1. Overview
Ehud Barak (אֵהוּד בָּרָקeˈhud baˈʁakHebrew), born Ehud Brog on February 12, 1942, is an Israeli former general and politician who served as the tenth Prime Minister of Israel from 1999 to 2001. His career spans 35 years in the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), culminating in his appointment as Chief of the General Staff, and significant roles in Israeli politics, including Minister of Defense and leader of the Labor Party. Barak is recognized as one of the most decorated soldiers in Israeli history, having led numerous elite special operations. His political tenure as prime minister was marked by efforts to advance peace negotiations with the Palestinians and the withdrawal of Israeli forces from Southern Lebanon, alongside facing domestic challenges and controversies. After a period in business, he returned to politics, serving again as Defense Minister before a temporary retirement and later attempts to re-enter the Knesset.
2. Early Life and Family
Ehud Barak's formative years were shaped by his upbringing on a kibbutz and a family history deeply affected by the Holocaust, which instilled in him a strong sense of purpose. His educational pursuits led him to advanced degrees in scientific and engineering fields.
2.1. Birth and Family Background
Ehud Barak was born Ehud Brog on February 12, 1942, in Mishmar HaSharon, a kibbutz in what was then Mandatory Palestine. He is the eldest of four sons born to Esther (née Godin; June 25, 1914 - August 12, 2013) and Yisrael Mendel Brog (August 24, 1910 - February 8, 2002). His paternal grandparents, Frieda and Reuven Brog, were murdered in Pušalotas (Pushelat) in northern Lithuania in 1912, leaving his father orphaned at the age of two. His maternal grandparents, Elka and Shmuel Godin, perished at the Treblinka extermination camp during the Holocaust.
2.2. Education
Barak pursued a rigorous academic path alongside his military service. He earned his bachelor's degree in physics and mathematics from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem in 1968. He continued his studies in the United States, obtaining a master's degree in engineering-economic systems from Stanford University in Palo Alto, California, in 1978.
2.3. Name Change
In 1972, during his military service, Ehud Brog hebraized his family name to "Barak." The name "Barak" (ברקHebrew) means "lightning" or "to shine" in Hebrew. This change was made as he joined the military, symbolizing a new chapter in his life dedicated to Israel's defense.
3. Military Career
Ehud Barak's military career in the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) spanned 35 years, from his enlistment in 1959 to his retirement as Chief of the General Staff in 1995. He rose through the ranks, leading elite units and critical operations, and playing a pivotal role in intelligence and strategic planning.
3.1. Service and Rank
Barak joined the IDF in 1959. He served for 35 years, achieving the rank of Rav Aluf (Lieutenant-General), the highest rank in the Israeli military, and ultimately becoming Chief of the General Staff. He was a commando in the elite Sayeret Matkal, an Israeli special forces unit.
3.2. Key Military Operations
Barak's military tenure is noted for his leadership in several highly acclaimed and covert operations. In 1972, he led "Operation Isotope", the mission to free hostages on board the hijacked Sabena Flight 571 at Lod Airport. In 1973, he participated in the covert Beirut raid (known as Operation Spring of Youth), where he was famously disguised as a woman to assassinate members of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO). He was also a key architect of the June 1976 Entebbe raid, a rescue mission to free hostages from an Air France aircraft hijacked by terrorists and forced to land at Entebbe Airport in Uganda. These operations, along with Operation Bayonet, contributed to the dismantling of the Palestinian terrorist group Black September. It has also been alluded that Barak masterminded the Tunis Raid on April 16, 1988, which resulted in the killing of PLO leader Abu Jihad.
During the Yom Kippur War, Barak commanded an improvised regiment of tanks that helped rescue paratrooper battalion 890, led by Yitzhak Mordechai, which was suffering heavy losses in the Battle of the Chinese Farm. He went on to command the 401st armored brigade, the 611th "Pillar of Fire" division, and the 252nd "Sinai" division. He also participated in the Siege of Beirut, overseeing it from Beirut International Airport.
3.3. Intelligence and Planning Roles
Beyond his combat roles, Barak held significant positions in intelligence and planning within the IDF. He served as head of Aman, the Military Intelligence Directorate, from 1983 to 1985. Following this, he commanded Central Command from 1986 to 1987 and served as Deputy Chief of the General Staff from 1987 to 1991. He was also appointed to head the IDF's Planning Directorate.
3.4. Chief of the General Staff
Barak served as Chief of the General Staff from April 1, 1991, to January 1, 1995. During his tenure, he was instrumental in implementing the first Oslo Accords and actively participated in the negotiations that led to the Israel-Jordan peace treaty.
3.5. Awards and Decorations
Ehud Barak is one of the most decorated soldiers in Israeli history, sharing this distinction with his close friend Nechemya Cohen. He was awarded the Medal of Distinguished Service and four Chief of Staff citations (Tzalash HaRamatkal) for his exceptional courage and operational excellence. These five decorations signify his distinguished service. In 1992, he received the Legion of Merit (Commander) from the United States. He was again honored by the United States in 2012 with the Department of Defense Medal for Distinguished Public Service.
His military decorations include:
- Chief of Staff Citation
- Chief of Staff Citation
- Chief of Staff Citation
- Chief of Staff Citation
- Six-Day War Ribbon
- War of Attrition Ribbon
- Yom Kippur War Ribbon
- First Lebanon War Ribbon
- Medal of Distinguished Service
- Commander of the Legion of Merit
4. Political Career
Ehud Barak's transition from a highly decorated military leader to a prominent political figure marked a new chapter in his career, leading him to ministerial roles, party leadership, and ultimately the premiership of Israel.
4.1. Entry into Politics
Barak's political career began on July 7, 1995, when he was appointed Minister of Internal Affairs by Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin. Following Rabin's assassination in November 1995, he served as Minister of Foreign Affairs in Shimon Peres' government from 1995 to 1996. He was elected to the Knesset on the Labor Party list in the 1996 elections and served as a member of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee.
4.2. Leadership of the Labor Party
Following internal elections after Peres' defeat in the 1996 prime ministerial election, Barak became the leader of the Labor Party. He led the party into the 1999 elections and later regained its leadership in 2007.
4.3. Prime Minister of Israel (1999-2001)
In the 1999 Prime Ministerial election, Barak decisively defeated Benjamin Netanyahu. However, his decision to form a coalition with the ultra-Orthodox party Shas, which had won an unprecedented 17 seats in the 120-seat Knesset, sparked controversy. Shas reluctantly agreed to Barak's terms, which included ejecting their leader Aryeh Deri, a convicted felon, and enacting reforms to address in-party corruption. Consequently, the left-wing Meretz party withdrew from the coalition after failing to agree on the powers to be granted to a Shas deputy minister in the Ministry of Education.
4.3.1. Peace Negotiations and Diplomacy
Barak's premiership was marked by significant diplomatic initiatives aimed at resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. In 1999, he promised to end Israel's 22-year occupation of Southern Lebanon within a year. On May 24, 2000, Israel withdrew from Southern Lebanon. On October 7, three Israeli soldiers were killed in a border raid by Hezbollah and their bodies were subsequently captured. These soldiers' bodies, along with the living Elhanan Tenenbaum, were eventually exchanged for Lebanese captives in 2004.
The Barak government resumed peace negotiations with the PLO. Barak stated that "Every attempt [by the State of Israel] to keep hold of this area [the West Bank and Gaza]] as one political entity leads, necessarily, to either a nondemocratic or a non-Jewish state. Because if the Palestinians vote, then it is a binational state, and if they don't vote it is an apartheid state." As part of these negotiations, Barak participated in the 2000 Camp David Summit with Yasser Arafat and US President Bill Clinton, which aimed to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict but ultimately failed. Barak and Clinton blamed Arafat for the failure, with Barak stating he had exposed "Arafat's true intentions." This led to criticism from Israeli left-wing politicians who argued that Barak had undermined the Israeli peace movement by portraying Arafat as a "peace rejecter." Barak also allowed Foreign Minister Shlomo Ben-Ami to attend the Taba Summit with the leadership of the Palestinian Authority after his government had fallen.
4.3.2. Domestic Issues and Policies
Domestically, Barak's government addressed several key issues. On August 22, 1999, Barak appointed the Tal committee to deal with the controversial issue of ultra-Orthodox Jews' exemption from military service. Following the failure of the Camp David summit in the summer of 2000, and after Israel's withdrawal from southern Lebanon, the weeks-long riots in October 2000 led to the killing of twelve Israeli Arabs and one Palestinian by Israel Police, and one Jewish civilian by Israeli Arabs. During the 1999-2000 period, Israel experienced high GDP growth compared to its previous economic state and international standards.
4.3.3. Resignation and Election Defeat
In 2001, Barak called a special election for Prime Minister. In the contest, he was defeated by Likud leader Ariel Sharon by a wide margin. Following this defeat, Barak resigned as Labor leader and from the Knesset.
4.4. Post-Premiership Activities
After his defeat in the 2001 election, Barak temporarily left politics and engaged in international business and advisory roles. He worked as a senior advisor with the United States-based Electronic Data Systems and partnered with a private equity company focused on "security-related" work. In 2005, after a failed attempt to regain leadership of the Labor Party, Barak became a partner of the investment company SCP Private Equity Partners in Pennsylvania. He also established a company called "Ehud Barak Limited," which is reported to have earned over 30.00 M ILS. In an interview in January 2015, Barak stated he earned over 1.00 M USD annually from 2001 to 2007, and currently earns over 1.00 M USD a year from lectures and consulting for hedge funds. He also made millions from investments in Israeli real estate. When asked about his net worth, he indicated it was "not far from" 10.00 M USD to 15.00 M USD. He denied earning money from "opening doors" for international business deals, despite meeting with heads of state like Nursultan Nazarbayev of Kazakhstan and the president of Ghana, stating he saw no ethical or moral problems in his business activities.
4.5. Return to Politics
Barak announced his return to Israeli politics in 2005, attempting to regain leadership of the Labor Party in November. However, due to weak poll showings, he withdrew early and declared support for Shimon Peres. After Peres lost to Amir Peretz and left the Labor Party, Barak decided to remain in the party despite his shaky relationship with the new leader. He chose not to run for a spot on the Labor Party's Knesset list for the March 2006 elections.
4.5.1. Defense Minister (2007-2013)
In January 2007, Barak launched a bid to recapture the leadership of the Labor Party, acknowledging "mistakes" and "inexperience" during his tenure as Prime Minister. Polls in early March 2007 showed him ahead of other opponents, including Peretz. In the first round of voting on May 28, 2007, he secured 39% of the votes, leading his rivals but not enough for an outright win. He faced a runoff against Ami Ayalon on June 12, 2007, which he won by a narrow margin.
After winning back the Labor Party leadership, Barak was sworn in as Minister of Defense on June 18, 2007, as part of Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's cabinet reshuffle. On July 1, 2007, Barak successfully led an effort in the Labor Party central committee to stipulate that Labor would leave the government coalition if Olmert did not resign by September or October 2007, pending the final report of the Winograd Commission on the 2006 Lebanon War.
From December 2008 to January 2009, Barak, as Minister of Defense, led the Israel Defense Forces through Operation Cast Lead. In the 2009 elections, Labor secured only 13 out of 120 Knesset seats, making them the fourth-largest party. Initially, Barak and other Labor officials stated they would not join the next government. However, despite objections from some within the party, Barak reached an agreement in March 2009 for Labor to join the governing coalition led by Benjamin Netanyahu, allowing Barak to retain his position as Defense Minister.
4.5.2. Later Political Activities
In January 2011, Barak, still Labor Party leader, formed a breakaway party called Independence. This move allowed him to maintain his loyal Labor Knesset faction within Netanyahu's government, preventing the Labor Party as a whole from departing the coalition, which they had previously threatened to do. After Barak's move, Netanyahu's coalition maintained a majority of 66 Knesset members out of 120.
In February 2011, Barak attended a ceremony at the UN for the International Day of Commemoration in memory of the victims of the Holocaust. He told the UN General Assembly that "an independent, strong, thriving and peaceful State of Israel is the vengeance of the dead."
Barak's Independence party was slated to run in the legislative election, but he decided against it in 2012, announcing his retirement from politics. He had planned to retire since Operation Pillar of Defense but postponed it until later that year.
On June 26, 2019, Barak announced his return to politics and his intention to form a new party named the Israel Democratic Party, aiming to challenge Netanyahu in the September 2019 Israeli legislative election. The party allied with Meretz and other parties to form the Democratic Union alliance, which secured five seats. However, Barak himself did not win a seat in the Knesset.
5. Ideology and Political Stance
Ehud Barak's political philosophy is characterized by a complex approach to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, combining a willingness for peace negotiations with firm stances on security and a critical view of religious extremism.
5.1. Views on Peace and Social Issues
Barak is generally considered a politician who holds a relatively moderate stance on peace with Palestine. He has expressed views on ending the occupation of East Jerusalem, which has been under Israeli control since the Six-Day War. During his 2000 meeting with Yasser Arafat at Camp David, he accepted the "Clinton Parameters," which proposed recognizing a Palestinian state encompassing 97% of the West Bank and all of the Gaza Strip, in addition to parts of East Jerusalem (including Christian and Islamic holy sites). However, Arafat's ambiguous response led to the failure of these talks.
While advocating for peace, Barak also oversaw the expansion of Jewish settlements in areas like Giloh in East Jerusalem, which is considered a violation of international law. In November 2009, as Defense Minister, Barak temporarily froze settlement construction in the West Bank, a decision that drew threats from far-right and Kahanist groups who believe the West Bank is "God-given land." He has also been critical of what he perceives as racist sentiments expressed by some Israeli rabbis and rebbetzins, viewing such statements as a threat to Israeli unity and potentially leading Israeli society into a "dark and dangerous place."
5.2. Controversial Statements
Barak has made several controversial public remarks throughout his career. In November 2011, during a PBS interview, discussing the escalating Iranian nuclear issue, he stated that if he were Iranian, he would "probably" strive for nuclear weapons. He added, "I don't delude myself that they are doing it just because of Israel. They have 4,000 years of history. Look around, they have nuclear weapons in India, nuclear weapons in China, nuclear weapons in Pakistan. And, reportedly, Israel has it." This comment was seen as an implicit acknowledgment of Israel's nuclear capability. This statement drew criticism and was compared to a 1998 television interview where Barak said that if he were a Palestinian, he would "probably have joined one of the terror organizations."
6. Personal Life
Ehud Barak's personal life includes his marriages, children, and a range of personal interests that reflect his intellectual and cultural pursuits.
Barak met his first wife, Nava (née Cohen, born April 8, 1947, in Tiberias), during his military service. They had three daughters: Michal (born August 9, 1970), Yael (born October 23, 1974), and Anat (born October 16, 1981). He also has grandchildren. Barak divorced Nava in August 2003. On July 30, 2007, Barak married Nili Priel (born April 25, 1944) in a small ceremony at his private residence. In his spare time, Barak enjoys reading works by writers such as Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. He is also an accomplished classical pianist, having studied for many years. Additionally, Barak is an expert in Krav Maga, the official self-defense system of the Israel Defense Forces.
7. Financial Assets and Business Ventures
After leaving the prime ministership in 2001, Ehud Barak engaged in various business ventures and advisory roles, accumulating significant financial assets. From 2001 to 2007, he earned over 1.00 M USD annually from giving lectures and consulting for hedge funds. He continues to earn over 1.00 M USD a year from similar activities. Barak also made millions of dollars from his investments in Israeli real estate properties. His net worth is estimated to be between 10.00 M USD and 15.00 M USD.
When questioned about whether he acts as a lobbyist who earns a living by "opening doors" for business, citing his meetings with leaders like Nursultan Nazarbayev of Kazakhstan and the president of Ghana, Barak confirmed these meetings but denied earning money from facilitating international business deals for Israeli and foreign corporations. He stated that he sees no ethical or moral problems in his business activities, arguing that after the "natural process in democracy has ended," there is no logic in demanding that he not utilize the tools accumulated in his career to secure his financial future.
8. Assessment and Controversies
Ehud Barak's long and impactful career has drawn both significant praise for his contributions to Israel's security and political landscape, as well as considerable criticism and controversy regarding his decisions and actions.
8.1. Positive Assessments
Barak is widely regarded as one of Israel's most distinguished military figures. His leadership in elite special operations, such as Operation Isotope, Operation Spring of Youth, and the Entebbe raid, earned him the Medal of Distinguished Service and four Chief of Staff citations, making him the most decorated soldier in Israeli history. His strategic acumen and bravery in combat are frequently highlighted. As Chief of General Staff, he was instrumental in implementing the Oslo Accords and negotiating the Israel-Jordan peace treaty, demonstrating a commitment to regional stability.
8.2. Criticisms and Controversies
Despite his achievements, Barak's career has been subject to numerous criticisms and controversies. His decision to form a coalition with the ultra-Orthodox Shas party after the 1999 election, leading to the departure of the left-wing Meretz party, was contentious. His handling of the 2000 Camp David Summit and its subsequent failure to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict drew significant criticism, particularly his blaming of Yasser Arafat, which some argued undermined the peace process. The October 2000 events, which resulted in the deaths of twelve Israeli Arabs and one Palestinian by Israel Police, and one Jewish civilian by Israeli Arabs, further damaged his public image and contributed to his loss in the 2001 election.
His public statements, such as his remarks on Iran's nuclear program and his past comment about joining terror organizations if he were Palestinian, have also generated controversy. More recently, in 2023, it was revealed that Barak had visited Jeffrey Epstein approximately 30 times between 2013 and 2017 and had flown on Epstein's private jet, having first met Epstein in 2003. Barak has denied any wrongdoing in connection with these visits.