Former Israeli officer recounts meeting with Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin over media criticism

My job was to ensure the security not just of the Gush Emunim march but of the counter-demonstrators, and, of course, the local Palestinian population. As the rival marches by the Israelis proceeded, I personally delivered warnings against any violence, both to the settlement leaders and to a pair of the most prominent counter-protesters, the peace activist Uri Avneri and Knesset member Yossi Sarid. The event went off without major incident. But the next day, Davar, the venerable Labor newspaper I’d first read as a child in Mishmar Hasharon, let rip against me. Under a photo of me with Avneri and Sarid — my arm raised, ostensibly in some kind of threat but actually in the time-honored Jewish practice of talking with my hands — the article accused me of siding with the settlers. If blood was spilled in the weeks and months ahead, the newspaper said, “it will be on Barak’s hands.” Ordinarily, I would have ignored it. But never in my military career had I been similarly attacked on an issue of any importance. I was especially angry because not only was the insinuation unfounded. It was diametrically opposite to the stance I was determined to take in this, my first regional command. Yes, I was committed to providing security for the settlers. But especially in the wake of the crimes of the Jewish underground, I was determined to ensure they remained within the boundaries of the law. A few days later, I called Rabin’s aide and asked to see the Defense Minister, and was told to come see him after Saturday lunch at his home. When I arrived, Rabin got right down to business. “Ehud, you wanted to see me?” he said. “You’ve probably seen Davar,” I replied. “It was a pretty nasty piece. It distorted things.” Yet as he began asking for details, it seemed he had no idea what I was talking about. “Ehud, I never read it,” he said. “If you hadn’t told me, I’d never have known there was an issue.” I assumed this was a white lie, told to reassure me. But years later, when I was Minister of Defense, and then Prime Minister, I sometimes found myself on the other side of such meetings. An officer or official would come see me because of something said about them in the media, or remarks they were quoted as having made. When I told them I’d been unaware of it, I could see the disbelief in their eyes. By then, however, I realized that under the multiple demands of a senior role in government, you really could fail to notice events that others viewed as crucial to their reputations or careers. To reassure them I truly hadn’t noticed, I’d tell them the story of my meeting with Rabin. 222 HOUSE_OVERSIGHT_028070