The third person to hold the title Prime Minister of Israel was Levi Eshkol. Eshkol was born in 1985 near Kiev, Ukraine. He moved to Ottoman Palestine in 1914, and became a Knesset memeber with Mapai in 1951.
Eshkol spent had a short tenure as Minister of Agriculture followed by over a decade as Finance Minister. At Ben Gurion’s first retirement, Eshkol was elected party chair of Mapai and subsequently became Prime Minister. He was the last chair of Mapai and became chair of a new party, Allignment, when Mapai merged with the workers party in the 1960s.
Eshkol will be remembered as the Prime Minister who oversaw the 1967 war, one of the greatest victories in the history of the Jewish people. He also worked to open a nation water carrier pipeline, which opened in 1964. Eshkol became close with US President Lyndon B. Johnson. This close relationship provided for the military security of Israel in the period leading up to and following thwe 1967 war.
Eshkol was also the first Prime Minister to work towards a National Unity Government, which Eshkol’s Allignment and Menachem Begin’s Herut party created in 1969. He held this post until his death in 1969. He was the first Prime Minister to pass away while holding office. He died of natural causes.
Eshkol’s namesake lives on all around Israel. Two well known namesakes are the Eshkol National Park in the Negev and the neighborhood Ramat Eshkol in Jerusalem.
This post is third in a series called Prime Ministers in History. The series covers the lives and influence of those who have held Israel’s highest office.
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