orig. Yitzhak Jazernicki
born Oct. 15, 1915, Ruzinoy, Pol., Russian Empire
Polish-born Israeli statesman.
He immigrated in 1935 to Palestine, where he helped found the Israel Freedom Fighters, later known as the Stern Gang. Twice arrested by British authorities (1941, 1946), he twice escaped and eventually found asylum in France. After Israel achieved independence, he served as a secret-service operative until 1965. He was speaker of the Knesset (1977–80) and later foreign minister under Menachem Begin (1980–83). He became prime minister in 1983; in 1984 an indecisive election led to his sharing power with the Labour Party leader Shimon Peres , and Shamir acted as prime minister for the six years beginning in 1986, which included another indecisive election in 1988 and the formation of a coalition government in 1990, but lost power in 1992. He retired from the Knesset in 1996.