JERUSALEM – Moshe Arens, a former Israeli defense minister, foreign minister and an early political mentor to Benjamin Netanyahu, has died. He was 93.
Netanyahu eulogized him Monday, saying there was "no greater patriot than him." The prime minister said he loved him as "a son loves his father."
Arens was born in Lithuania but grew up in the United States, where he served in the military during World War II. After immigrating to Israel, he became a stalwart in the hawkish Likud party, for whose governments he served three stints as defense minister.
An engineer by training, he was instrumental in developing Israel's military and aircraft industries.
In the early 1980s, he was the first to recognize the skills of a young Benjamin Netanyahu and brought him into Israeli politics.
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