38 Facts About Levi Eshkol

Levi Eshkol, born Levi Yitzhak Shkolnik, was the third Prime Minister of Israel, serving from 1963 until his death from a heart attack in 1969.

Levi Eshkol then led the party in the elections to the Sixth Knesset and won, remaining in office for six consecutive years.

Shortly after taking office, Levi Eshkol made several significant changes, among them the annulment of military rule over Israeli Arabs and a successful journey to the United States, being the first Israeli leader to be formally invited to the White House.

Levi Eshkol was active in the Zionist movement from a young age, immigrating to Ottoman Palestine in 1914 and working in agriculture.

Levi Eshkol was among the founders of the major institutions of the Yishuv, most importantly the Histadrut and Haganah.

Levi Eshkol was treasurer of Hapoel Hatzair political party and treasurer of the Agricultural Center.

In 1937, Levi Eshkol founded Mekorot water company and was its director until 1951.

Levi Eshkol led the Israeli government during and after the Six-Day War and was the first Israeli Prime Minister to die in office.

Levi Eshkol was born in the shtetl of Oratov, Lipovetsky Uyezd, Kiev Governorate, Russian Empire.

Levi Eshkol received a traditional Jewish education from the age of four and began Talmud studies at the age of seven.

In Vilna, Levi Eshkol joined the students' association Zeiri Zion and began his connections with the Zionist movement.

Levi Eshkol was elected to the local executive committee and, in 1913, joined Hapoel Hatzair following his meeting with party leader Joseph Shprinzak.

Levi Eshkol first settled in Petah Tikva and worked in the setting of irrigation tunnels at the local orchards.

Levi Eshkol quickly became publicly active and was elected as a member of the local workers' union.

In September 1920 Levi Eshkol was among the 25 founders of Kibbutz Degania Bet, making it his permanent residence.

Levi Eshkol was one of the founders of the Haganah.

Levi Eshkol was a member of the Haganah's first national high command.

Between 1933 and 1934, Levi Eshkol was working in Berlin on behalf of the Zionist Organization and HeHalutz youth movement.

Levi Eshkol lobbied for a national water company from circa 1930, presenting budget plans before the World Zionist Organization in 1933 and 1935.

Levi Eshkol served as its director until 1951, overseeing its expansion in 1938 from agricultural territories to residential areas and the construction of the first water lines to the southern Negev area as early as 1941.

Levi Eshkol returned to serve in the Haganah high command from 1940 to 1948 and was in charge of the organization's treasury.

Between 1942 and 1944, Levi Eshkol served as Secretary General of Mapai.

In 1947 Levi Eshkol was appointed as a member of the two major defense forums: The Negev Committee that oversaw the administration of the Negev prior to the declaration of independence of Israel, as well as the general Defense Committee of the Yishuv's leadership.

Later that year, he was appointed by David Ben-Gurion to head the national recruitment center, which laid foundations to the formation of Israel Defense Forces upon independence of the State of Israel, in May 1948, at which point Levi Eshkol was appointed Director-General of the Ministry of Defense, serving from May 1948 to January 1949.

Levi Eshkol was appointed as chairman of the party's committee on social affairs.

Levi Eshkol oversaw the implementation of Kaplan's 1952 economic plan, as well as realizing the Reparations Agreement between Israel and West Germany, which was towards its final stages of negotiation and signed in September 1952.

When Ben-Gurion resigned in June 1963, Levi Eshkol was elected party chairman with a broad consensus and was appointed prime minister.

Levi Eshkol worked to improve Israel's foreign relations by establishing diplomatic relations with West Germany in 1965, as well as cultural ties with the Soviet Union, which allowed some Soviet Jews to immigrate to Israel.

Levi Eshkol was the first Israeli Prime Minister invited on an official state visit to the United States in May 1964.

Levi Eshkol eventually established a National Unity Government, together with Menachem Begin's Herut party, and conceded the Defense portfolio to Moshe Dayan.

Levi Eshkol suffered a heart attack on 3 February 1969 from which he recovered and gradually returned to his work, maintaining meetings from the Prime Minister's official residence.

Levi Eshkol was the first of either presidents and prime ministers of Israel to be buried at the plot, preceded only by Eliezer Kaplan and Yosef Sprinzak.

Levi Eshkol expressed his wishes to be buried at his Kibbutz, Deganya Bet.

Levi Eshkol's body remained at the Prime Minister's residence in a symbolic lie in state, with an honor guard of the Israeli Police.

Levi Eshkol's brother Ben-Zion Shkolnik was a refusenik who made aliyah in 1964.

Levi Eshkol was given honorary citizenships of towns and cities in Israel and abroad: Philadelphia, Chicago, El Paso, Tirat Carmel, Kiryat Gat, Nazareth Ilit, Beer Sheva, Beit Shean, Afula, Dimona, Ashdod, Jerusalem, Petah Tikva.

Levi Eshkol was awarded with honorary doctorates by the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Roosevelt University, Yeshiva University, University of Liberia and Hebrew Union College.

Since 1970, Yad Levi Eshkol is the official organization commemorating prime minister Eshkol.