Moshe Dayan

Moshe Dayan was born in 1915 in Degania Alef

Dayan was born in 1915 in Degania Alef to Shmuel and Dvora Dayan, immigrants from Ukraine. He was named after Moshe Barsky, a Degania member killed while fetching medicine for his father. The family moved to Nahalal, the first moshav, where he attended the agricultural school.

Dayan joined the Haganah in 1930 and served in the Special Night Squads under Orde Wingate. In 1939 he was arrested for holding illegal arms and sentenced to 10 years in prison, and he was released in 1941. That year, while serving in the Palmach in Lebanon, he lost his left eye to a sniper and began wearing a black eye patch.

In the 1948 war Dayan commanded the Jordan Valley sector, where Syrian forces were stopped. He then became the first commander of the 89th Battalion and led a raid into Lod. Later in 1948 he was appointed military commander of Jerusalem.

Dayan was Chief of the General Staff from 1953 to 1958 and led the army in the 1956 Sinai War. He entered the Knesset in 1959, served as Minister of Agriculture, and helped found Rafi with David Ben-Gurion in 1965. He became Defense Minister in 1967 before the Six-Day War, was blamed for the lack of readiness in the 1973 Yom Kippur War, and resigned with Golda Meir's government in 1974.

In 1977 Dayan joined Menachem Begin's government as Foreign Minister and was expelled from the Labor Party. He took part in negotiating the peace treaty between Israel and Egypt. He died in 1981.