Shimon Peres 1968. He held negotiations with John F. Kennedy, which concluded with the sale of Hawk anti-aircraft missiles to Israel, the first sale of US military equipment to Israel. In 1969, Peres was appointed Minister of Immigrant Absorption and in 1970 he became Minister of Transportation and Communications. In 1974, after a period as Information Minister, he was appointed Minister of Defense in the Yitzhak Rabin government, having been Rabin's chief rival for the post of Prime Minister after Golda Meir resigned in the aftermath of the Yom Kippur War. During this time, Peres continued to challenge Rabin for the chairmanship
Yitzhak Rabin: A Biography gravity of the matters at hand. When Rabin's wife, Leah, was put under trial for having an illegal American bank account (an incident which became known as the Dollar Account affair), he felt forced to resign as Prime Minister. Out of office, he published his memoirs, which were highly critical of Peres and other Leftists. He had hoped his book would boost his popularity, but it had the opposite effect. His shyness, which made him seem cold and aloof, only made matters worse. Rabin was convinced that he's days of political prestige were behind him. But, thanks to his wife's