Levi Eshkol

Born Levi Yitzhak Shkolnik in 1895, he immigrated to Ottoman Palestine in 1914 and built the infrastructure of the pre-state Yishuv — founding Mekorot water company in 1937, helping establish the Histadrut and Haganah, chairing settlement committees that enabled new construction. He served as Director General of the Ministry of Defense in 1948–1949, then as Minister of Finance from 1952 to 1963, accumulating power in agriculture, settlement, and budget. When David Ben-Gurion resigned in 1963, Eshkol took the premiership and won the next election, holding office for six years. Shortly after, he…