Shimon Peres Interview (page: 4 / 6) President of Israel	Print Interview

Could you tell us about the War of Independence and your role in it?

Shimon Peres: I joined the army as a private. I was offered a rank at that time, but I refused. I preferred to remain a private. First of all, I wasn't taken by ranks, and before I knew it, they put me in the most sensitive positions anyway. I thought if I should be a colonel or a general, there would always be somebody above me, but if I should be a soldier, nobody will command me. I shall be totally independent, and that's what happened. I was a private, but sitting in the heart of the Haganah, later in the army.

Israel was shocked to discover that once the United Nations has decided to enable the establishment of a Jewish state, and before we have had a state, we had a war, and all of a sudden, we are alone. We are outnumbered, outgunned. We saw then end of everything with our eyes. We knew the truth, that we don't have arms, we don't have people, and we may lose the war, which would be like losing the Jewish history. It would be the end of Jewish history. We couldn't understand it, even when we came to the United States. Truman, President Truman, recognized the State of Israel, yet refused to give us arms, rifles, for our self-defense. There was an embargo. And then, Ben-Gurion said, "Look, without rifles, we can do nothing." And he put me in charge to break the embargo and see what can be done.
[ Video ] Low High    [ Audio ] Quicktime

Later on, there were some problems with our navy, so he made me the head of the navy -- all things that I hardly knew anything about. I was basically an ignorant young man.

When we look at your biography, you are suddenly the head of the Navy, and there is no information preceding that about a naval career.

Shimon Peres: No, no, nothing whatsoever. It was like a fire brigade.

I think what probably Ben-Gurion found in me was chutzpah, you know. I was a daring young man, and I wasn't afraid of conventions, and I thought that we don't have a chance for conventions or precedents, so I worked day and night. I believe I was a hard-working man. I could have worked almost day and night, uninterruptedly. And then, he nominated me also to be the head of the Ministry of Defense, as I have said, at a very young age of 29. He was Prime Minister and Minister of Defense, so he actually handed over to my hands the running of the Ministry of Defense. And again and again, I mean, I didn't have any experience, but I have had views, and I was ready to fight for them.
[ Video ] Low High    [ Audio ] Quicktime	[ Key to Success ] Courage

You had a passion for Israel too, didn't you?

Shimon Peres: Oh, yes, but not only me. Everybody had.

Everybody at that time almost totally identified with the country, with the war, with the need to win, and that went on after the War of Independence. When the war was over, I found out that I'm so ignorant. I didn't know a single word of English. Literally, nothing whatsoever. And I hardly have had any formal education. So I came to Ben-Gurion, who was my mentor, and I told him, "Look, I can't go on like this. I have to learn something." I thought I wanted to go to the United States for study. So then, he nominated me to be the head of the Defense Ministry mission in America, in New York, and I worked during the day. I studied, in the evening, at night, at a wonderful school, the New School for Social Research.
[ Video ] Low High    [ Audio ] Quicktime	[ Key to Success ] Preparation

I spent a very formative two years in New York, and then I went to Harvard University for a course. A wonderful location again, where the students are people with experience already, people from the army, from industry. You can learn from the students as much as you can learn from the professors.

In your early years as Deputy Minister of Defense, you were very involved in establishing the military and aviation foundation of this new state.

Shimon Peres: We were living under an embargo. I thought we didn't have a choice but to build our own industries. And people say a small country like Israel cannot built an aeronautic industry, cannot build an electronics industry, cannot build nuclear reactors. And again, I thought we can do it, so I was charged with doing it. In the beginning it raised a great deal of skepticism and criticism, but later on people appreciate it very much. So actually we laid, at that time, the foundation for the high-tech of Israel which exists to this very day.
[ Video ] Low High    [ Audio ] Quicktime	[ Key to Success ] Vision

That included the nuclear program as well, didn't it?

Shimon Peres: Nuclear programs as well, yes. I was in charge of the nuclear programs.

Shimon Peres Interview, Page: 1   2   3   4   5   6