Levi Eshkol

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{{Infobox PM |name=Levi Eshkol |image=Stamp Eshkol.jpg |country=Israel |term=1963 – February 26, 1969 |before=David Ben-Gurion |after=Yigal Allon(Acting) |date_birth=October 25, 1895 |place_birth=Oratov, Ukraine |date_death=February 26, 1969 |place_death=Jerusalem, Israel |party=Mapai }} Template:Audio (Hebrew לֵוִי אֶשְׁכּוֹל , born Levi Skolnick, Hebrew לֵוִי שׁקוֹלנִיק; October 25, 1895 - February 26, 1969), was the third Prime Minister of Israel from 1963 until his death of a heart attack in 1969. He was the first Israeli Prime Minister to die in office.

Levi Skolnick was born in a village of Oratov near Kiev, Ukraine. Levi's mother came from a Hasidic background and his father came from a family of Mitnagdim. Levi received a traditional education. In 1914, Skolnick left for the Land of Israel, then a part of the Ottoman Empire. He soon volunteered for the Jewish Legion.

Image:1984 - 5000 Sheqalim - Levi Eshkol.jpg After the establishment of the State of Israel, Eshkol was first elected to the Knesset in 1951 as a member of the Mapai party. He served as Minister of Agriculture until 1952, when he was appointed Finance Minister following the death of Eliezer Kaplan. In 1963, he was elected Prime Minister, succeeding David Ben-Gurion who had designated him as his successor. At that post, Eshkol worked to improve foreign relations of Israel, establishing diplomatic contact with West Germany in 1965, and also established cultural ties with the Soviet Union which allowed some Soviet Jews to immigrate to Israel. He played a premier role in the Six Day War of June 1967; during the pre-war crisis, Eshkol made a radio speech that was perceived as an indication of indecisiveness. Then, following Nasser's ever more overt provocations, he yielded to public opinion and established a Government of National Unity together with Menachem Begin's Herut party. The Defense portfolio, previously held by himself, was placed into war hero Moshe Dayan's hands.

Other than his management of the war, Eshkol is best known for implementing the National Water Carrier system, and for his (and Finance Minister Pinchas Sapir's) 1964-1967 "soft landing" of the overheated economy by means of recessive policies, which healed the public accounts and helped fuel the ensuing recovery of 1967-1973.

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