Biography for
Moshe Dayan More at IMDbPro »

Date of Birth

20 May 1915, Kvutzat Dganya, Palestine [now Israel]

Date of Death

16 October 1981, Tel Aviv, Israel (colon cancer)

Mini Biography

Born of Ukranian Jewish immigrant parents in Palestine in 1915, Moshe Dayan joined the Haganah (Defense) the underground Jewish army in Palestine in 1929 with aimed to protect Jewish people from harassment and violence from the Muslim Palestinian population with resented Jewish presense in Palestine. In 1937 Dayan became a sergeant with the Jewish settlement police mobile unit and within a year launched raids against occupying British and local Palestinian troops. Within a year he was captured and imprisoned, but released in 1941 with an offer to join the British army in Palestine in fighting the pro-nazi Vichy French and Arab and German allies. It was during an early engagement in Lebanon that Dayan lost his left eye in combat. Dayan spent the rest of the war recovering from his wounds and slight seeing loss. In 1947 he became an officer in the Haganah for local Arab affairs and in 1948, at the start of the Israeli War for Independence, Dayan became a Colonel in the Israeli Army and saw many actions throughtout 1948. In 1952 Dayan became Chief of Operations in the Israeli army and in 1956 saw the highlight of his military career with the Sinai Campaign against Egypt (October 29-November 5) which his forces captured Sinai and the Gaza Strip. In 1958 he retired from active duty and spent time as a writer, journalist and military advisor. In 1967 Dayan became Minister of Defense for Israel which he was one of those who mastermined the decisive Six-Day War (June 5-10) against Egypt, Jordan and Syria which Israel again won the Sinai, Gaza Strip, as well as the West Bank of Jordan and the Golan Heights. Critized for the Israeli's army unreadness for the Yom Kipper War of 1973 (October 6-24) Dayan resigned as Minster of Defense on June 3, 1974. From 1977 to 1979 he was the Foreign Minster of Israel which he helped negotiate the final peace treaty between Egypt and Israel. Living from then on in virtual retirement, Moshe Dayan died in 1981.

IMDb Mini Biography By: pataygs@voicenet.com

Spouse

Ruth Shugarz

(? - ?)

Trade Mark

Black eye patch over left eye

Trivia

Israeli army general and government official. Held several cabinet posts.

Lost left eye on 7 June 1941 in action against the pro-nazi Vichy French in Lebanon during World War II.

The only person to be a son and a father of Members of the Knesset, the Israeli Parliament. He himself was also a MK between 1959 and 1981.

Held the following positions in the Israeli government: Minister of Agriculture, Minister of Defence & Minister of Foreign Affairs.

Son of MK Shmuel Dayan (1891-1968) & Dvora Zatlovsky.

Moshe & Ruth Dayan had 3 children: Sculptor Udi Dayan, MK Yael Dayan (b. 1939) & director / producer Assi Dayan (b. 1945).

The chief of Staff of the Israeli army (1953-1958)

Member of the Israeli parliament "Ha-Knesset" (1959-1981, his death)

Israel's defence minister (1967-1973), foreign minister (1977-1979) and agriculture minister (1959-1964)

Personal Quotes

To aim and hit, you need one eye only, and one good finger.

There is no more Palestine. Finished.

It was in our power to set a high price for our blood, a price too high for the Arab community, the Arab army, or the Arab governments to think it worth paying.

If you want to make peace, you don't talk to your friends. You talk to your enemies.

I have only one eye. Do you want me to look at the road or at the speedometer?

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