Menachem Begin was once the most wanted man in pre-state Israel.
As commander of the Irgun, a Jewish underground militia, he led armed resistance against British rule during the Mandate years. He lived in hiding for years, changing homes, names, and appearances. He was called a terrorist by some, a freedom fighter by others. But above all, he was a patriot with unshakable purpose:
To create the Jewish state.
When Israel was founded in 1948, Begin disbanded the Irgun voluntarily, helping prevent civil war. He lost the first election… and the second… and the seventh. He spent 29 years in opposition.
Most politicians would give up. But Begin wasn’t in it for power. He was in it for principle.
And then, in 1977, against all odds, he won.
He became Prime Minister and shocked the world.
This former underground fighter, this lifelong hawk, did something almost unthinkable:
He made peace with Egypt.
He shook hands with Anwar Sadat, a man whose army had once tried to destroy Israel. He gave back the entire Sinai Peninsula for the promise of peace.
For that, he won the Nobel Peace Prize.
But Menachem Begin never forgot who he was or where he came from.
When newly minted Senator Joe Biden threatened to withhold aid in protest of Israeli military operations in Lebanon, Begin stood before the US Congress and said:
“Don’t threaten us with cutting off your aid. It will not work. I am not a Jew with trembling knees. I am a proud Jew with 3,700 years of civilized history. Nobody came to our aid when we were dying in the gas chambers and ovens. Nobody came to our aid when we were striving to create our country. We paid for it. We fought for it. We died for it. We will stand by our principles. We will defend them. And, when necessary, we will die for them again, with or without your aid.”
It was a powerful statement of Jewish dignity, forged in the fires of exile and survival.
Begin taught the world that peace is honorable, but only when it preserves your people’s safety and pride.
And sovereignty is not something granted. It’s something earned and defended.
He died with no great wealth, no statues in his name, and no vanity. But he left behind a nation that knew exactly who it was.
But Begin never sought applause. He lived modestly. Took no salary after retirement. Walked alone to synagogue every Shabbat.
When his wife Aliza died, he was heartbroken. He stepped down from office soon after, disappearing from public life. He asked to be buried not on Mount Herzl with the nation’s leaders, but in a simple grave on the Mount of Olives, next to his wife and fallen brothers from the Irgun.
Begin taught the world that a true leader is not the loudest in the room, but the one willing to change, forgive, and still stand firm in his beliefs.
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