Moshe (Misha) Arens, a long-time politician and senior government minister, was niftar on Monday, January 7, 2019, at the age of 93. Arens, a founder of the Herut party and loyal member of Likud, was a member of the ‘old school’ of idealists that once made up the party. Arens was a student of Ze’ev Jabotinsky, the founder of the Betar movement.

Arens, an aeronautical engineer by profession served as Israel’s Minister of Defense for his Likud party during the First Gulf War, when Sadaam Hussein launched Scud Missiles into the country. In fact, Arens held the defense portfolio three times, as well as serving as Foreign Minister once, and also served once as Israeli Ambassador to Washington in 1982.

In the early 1980s, Arens was the first to recognize the skills of a young Benjamin Netanyahu, who then was running an anti-terror institute and working in marketing. Arens took Netanyahu under his wing and brought him into Israeli politics.

“There was no greater patriot. Moshe Arens’ great contribution to our people and our state will be remembered forever,” Netanyahu said in a statement.

Addressing Arens by his nickname Misha, Netanyahu concluded: “I loved you as a son loved his father.”

In 1982, he was appointed Israeli ambassador to the United States and named his young protégé Netanyahu as his deputy. The position gave Netanyahu great exposure, led to his posting as ambassador to the United Nations and launched his political career.

Arens, who was born in Lithuania, making his way to the United States, serving in the US Army Corps of Engineers. After the State of Israel was declared in 1948, he made aliya and joined the Irgun. He was sent abroad to work with Jewish communities but returns a year later and then became a founding member of the Herut party.

He returned to the USA in 1951 and studies engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the California Institute of Technology, then returning to Israel in 1957 as an aeronautical engineer, serving as a professor in Haifa’s Technion University.

He entered Knesset following the Yom Kippur War in 1973, serving in the Likud. He was opposed to the Camp David Accords and Israel’s peace agreement with Egypt, and therefore, refused to serve a defense minister under PM Menachem Begin since he opposed Begin’s peace deal. In short, he entered Knesset in 1974 and retired from political life in 1999.

Many opine his biggest achievement was developing Israel’s aircraft industries; and for him, the biggest loss was PM Yitzchak Rabin’s decision to scrap the Lavi project, Israel building of its own fighter aircraft, a decision that was the result of enormous American pressure, as Washington did not want tiny Israel competing on the international market with what many maintained was a superior fighter plane than its American counterpart.

Arens was married to former New Yorker Muriel Eisenberg and they had four children.

President Reuven Rivlin:
Misha was one of the most important leaders of the Herut movement. A man of honor who never flinched from the fight. Misha was one of the most important ministers of defense the State of Israel ever had. He was not a commander or a general, but a devoted man of learning who toiled day and night for the security of Israel and its citizens.

Misha worked his whole life in key positions to ensure Israel’s development and success – as a member of the Etzel, as a scientist and engineer, as a statesman, as an ambassador and as a manager of the most important industries for Israel’s security. His important contributions to correcting the historical record regarding the role of the Jewish Military Union (ZZW) in the Warsaw Ghetto uprising will also never be forgotten. Misha was a man of bravery, determination and unbounded love for our country. With the honor and nobility of a Betari, his internal compass and Zionist vision showed him the way in everything he did.

May his memory be a blessing

PM Netanyahu:
My wife Sara and I weep bitterly over the passing of someone we loved dearly, the late Moshe Arens.

Misha, my teacher and mentor, was an outstanding student of Ze’ev Jabotinsky. In this framework he knew my father, who was present at his wedding to his dear wife Muriel. Since then there has been an abiding bond between our families. I watched Misha do amazing things to build up the standing of the State of Israel time and again – as ambassador in Washington, Foreign Minister, Chairman of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, and Defense Minister. In recent years he dedicated himself to endlessly watching over the documentation of the full story of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, in which Betar members had a central role.

Several weeks ago, I visited Misha in his home He was lucid as always, sharp as a razor, marvelous in the splendor and nobility of his soul, an exemplar. There was no greater patriot. Moshe Arens’ great contribution to our people and our state will be remembered forever.

Rest in peace Misha; you were very dear to me.

I loved you as a son loved his father.”

(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)