and
Yom Kippur (1973) wars had all shown the hostility of
Israel’s neighbouring countries.
Israel had never had the chance to make peace with a
neighbour before – this move was completely
unprecedented. Also, the agreement included Israeli
withdrawal from the Sinai Peninsula, which was a buffer
zone between Israel and Egypt ince 1967.
Would you have taken the risk to make peace?
Younger Groups
 Actions: Tell the information of Begin’s life as a story (it’s an amazing
one!) and get the kids to do actions corresponding to certain words.
 Handshake game: chanichim stand in a circle and clasp the hands of
others. In the end it becomes a big web. See if they can unscramble
themselves without unclasping their hands. This shows that making
peace was a complicated and bold endeavour
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YITZCHAK SHAMIR 1983- 84, 1986 - 92
Before 1948, Shamir was a leader of the Lehi, or Stern Gang
– a militant group that resisted the British in Palestine,
which split from Begin’s group, the Irgun. After the State’s
establishment he served in Israel’s legendary intelligence
agency – the Mossad – from 1955 to 1965.
He belonged to the Likud party and before becoming Prime
Minister, was the Knesset speaker and Foreign Minister. In
his first term as PM, he led a national unity government between Likud and
the Alignment party, and faced significant economic problems in Israel.
During his second term, he did a lot to ensure that Jews leaving the Soviet
Union came to Israel rather than the USA, and authorised Operation Solomon
– the airlift of 14,000 Jews from Ethiopia to Israel.
Shamir was in office during the Gulf War, when Saddam
Hussein fired many Scud missiles at populated areas in Israel.
The USA and other countries took measures to protect Israel,
but the USA urged Shamir not to retaliate despite this real
threat.
What would you have done?
Younger Groups:
 Get off my land: Show Shamir’s eagerness to bring all Jews to Israel!
Older Groups:
 Show photos of operation Solomon to the Chanichim. How important do
they feel this event was in Israel’s history? How much of a priority to Israel
to they think it is to bring in more Jews?
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SHIMON PERES
1984 – 86, 1995 – 96
Peres was first elected to the Knesset in 1959 as a
member of the left-wing Mapai party. He held numerous
government positions and repeatedly challenged
Yitzchak Rabin for leadership of the about Party before
being elected as Prime Minister. His first term as PM was
part of a rotation agreement with Shamir in their
national unity government. Interestingly, Peres never
won a Knesset election outright.
Along with Yitzchak Rabin and Yasser Arafat, Peres won the Nobel Peace Prize for
negotiating the Oslo Accords, which set out a peace process between Israel and the
Palestinians.
After being defeated in the Israeli election by Binyamin
Netanyahu in 1996, elections for the leadership of the Labour
Party came around.
If you were Peres, would you have stood for re-election? Would
you have felt that you should continue to lead with your wealth
of experience, or hand over to somebody new who may be more
successful against the Right Wing parties?
Older Groups:
 Election Campaign: Peres has the longest Knesset career, but never won an
election outright! Put the chanichim into groups and make them run election
campaigns against each other, to explore how they approach leadership
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EHUD BARAK 1999-2001
Ehud Barak had a very extensive military career –
he participated in many secret missions as part of
the elite Sayeret Matkal and became the Chief of
Staff.
Barak was the leader of the Labour Party. In 2000
he withdrew Israeli troops from Southern Lebanon,
where they had been since the 1982 Lebanon war under Menachem Begin.
Famously, at the 2000 Camp David Summit, Barak offered to withdraw form 93% of
disputed territories, divide Jerusalem and offered land transfers to the Palestinians –
an unprecedented offer by Israel. Yasser Arafat rejected this.
The same reasons that many Israelis give in opposition to giving
land to Palestinians stood in the year 2000:
Religious opposition to relinquishing Eretz Yisrael, especially
Jerusalem
Serious security concerns that Israel’s borders would be
indefensible if they gave land which would then be used as a
base to attack Israel.
Was Barak’s massive offer to Arafat crazy, or a sincere attempt
to help to create a Palestinian state?
 Pleace: Everyone wants Peace. Play tweddledum/tweddledee but
instead of making each other smile they have to say how fair they will
go to share the (sweety) prize to make sure both parties are happy. Let
it go until it starts to get silly. Discuss how far they think Israel should
go in order to make peace before it gets silly.
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General stuff to educate about the Prime Ministers!
Chart: Make a chart of Israeli history but without the pictures of
the Israeli Prime Ministers. The chanichim have to find the
pictures by doing challenges and complete the chart.
Adman: with names of Israeli Prime Ministers.
Mini-Risk: Make a simplified version of this strategy game to
show the questions of when to/not to attack a country.
Treasure Match: Hide lots of facts about each Prime Minister
around the shul and the chanichim have to find them and then
match them to the correct Prime Minister. You could do this
with two teams and make it competitive.
Debate: Choose one or more of the ‘Stop’ challenging questions
above and get a debate going.
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Peulah Title:
Trigger:
Aim 1:
Aim 2:
Aim 3:
Related Activities and how
they relate:
Related Activities and how
they relate:
Related Activities and how
they relate:
What we still need to do (tziud + other preparations):
Conclusion:
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