Menachem Begin was born in Europe and lived through the Holocaust. After moving to Israel, then Palestine, Menachem led the Irgun in the fight for declarations of a Jewish state in Palestine through perseverance and hard work. Menachem became the sixth prime minister of the state of Israel. Menachem Begin is not only a hero because of his devotion to the Jewish state but to also because of his devotion to his religion — Judaism In the early years of his life Menachem Begin lived in Brest-Litvosk Poland.
As a young boy Menachem joined the Zionist youth movement, Betar. At the age of twenty-five Menachem became the head of the movement (Biography. com). In 1945 Menachem was imprisoned in a Siberian labor camp. Begin was released in 1943 and then joined the free polish army which sent him to Israel then Palestine. There Menachem joined the Jewish underground fighting for the established of a Jewish sate in Palestine (jewishvirtuallibrary. org). During his days as the leader of the Irgun Menachem Begin had a different approach then other Zionistic movements at the time.
After seeing the amount of death of Jews the Holocaust brought Menachem realized that the only way the Jewish nation could survive was to have their own country where they could protect themselves. He realized that through just talking to the British would not be enough to get their home country; he had to use well thought-out operations. One of his most controversial operation was the bombing of the British offices in the King David Hotel. Even though he had sent multiple warnings to the British that the bombing would occur the British did not evacuate the building and people died.
Though his efforts paid off and on May, 14 1948 the state of Israel was declared On June 6, 1967 Israel was in what is known as the six-day war fighting three separate fronts. Prime Minister Eshkol calls for an emergency meeting and the Knesset meets in Jerusalem. Prime minister Eshkol talks to Menachem about the plan for Israeli troops to move through the outer skirts of the old city then under Jordanian control begin immediately asks that they take back the temple mount a sacred place of the Jewish people Eshkol says he will think. bout. Later that night Menachem meets up with Eshkol again Eshkol proposes a plan that they might use to take the temple mount and Menachem responds “gentlemen” Begin said vehemently “The Jordanian army is all but smashed, and our army is at the city’s gates. Our soldiers are almost in sight of the Western Wall. How can we tell them not to reach it? We have in our hand a gift of history. Future generations will never forgive us if we do not seize it'” (Yehuda Avner Pg. 158).
This shows Menachem’s devotion to his religion he could not imagine a Jewish state without the Western Wall one of the biggest religious places in Judaism. This shows he is a hero because he is totally devoted to what he believes in. May 17th 1977 Menachem begin is elected as the Prime Minister of Israel. He made history by being the first right winged non socialist to win the Israeli election. One of the first things he did after the announcement was give credit to his mentor Ze’ev Jabotinsky “”Prodigies and startling were Ze’ev Jabotinsky gift”, he declared. He was decades ahead of his time, a giant Zionist warriorstatesman, a true prophet of his people, the man who led the movement for the settlement of the whole biblical Israel, who was the first to sound the alarm of the coming holocaust, and the war cry for a Jewish army to fight for freedom and a sovereign Jewish state” (Yehuda Avner Pg. 347). This is a characteristic of a hero because it shows respect for a mentor and his loyalty to his mentor.
One of begins most known operations was the bombing of the Osirak nuclear reactor in Iraq. The Osirak nuclear reactor was a nuclear reactor were Iraq was developing nuclear weapons. These weapons would be weapons of mass destruction and if Iraq developed them they would use them on The State of Israel. Begin realized that his only options for the defense of Israel was to destroy the plant before Iraq could develop the nuclear weapons. Israel developed a plan to fly two fighter jets into Iraq airspace at night and bomb the nuclear plant.
The operation was to be called operation Opera and on June 7 1981 the Osirak nuclear plant was destroyed preventing Iraq from developing nuclear weapons. This shows he is a Hero by putting himself on the line to defend the people of his country Begin new that the other countries may not agree with him but he had information something was going to happen and this was the only way to stop it. Begin is known best for the peace agreement he and president Sadat of Egypt. Menachem Begin and President Sadat would later get a noble peace prize for the efforts with the peace prize in the year 1978.
The peace between Israel and Egypt would be a lasting one but in order for it to happen Begin had to do something he was not happy about doing he had to give the Sinai Peninsula. The Sinai Peninsula was not only part of biblical Israel but was also rightfully conquered during the sixday war a war that Egypt started and defend through the Yom Kippur war. Menachem did not want to give The Sinai Peninsula to Egypt because he believed that the modern day Israel should be the same as biblical Israel (The Prime minsters).
But in order for the peace to happen Begin had to give up the Sinai Peninsula. This is a characteristic of a hero because it shows compromise and their can’t be a hero if the person cant compromise. It also shows that he did something he might not have wanted to do to protect the people of his country which is another aspect of a hero October 6 1981 president Sadat was assassinated by Muslim fanatics. Presidents Sadat’s funeral was to be on the Sabbath the holy day of the Jews were driving a car as well as other things can not be done.
Prime Minister Begin insisted on going to the funeral of his “peace partner” (Yehuda Avner Pg. 573). The Prime Minister of Israel going to Cairo was a security problem as it is but the fact that the funeral was on the Sabbath and the Prime Minister a religious Jew insisted on walking instead of driving as to not violate the Shabbos put the life of Prime Minister Begin in danger. Even after being told it was not safe to walk he insisted and walked to the funeral so he could pay his respects and not violate the Sabbath.
This shows that he was willing to put his life on the line to pay respect to his “peace partner” (Yehuda Avner Pg. 573) which is another aspect of hero. This also shows his devotion to his religion. Menachem Begin is a hero. He is a hero through his devotion to his religion. He shows attributes of being a hero in the way he defends his people. He has characteristics of a hero in the way he respects his mentor. He is a hero by giving what he wants for the defense of his country — the land of Israel.
