The Israeli general and statesman Moshe Dayan (1915-1981) served as minister of defense of Israel, beginning in 1967.

Moshe Dayan was born in the kibbutz of Degania, Palestine, in 1915. His father Samuel, a farmer, was a founder of Degania and Nahalal and a leader of the cooperative settlement (moshavim) movement. During the riots of 1936 to 1939 Dayan joined the Supplementary Police Force of Palestine under the British. Later he joined the first mobile commando platoons (palmakh) of the Haganah. In 1940 Dayan was arrested by the British because of his participation in the underground Haganah organization. After his release from prison in 1941, however, he joined the British army in order to fight against Nazi Germany. On a foray into Vichy-controlled Syria, he was wounded and lost his left eye. This scar, or rather the patch that covered it, would become his lifelong trademark.

During the struggle between the Palestine Jewish community...