PROFILE: Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak

Mar 31, 2009, 16:43 GMT

Jerusalem - Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak took a considerable risk when he had his left-to-centre Labour Party enter the right-wing coalition of Benjamin Netanyahu.

He evoked the fury of many of his fellow party member, as a majority of Labour lawmakers vehemently opposed the move even though the party's convention narrowly voted in favour. He was accused of satisfying his own greed, of betraying his electorate and of being undemocratic.

Insisting he was joining the government to serve Israel's best interests, he countered that anyone should only look at the flack he was taking to understand the price he was paying.

Barak, 67, once divorced, twice married and a father of three, is widely seen as lacking charisma and humility. So much so, that he used his ailing popularity as an asset in his election campaign, with a series of slogans declaring him to be 'not trendy - a leader,' 'unsympathetic - a leader,' 'not nice - a leader.'

With the Israeli public pulling to the right amid ongoing rocket attacks from Gaza and as a result of the radical Islamist Hamas movement rising to power in the Palestinian autonomous areas, Barak's Labour Party nevertheless dropped from its position as the second- largest in the Knesset to fourth, losing four of its 19 mandates in the 120-seat Israeli parliament.

Born in a kibbutz (agricultural commune - known as traditional Labour Party strongholds) in what is now central Israel, he built his career in the Israeli military, becoming the country's most decorated soldier and rising to the top rank of lieutenant-general as Israel's 14th army chief of staff at the age of 49.

Ending his military career four years later, his natural choice - as often happens in Israel - was to enter politics, in his case for the Labour Party, at the head of which he was elected prime minister in 1999.

As premier, Barak pulled Israeli troops out of a self-proclaimed 'security zone' in southern Lebanon, ending a 22-year-occupation, and negotiated but failed to reach a peace deal with the late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat at Camp David in June of 2000.

His short term ended in February 2010, when he lost elections to then Likud leader Ariel Sharon, who rode another pull to the right amongst the Israeli public following the outbreak of the Palestinian uprising.

Making his comeback by winning June 2007 Labour Party primaries, he also served as - a vigorous - defence minister in the outgoing cabinet.