Moshe Dayan (20 May 1915-26 October 1981) was Chief of Staff of the Israel Defense Forces from 6 December 1953 to 29 January 1958 (succeeding Mordechai Maklef and preceding Haim Laskov) and Minister of Defense of Israel from 5 June 1967 to 3 June 1974 (succeeding Levi Eshkol and preceding Shimon Peres).
Biography[]
Born on a kibbutz (a collective agricultural settlement), Moshe Dayan joined the Haganah Jewish militia as a youth. In 1941, after the Haganah agreed to support Britain in World War II, Dayan lost an eye fighting Vichy France in Lebanon. He led the defense of the Jordan Valley at the start of the First Arab-Israeli War and earned a good reputation as a fighting commander. In 1953, Dayan was made chief-of-staff of the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF). He transformed an amateurish citizen army into a disciplined modern force. Under his command, the IDF triumphed over the Egyptians in the Sinai campaign of 1956, achieving a major victory with little cost in lives. Dayan resigned from the IDF in 1958 to enter politics. In 1967, he was made defense minister and supervised the victories of the Six-Day War, involving himself most directly in the capture of East Jerusalem. Popular in Isarel, Dayan was still defense minister when the Egyptians crossed the Suez Canal at the start of the Yom Kippur War in 1973. He was shocked by the losses the Israelis suffered in the war and blamed for complacency and lack of preparation. His career never recovered.