1
00:01:22,950 --> 00:01:25,661
We want Begin!

2
00:01:28,081 --> 00:01:31,000
The election campaign is on.
Good morning, happy holiday.

3
00:01:31,334 --> 00:01:32,543
How are you?

4
00:01:32,960 --> 00:01:34,671
The summer of 1981.

5
00:01:34,921 --> 00:01:38,466
Israel is in the midst
of a stormy election campaign.

6
00:01:43,763 --> 00:01:45,723
Is this the nation you want?

7
00:01:46,432 --> 00:01:48,601
Or do you want a civilized nation?

8
00:01:48,685 --> 00:01:51,604
A nation that speaks...
Enough with your hatred!

9
00:01:52,188 --> 00:01:57,068
A close political battle between Shimon Peres,
leader of the Israeli Labor Party

10
00:01:57,151 --> 00:02:00,363
and Menachem Begin,
the incumbent prime minister

11
00:02:00,446 --> 00:02:02,907
fighting for another term.

12
00:02:03,032 --> 00:02:07,328
Buckle down,
strengthen your spirit,

13
00:02:07,954 --> 00:02:11,249
because in the next 7 weeks
we are liable to face

14
00:02:11,332 --> 00:02:13,251
provocations as well.

15
00:02:13,876 --> 00:02:16,379
They know how to provoke.

16
00:02:17,296 --> 00:02:20,800
This is what the nation will look like!
Begin's nation!

17
00:02:20,883 --> 00:02:22,552
Peres, go home!

18
00:02:26,764 --> 00:02:28,766
Just days away from election day

19
00:02:28,850 --> 00:02:32,103
Prime Minister Menachem Begin

20
00:02:32,186 --> 00:02:36,024
launches a bold military campaign
that was planned for many months.

21
00:02:39,485 --> 00:02:44,699
The bombing of the nuclear reactor
built by Saddam Hussein in Iraq.

22
00:02:51,998 --> 00:02:56,836
Saddam Hussein,
that murderous tyrant,

23
00:02:58,046 --> 00:03:03,343
prepared the radioactive poison
for our children

24
00:03:03,426 --> 00:03:06,596
that will come out of atomic bombs.

25
00:03:07,930 --> 00:03:11,768
To understand Begin,
his outlook on the world,

26
00:03:11,851 --> 00:03:15,021
the Holocaust played a major role.

27
00:03:15,104 --> 00:03:20,902
Have you ever heard of
the one and a half million Jewish children

28
00:03:21,069 --> 00:03:26,657
who were taken to the gas chambers
and subjected to the Zyklon B cyanide?

29
00:03:26,824 --> 00:03:28,993
He was a witness.

30
00:03:29,494 --> 00:03:32,288
It's the most horrendous thing
that happened to the Jewish people.

31
00:03:32,622 --> 00:03:36,709
And now we can say
to our wonderful children,

32
00:03:36,793 --> 00:03:39,837
you will bear children
in the Land of Israel!

33
00:03:39,921 --> 00:03:43,549
Begin, King of Israel

34
00:03:43,633 --> 00:03:47,011
Lives and exists...

35
00:03:51,224 --> 00:03:53,142
"I often asked myself,

36
00:03:53,226 --> 00:03:55,603
"were it permitted to go to Brest,

37
00:03:55,687 --> 00:04:00,441
"would you go to the city
where you spent your sun-filled youth?

38
00:04:01,484 --> 00:04:05,613
"No. You will not enter the gates
of your hometown, where you studied

39
00:04:05,697 --> 00:04:08,950
"and dreamed and suffered and rejoiced...

40
00:04:09,033 --> 00:04:10,201
"for it is gone.

41
00:04:11,035 --> 00:04:14,455
"Perhaps the small house
with its light of love and sorrowful poverty

42
00:04:14,539 --> 00:04:18,084
"is still standing,

43
00:04:18,167 --> 00:04:22,755
"but the home of Mother and Father
is gone forever.

44
00:04:24,215 --> 00:04:27,593
"No, I will not follow the shadows.

45
00:04:28,386 --> 00:04:31,264
"These shadows live,
they will not die.

46
00:04:31,347 --> 00:04:32,890
"They are in me."

47
00:04:35,018 --> 00:04:43,693
Menachem Begin:
Peace and War

48
00:05:06,132 --> 00:05:08,134
Rare home movies:

49
00:05:08,426 --> 00:05:12,513
Menachem Begin and his wife Aliza
in the early 1950s

50
00:05:12,597 --> 00:05:16,309
in South Africa,
celebrating with the Beitar youth movement.

51
00:05:28,154 --> 00:05:30,198
In the young Israel of those days,

52
00:05:30,281 --> 00:05:34,786
Begin, leader of the Israeli right,
is pushed to the political margins.

53
00:05:35,078 --> 00:05:39,248
Founding father David Ben Gurion
deemed him the enemy of democracy,

54
00:05:39,332 --> 00:05:42,460
calling him "a typical Hitlerist."

55
00:05:47,382 --> 00:05:52,595
Begin surrounds himself with those
resentful of the centralized leftist government

56
00:05:52,679 --> 00:05:55,473
and wages a patient, persistent battle.

57
00:05:56,557 --> 00:05:59,560
He ran in eight election campaigns
and failed,

58
00:05:59,644 --> 00:06:02,438
over and over again.

59
00:06:03,690 --> 00:06:05,566
The story goes

60
00:06:05,650 --> 00:06:09,112
that someone used to sit outside
Metzudat Ze'ev, the party's headquarters,

61
00:06:09,195 --> 00:06:13,032
shouting,
"Begin to power, Begin to power!"

62
00:06:13,116 --> 00:06:14,951
"Begin to power," all day long.

63
00:06:15,076 --> 00:06:18,162
So someone asked him,
"How much are they paying you?"

64
00:06:18,246 --> 00:06:20,331
He replied:
"I get one penny

65
00:06:20,415 --> 00:06:22,500
"for every time I shout
'Begin to power.'"

66
00:06:22,583 --> 00:06:26,004
"And shouting is worth
one penny to you?"

67
00:06:26,087 --> 00:06:27,588
He replied:
"It's not a lot of money,

68
00:06:27,672 --> 00:06:29,257
"but it's a lifelong job."

69
00:06:35,722 --> 00:06:38,766
At 64,
after a severe heart attack,

70
00:06:38,850 --> 00:06:41,728
he runs for the ninth time
and he knows,

71
00:06:41,936 --> 00:06:44,188
this is his last chance.

72
00:06:49,277 --> 00:06:50,403
Hello.

73
00:06:50,778 --> 00:06:51,946
Who did you vote for?

74
00:06:52,155 --> 00:06:53,489
Good evening.

75
00:06:53,573 --> 00:06:56,659
Polling stations nationwide
closed three minutes ago

76
00:06:56,743 --> 00:06:59,037
and the votes that will shape

77
00:06:59,120 --> 00:07:03,416
the ninth Knesset are being counted.

78
00:07:06,044 --> 00:07:09,130
That night I was chairman
of the ballot committee

79
00:07:09,297 --> 00:07:12,258
where I lived,
in Rehavia, Jerusalem.

80
00:07:12,425 --> 00:07:16,929
Most of the votes in Rehavia
were given to the Labor Party.

81
00:07:17,722 --> 00:07:20,224
The Herut Party got very few votes.

82
00:07:21,351 --> 00:07:26,731
That night I noticed that the slips
we were taking out and counting

83
00:07:26,814 --> 00:07:28,816
were all Herut.

84
00:07:29,525 --> 00:07:31,444
I said,
something's going on here.

85
00:07:31,694 --> 00:07:34,655
This is the television prediction.

86
00:07:34,989 --> 00:07:37,784
Again, an unauthorized prediction,

87
00:07:37,867 --> 00:07:41,037
a prediction that foresees
a distinct victory

88
00:07:41,120 --> 00:07:43,247
to Herut over the Labor Party.

89
00:07:45,083 --> 00:07:47,794
The political correspondent
goes to the place

90
00:07:47,877 --> 00:07:50,296
where the next prime minister is elected

91
00:07:50,380 --> 00:07:54,300
and the next prime minister
was supposed to be Shimon Peres.

92
00:07:56,469 --> 00:08:00,348
A few minutes later I realized
that I should be somewhere else.

93
00:08:00,473 --> 00:08:06,145
I raced over to Metzudat Ze'ev.

94
00:08:13,653 --> 00:08:15,446
It's about time.

95
00:08:19,158 --> 00:08:21,452
Begin is prime minister,
tears flowed,

96
00:08:21,536 --> 00:08:24,580
because for us,
you can't understand this,

97
00:08:24,664 --> 00:08:28,751
for Herutniks like me,
for Begin to be prime minister...

98
00:08:38,720 --> 00:08:42,265
I saw euphoria
bordering on stupor.

99
00:08:42,640 --> 00:08:48,104
There was this sense of,
"We, the oppressed, have finally done it."

100
00:08:48,187 --> 00:08:52,567
Meanwhile the journalists felt,
"What is going to happen?"

101
00:08:52,775 --> 00:08:54,777
We're heading for the unknown.

102
00:09:14,839 --> 00:09:18,092
After 29 years in the opposition,
it's happening,

103
00:09:18,509 --> 00:09:21,387
Menachem Begin takes up leadership

104
00:09:21,471 --> 00:09:23,973
and he has a well-arranged action plan

105
00:09:24,057 --> 00:09:27,727
that will completely change Israeli reality

106
00:09:27,810 --> 00:09:29,562
and the Middle East.

107
00:09:30,688 --> 00:09:32,982
Tagar

108
00:09:33,066 --> 00:09:39,030
Through all obstacles and enemies

109
00:09:39,238 --> 00:09:46,079
Whether you go up or down
in the flames of revolt

110
00:09:46,162 --> 00:09:51,209
Carry the flame to kindle, never mind.

111
00:09:51,292 --> 00:09:52,627
Hello!

112
00:09:53,169 --> 00:09:57,256
How are we?
Look how the TV is filming you.

113
00:09:58,132 --> 00:10:00,718
Don't open your mouth, smile.

114
00:10:00,802 --> 00:10:02,637
Look at the television.

115
00:10:05,306 --> 00:10:07,600
Let's all be filmed together.

116
00:10:07,684 --> 00:10:11,354
Look at the television.
That's it.

117
00:10:14,315 --> 00:10:17,527
They got their report cards,
practically all A .

118
00:10:17,610 --> 00:10:19,320
Ravit is a straight As student,

119
00:10:19,404 --> 00:10:22,865
Ayala got an outstanding report card.

120
00:10:22,949 --> 00:10:24,867
And this one is starting school.

121
00:10:25,284 --> 00:10:27,995
This year she'll be going to school.

122
00:10:39,215 --> 00:10:40,758
Three days after the elections,

123
00:10:40,842 --> 00:10:43,302
the newly elected prime minister
goes to Samaria

124
00:10:43,970 --> 00:10:46,014
to celebrate with his settler friends.

125
00:10:49,684 --> 00:10:55,064
We stood on the hill
of an archaeological dig,

126
00:10:55,356 --> 00:10:58,026
I remember it vividly,

127
00:10:58,359 --> 00:11:00,528
the enthusiasm with which
he infected the crowd

128
00:11:00,611 --> 00:11:03,114
and he promised many settlements
like Elon Moreh.

129
00:11:06,909 --> 00:11:08,494
I want to say

130
00:11:09,203 --> 00:11:14,542
that in a few weeks
or months or the near future

131
00:11:14,834 --> 00:11:16,878
there will be more Elon Morehs.

132
00:11:17,128 --> 00:11:18,129
Did you believe him?

133
00:11:18,504 --> 00:11:20,173
Not only did I believe him,

134
00:11:20,256 --> 00:11:24,927
Rabbi Levinger said he was handing over
the Gush Emunim settlement portfolio

135
00:11:25,011 --> 00:11:26,387
to Menachem Begin.

136
00:11:35,730 --> 00:11:37,440
Up to here, as expected,

137
00:11:37,690 --> 00:11:41,736
Begin adheres to the image
fixed in his rivals and supporters' minds,

138
00:11:42,612 --> 00:11:47,408
a man of Greater Israel,
a warmonger, an inciter,

139
00:11:48,618 --> 00:11:51,162
and then,
a few days after the visit to the Territories,

140
00:11:51,245 --> 00:11:53,539
he takes everyone by surprise with
a conflicting commitment.

141
00:11:53,873 --> 00:11:55,541
Mr. Dayan,
did you and Mr. Begin discuss

142
00:11:55,625 --> 00:11:58,086
a political collaboration?

143
00:11:58,252 --> 00:12:02,715
Our discussion was private,

144
00:12:02,799 --> 00:12:05,468
we discussed public issues,
but it was private.

145
00:12:05,551 --> 00:12:09,472
In this private discussion they agreed,
Moshe Dayan, former political rival,

146
00:12:09,555 --> 00:12:14,394
revered general whose glory was dulled
due to the Yom Kippur War debacle,

147
00:12:14,602 --> 00:12:17,522
would be foreign minister
in Begin's government.

148
00:12:19,273 --> 00:12:21,275
They agreed that

149
00:12:21,359 --> 00:12:26,656
though the Israeli government has the authority
to apply Israeli sovereignty,

150
00:12:26,739 --> 00:12:31,494
it would not do so
during peace talks.

151
00:12:31,577 --> 00:12:35,832
Not "peace negotiations,"
rather "peace talks."

152
00:12:40,962 --> 00:12:44,757
As we ascended
to the heights of joy

153
00:12:44,841 --> 00:12:48,177
whereby the right had risen to power,

154
00:12:48,261 --> 00:12:51,597
thus we plummeted into
the depths of despair when we realized

155
00:12:51,681 --> 00:12:55,768
that a rightist rose to power,
but not the right-wing ideology.

156
00:12:55,852 --> 00:12:59,272
When Begin rose to power,
did you expect him to annex the Territories?

157
00:12:59,355 --> 00:13:02,442
Since he's an ultra democrat,

158
00:13:02,525 --> 00:13:06,362
he will never be willing
to apply sovereignty

159
00:13:06,446 --> 00:13:10,241
without granting full citizenship
to the Arabs of Judea and Samaria,

160
00:13:10,324 --> 00:13:12,076
therefore,
there's nothing to expect from him.

161
00:13:12,160 --> 00:13:13,828
Is it bad that he's an ultra democrat?

162
00:13:13,995 --> 00:13:19,751
When you have a set of values,

163
00:13:19,834 --> 00:13:25,715
national, Jewish,
liberal, democratic values,

164
00:13:25,798 --> 00:13:31,220
you must organize them
based on your priorities.

165
00:13:35,016 --> 00:13:38,436
Mr. Begin, could you tell us

166
00:13:38,519 --> 00:13:41,981
what kind of prime minister you will be?

167
00:13:42,565 --> 00:13:44,817
A good, Jewish prime minister.

168
00:13:45,860 --> 00:13:47,070
Let her...Let her come

169
00:13:53,117 --> 00:13:55,453
To the secular, Sabra Israel,

170
00:13:55,620 --> 00:13:59,874
Begin brings loyalty
to the Jewish tradition and its symbols.

171
00:14:00,416 --> 00:14:04,671
Begin is a Jewish prime minister,
from the Holocaust and Revival generation,

172
00:14:04,921 --> 00:14:08,758
striving to find the balance
between supposedly conflicting values,

173
00:14:08,966 --> 00:14:11,135
between a Jewish state
and a democracy,

174
00:14:11,219 --> 00:14:13,012
between the national and the liberal,

175
00:14:13,179 --> 00:14:16,182
between pursuing peace
and keeping the homeland whole.

176
00:14:25,775 --> 00:14:30,738
July 4th, 1977,
American Independence Day,

177
00:14:30,822 --> 00:14:34,617
there's a reception for
U.S. Ambassador Lewis,

178
00:14:34,701 --> 00:14:38,705
and he is introduced to
the Romanian ambassador, Jon Kovac.

179
00:14:38,788 --> 00:14:43,042
Begin took Kovac by the elbow,
moved him aside

180
00:14:43,126 --> 00:14:45,878
and said, "Mr. Ambassador,

181
00:14:45,962 --> 00:14:50,049
"if President Ceausescu were to invite me,
I would gladly oblige."

182
00:14:51,718 --> 00:14:55,138
The target of pursuit
is Egyptian President Anwar Sadat.

183
00:14:55,263 --> 00:14:59,934
The matchmaker is the Romanian tyrant,
Nicolae Ceausescu.

184
00:15:05,314 --> 00:15:08,693
Begin took advantage
of every channel he had

185
00:15:08,776 --> 00:15:11,404
to meet with Sadat

186
00:15:11,612 --> 00:15:15,867
and he sent him messages
through Ceausescu

187
00:15:16,034 --> 00:15:17,994
that he is willing to talk.

188
00:15:28,671 --> 00:15:32,633
Today, just before 2 p.m.,

189
00:15:34,052 --> 00:15:39,390
the Egyptian and Syrian armies
launched an attack against Israel.

190
00:15:51,110 --> 00:15:56,324
In the winter of 1973,
Israel was surprised by a joint Arab attack.

191
00:15:57,283 --> 00:16:01,788
The toll was heavy.
2,222 Israelis dead.

192
00:16:02,372 --> 00:16:06,918
15,600 Egyptians.
4,000 Syrians.

193
00:16:07,502 --> 00:16:11,798
The death toll of another round of battles
between Israel and the Arab countries.

194
00:16:13,466 --> 00:16:16,302
For the Israelis
this was another reminder

195
00:16:16,386 --> 00:16:20,139
as to how fragile Israeli existence is
in the Middle East.

196
00:16:27,897 --> 00:16:31,442
On the other hand,
Egyptian President Sadat

197
00:16:31,526 --> 00:16:35,446
came out of the war convinced
that he'd restored his country's honor.

198
00:16:42,578 --> 00:16:45,873
After Begin,
Sadat also visits Ceausescu.

199
00:16:46,874 --> 00:16:49,002
Dan Patir, Begin's spokesperson,

200
00:16:49,085 --> 00:16:52,588
brings firsthand testimony
from Sadat himself.

201
00:16:53,464 --> 00:16:54,882
Sadat said to me,

202
00:16:54,966 --> 00:16:57,552
"I asked Ceausescu two questions.

203
00:16:57,719 --> 00:17:00,513
"Is the Begin you saw last month

204
00:17:00,805 --> 00:17:02,807
"prepared to make peace
with the Arabs?"

205
00:17:03,099 --> 00:17:06,185
"To that," he said,
"I got a positive answer from Ceausescu.

206
00:17:06,728 --> 00:17:10,481
"And the second question,
is Begin strong enough after the elections

207
00:17:10,565 --> 00:17:13,693
"to go ahead with
this peace process?"

208
00:17:13,776 --> 00:17:17,447
To that Ceausescu also implied
that the answer is yes.

209
00:17:27,331 --> 00:17:30,835
Among the attendees,
a guest, Yasser Arafat,

210
00:17:30,918 --> 00:17:33,880
the Palestinian leader
that Begin called with scorn,

211
00:17:33,921 --> 00:17:36,132
"The one with the hair on his face."

212
00:17:38,968 --> 00:17:40,970
Sadat speaks for two hours.

213
00:17:41,054 --> 00:17:44,098
Just before the end
he goes off script

214
00:17:44,182 --> 00:17:46,809
and surprises with
an unusual statement.

215
00:17:47,393 --> 00:17:50,772
Israel will be surprised

216
00:17:51,147 --> 00:17:54,192
to hear me say now

217
00:17:54,817 --> 00:18:00,865
that I am prepared to go
to their parliament, the Knesset,

218
00:18:00,948 --> 00:18:02,617
and talk to them.

219
00:18:05,661 --> 00:18:07,413
You hear this story

220
00:18:07,497 --> 00:18:10,833
and your journalistic senses light up.

221
00:18:10,917 --> 00:18:14,504
You have to get
the prime minister's comment.

222
00:18:14,587 --> 00:18:19,634
I called his home
and Mrs. Begin picked up,

223
00:18:19,717 --> 00:18:23,763
I said I want a word
with the prime minister

224
00:18:23,846 --> 00:18:28,685
and she said,
"He's shaving."

225
00:18:28,768 --> 00:18:32,230
So I said,
"Please, it's very urgent."

226
00:18:32,313 --> 00:18:35,608
He comes to the phone and says,
"What happened?"

227
00:18:35,692 --> 00:18:41,906
"I read the report about
what Sadat said, how do you comment?"

228
00:18:45,076 --> 00:18:50,665
This is my personal written invitation
to President Sadat to come to Jerusalem

229
00:18:50,957 --> 00:18:52,667
to visit our country.

230
00:18:52,875 --> 00:18:56,838
This is the letter, and don't show it
to the journalists. -Yes, sir.

231
00:18:57,380 --> 00:18:58,506
Thank you.

232
00:19:02,385 --> 00:19:06,639
We, the Israelis,
stretch out our hand to you.

233
00:19:07,140 --> 00:19:10,184
It is not, as you know,
a weak hand.

234
00:19:10,601 --> 00:19:13,896
No more wars,
no more bloodshed.

235
00:19:14,188 --> 00:19:17,900
Peace, real peace, and forever.

236
00:19:24,907 --> 00:19:28,911
On Saturday, before Sadat's arrival,
Begin asked to see me.

237
00:19:29,078 --> 00:19:32,874
His office was on the 12th floor
of Metzudat Ze'ev.

238
00:19:32,999 --> 00:19:37,837
Begin looked around

239
00:19:37,920 --> 00:19:42,216
at the skyscrapers coming up
in Tel Aviv in those years

240
00:19:42,550 --> 00:19:46,637
and said,
"Aryeh, we will make peace."

241
00:19:51,476 --> 00:19:54,771
"Do you know how long
I've been dreaming of this day?"

242
00:19:55,438 --> 00:19:56,481
I asked, "How long?"

243
00:19:56,564 --> 00:19:59,609
"Since November 29th, 1947,

244
00:19:59,776 --> 00:20:03,446
"that the day may come
and we'll talk face to face

245
00:20:03,529 --> 00:20:05,365
"to the Arab leaders about peace."

246
00:20:05,448 --> 00:20:07,450
But he hid it for many years...

247
00:20:07,575 --> 00:20:10,411
He always said it,
but no one noticed,

248
00:20:10,495 --> 00:20:13,122
and not without reason,
because he said other things as well.

249
00:20:13,206 --> 00:20:15,041
He says he wants peace

250
00:20:15,124 --> 00:20:17,293
but he's talking about
keeping the homeland whole as well.

251
00:20:17,794 --> 00:20:23,591
How do these two desires go together?

252
00:20:34,936 --> 00:20:39,023
As early as the spring of '44,
from his place of hiding,

253
00:20:39,107 --> 00:20:42,902
Begin publishes a statement
to our Arab neighbors.

254
00:20:43,152 --> 00:20:46,280
"Our Arab neighbors,"
not "our Arab enemies."

255
00:20:51,619 --> 00:20:53,079
"Our Arab neighbors,

256
00:20:53,162 --> 00:20:56,374
"we extend our hand
to peace and brotherhood.

257
00:20:56,499 --> 00:20:58,084
"Do not dismiss it.

258
00:20:58,167 --> 00:21:02,088
"The Hebrew government
will grant you full equal rights.

259
00:21:02,171 --> 00:21:06,092
"The Hebrew and Arabic languages
will be the languages of the land.

260
00:21:06,175 --> 00:21:09,762
"The Hebrew state will be a home
to all of us

261
00:21:10,138 --> 00:21:15,601
"and peace and neighborly relations will reign
between it and the independent Arab countries."

262
00:21:16,144 --> 00:21:18,062
Hello, how are you?
-Do you know me?

263
00:21:18,146 --> 00:21:20,565
Of course I remember you,
and how.

264
00:21:20,648 --> 00:21:22,608
The sheikh's son, of course.

265
00:21:24,986 --> 00:21:28,322
I visited you in your tent,
I drank coffee.

266
00:21:28,448 --> 00:21:29,407
"However, take heed,

267
00:21:29,490 --> 00:21:32,035
"do not attempt to raise a hand
on Jewish lives,

268
00:21:32,118 --> 00:21:35,455
"for if you do,
we will have to cut it off."

269
00:21:38,624 --> 00:21:41,085
A strong hand is extended in peace,

270
00:21:41,169 --> 00:21:45,548
this is Begin's version
of the "Iron Wall" of the spiritual father,

271
00:21:45,631 --> 00:21:48,343
Beitar leader Ze'ev Jabotinsky.

272
00:21:48,426 --> 00:21:52,680
The Iron Wall as a means
to realize the utopian vision.

273
00:22:02,106 --> 00:22:05,610
The first time
Begin "stumbled upon" Jabotinsky

274
00:22:05,693 --> 00:22:07,653
was when he was 15.

275
00:22:09,572 --> 00:22:16,162
Jabotinsky came to Brest,
Begin's hometown, to make a speech.

276
00:22:17,080 --> 00:22:20,667
"The provincial theater
is full to capacity.

277
00:22:21,125 --> 00:22:23,961
"For you, the boy,
there is no room.

278
00:22:24,045 --> 00:22:28,216
"You barely made your way in
to the orchestra pit.

279
00:22:28,925 --> 00:22:31,427
"You're sitting down there
listening to the man,

280
00:22:31,511 --> 00:22:35,848
"sensing in all your bones
how he lifts you up and up.

281
00:22:43,231 --> 00:22:44,774
"Are you captivated?

282
00:22:44,857 --> 00:22:47,485
"No. Beyond that.

283
00:22:47,568 --> 00:22:48,861
"You have been consecrated.

284
00:22:49,362 --> 00:22:53,658
"Someone whispers in your ear,
you are consecrated to my ideology forever

285
00:22:53,741 --> 00:22:58,746
"and you say, yes,
I am consecrated forever."

286
00:23:10,133 --> 00:23:13,177
It was an extraordinary event.

287
00:23:13,261 --> 00:23:16,097
The atmosphere was...

288
00:23:16,347 --> 00:23:20,893
not merely festive, it was surreal.
You couldn't believe it was happening.

289
00:23:22,895 --> 00:23:28,484
The happiest moment in my career
was at Ben Gurion Airport,

290
00:23:28,568 --> 00:23:31,612
the door opened
and I said the words:

291
00:23:31,696 --> 00:23:34,824
"Now President Sadat is on the air-stair

292
00:23:34,907 --> 00:23:36,659
"waving hello."

293
00:23:45,418 --> 00:23:50,423
A man comes down,
dressed tip-top, in a tailored suit,

294
00:23:51,090 --> 00:23:55,345
smiling, standing tall,

295
00:23:56,262 --> 00:24:00,892
this mysterious Arab,
dark complexion, tall.

296
00:24:00,975 --> 00:24:06,022
It was like a scene from...
it was like a fairy tale.

297
00:24:19,118 --> 00:24:24,248
We were the generation that saw
the Six Day War, the Yom Kippur War

298
00:24:24,665 --> 00:24:27,168
and the War of Attrition.

299
00:24:27,251 --> 00:24:32,674
Thinking "Anwar Sadat
is coming to Israel" was inconceivable.

300
00:24:32,715 --> 00:24:35,051
You always call me "an old lady,"
Mr. President.

301
00:24:36,844 --> 00:24:38,680
Oh my god, this can't be!

302
00:24:38,763 --> 00:24:40,139
You see? Peace.

303
00:24:45,395 --> 00:24:50,316
Sadat traveled the routine routes
in Jerusalem past the cheering crowds,

304
00:24:50,483 --> 00:24:55,154
a speech in the Knesset, Yad Vashem,
a meeting with the president and so forth.

305
00:24:58,616 --> 00:25:03,121
The trip to Jerusalem was set for the day
of the Muslim Festival of the Sacrifice,

306
00:25:03,204 --> 00:25:04,414
Eid al-Adha.

307
00:25:05,540 --> 00:25:08,543
Sadat's prayer at Al-Aqsa
during the holiday

308
00:25:08,668 --> 00:25:11,629
was geared at the Muslim faithful,

309
00:25:11,713 --> 00:25:13,339
in an attempt to convey,

310
00:25:13,506 --> 00:25:17,552
"If we make peace with the Israelis
we'll be able to pray at this holy site."

311
00:25:23,016 --> 00:25:25,018
Sadat's message was rejected.

312
00:25:25,101 --> 00:25:28,354
The Arab world united
against the peace initiative.

313
00:25:29,772 --> 00:25:32,316
Anwar Sadat was marked as a traitor.

314
00:25:38,865 --> 00:25:43,244
The next morning I broadcast
from the prime minister's office,

315
00:25:43,536 --> 00:25:46,831
Begin came out
of a meeting with Sadat

316
00:25:46,914 --> 00:25:52,587
and said to me,
"Mr. Kittal, you can tell the listeners

317
00:25:52,670 --> 00:25:55,923
"that the Egyptian president
and I agreed...

318
00:25:56,007 --> 00:25:58,718
"no more war."

319
00:25:58,801 --> 00:26:00,928
This was extremely dramatic.

320
00:26:01,220 --> 00:26:04,724
After a meeting of a few hours,
before the principles were agreed on,

321
00:26:04,807 --> 00:26:09,103
there's an agreement
that no matter what, no more war.

322
00:26:33,002 --> 00:26:35,630
A few days after the meeting
with President Sadat,

323
00:26:35,713 --> 00:26:40,218
Begin arrives in London.
An official visit, historically charged.

324
00:26:44,263 --> 00:26:47,642
The tragic scene is like a serious incident
during the Blitz.

325
00:26:48,017 --> 00:26:49,644
Casualties were very heavy.

326
00:26:49,727 --> 00:26:51,854
July 1946,

327
00:26:51,938 --> 00:26:54,899
the Irgun,
led by Menachem Begin,

328
00:26:54,982 --> 00:26:59,404
blows up the British administration
in Jerusalem's King David Hotel.

329
00:26:59,612 --> 00:27:03,866
65 deaths are reported,
nearly 50 others were injured.

330
00:27:04,242 --> 00:27:07,537
Jewish terrorist organization,
"Irgun Tzva Leumi,"

331
00:27:07,620 --> 00:27:10,081
openly admitted responsibility
for the bombing.

332
00:27:12,208 --> 00:27:16,212
Age: 38.
Height: 1.75m.

333
00:27:16,295 --> 00:27:17,797
Build: Thin.

334
00:27:17,922 --> 00:27:23,094
Peculiarities: Long hooked nose,
bad teeth.

335
00:27:23,386 --> 00:27:27,015
This is how public enemy no. 1
is described,

336
00:27:27,098 --> 00:27:29,350
Irgun leader Menachem Begin.

337
00:27:31,436 --> 00:27:35,273
To our last day on earth
we will take pride

338
00:27:35,356 --> 00:27:38,151
in having fought for the liberation
of the Jewish people.

339
00:27:38,276 --> 00:27:41,779
We weren't terrorists,
we were freedom fighters.

340
00:27:43,948 --> 00:27:46,451
Following one meeting
with the Egyptian president,

341
00:27:46,534 --> 00:27:50,872
the former public enemy is crowned
by the British as a man of peace.

342
00:27:51,622 --> 00:27:53,124
Begin isn't fazed.

343
00:27:53,207 --> 00:27:55,209
He is troubled by a major issue.

344
00:27:55,293 --> 00:27:58,838
How to make peace
without renouncing the historic rights

345
00:27:58,921 --> 00:28:01,132
in Judea, Samaria and Gaza.

346
00:28:01,215 --> 00:28:05,345
He declares a health issue,
dodges the diplomatic agenda

347
00:28:05,428 --> 00:28:06,971
and shuts himself in his room.

348
00:28:08,389 --> 00:28:12,226
He summoned Yechiel Kadishai,
a longtime aide,

349
00:28:12,310 --> 00:28:17,231
and dictated a proposal for
an arrangement regarding the Palestinians,

350
00:28:17,315 --> 00:28:19,692
the first draft of the Autonomy Plan.

351
00:28:26,657 --> 00:28:29,619
The Autonomy Plan
was Begin's flagship plan.

352
00:28:29,702 --> 00:28:32,330
The plan is based on separation:

353
00:28:32,413 --> 00:28:36,000
Separation between the holy land
and the Palestinian citizens

354
00:28:36,084 --> 00:28:39,879
that live their lives on this land.

355
00:28:39,962 --> 00:28:42,423
"We won't be Rhodesia."
Meaning, no apartheid.

356
00:28:42,507 --> 00:28:43,549
His words.

357
00:28:43,675 --> 00:28:47,303
In internal discussions
he even called it South Africa.

358
00:28:50,139 --> 00:28:53,017
He proposes autonomy
for the Arab residents.

359
00:28:53,309 --> 00:28:56,354
They will establish a government,
an administrative council

360
00:28:56,437 --> 00:28:58,106
that they will elect in free elections

361
00:28:58,189 --> 00:29:00,525
and it will have authority
in all areas of life,

362
00:29:00,608 --> 00:29:04,696
ministries, finance, trade,
transportation, police, you name it,

363
00:29:04,779 --> 00:29:09,742
but security and public order
will be under Israel's authority.

364
00:29:12,870 --> 00:29:15,248
And what about
sovereignty over the Territories?

365
00:29:15,873 --> 00:29:19,544
Begin suggests
leaving this issue open.

366
00:29:20,003 --> 00:29:23,131
Instead of applying sovereignty,
preventing foreign sovereignty.

367
00:29:23,214 --> 00:29:26,217
I won't apply sovereignty,
me, the Israeli,

368
00:29:26,300 --> 00:29:29,470
and you, the Arab,
King Hussein, won't apply sovereignty.

369
00:29:29,554 --> 00:29:31,389
The PLO wasn't part of the discourse.

370
00:29:33,641 --> 00:29:37,228
And that is Begin's greatest sin

371
00:29:37,311 --> 00:29:39,022
against his own ideology.

372
00:29:39,105 --> 00:29:42,650
Any autonomy ultimately leads
to an independent state.

373
00:29:42,734 --> 00:29:46,571
But when he wanted
a peace treaty with Egypt,

374
00:29:46,654 --> 00:29:51,325
he was willing to pay by
granting autonomy to Israel's Arabs,

375
00:29:51,409 --> 00:29:53,870
knowing this is liable
to lead to a state

376
00:29:54,037 --> 00:29:58,374
and he hopes he'll be able to drag his feet
and the Autonomy Plan

377
00:29:58,458 --> 00:29:59,876
will simply evaporate.

378
00:29:59,959 --> 00:30:04,130
Begin viewed the autonomy as the only
alternative to partitioning the country

379
00:30:04,213 --> 00:30:05,923
and the establishment
of a Palestinian state,

380
00:30:06,007 --> 00:30:09,135
that's why he wanted it so badly.
It was his idea.

381
00:30:15,725 --> 00:30:18,144
We are on our way to Egypt

382
00:30:18,227 --> 00:30:21,356
to negotiate a peace treaty

383
00:30:21,439 --> 00:30:28,029
as equals.
Only mutual respect and willingness

384
00:30:28,112 --> 00:30:31,032
will bring peace.

385
00:30:40,958 --> 00:30:42,251
It was terribly hot.

386
00:30:42,335 --> 00:30:47,173
I see Sadat going like this,
a servant comes

387
00:30:48,007 --> 00:30:52,887
and he says,
"Open the window."

388
00:30:54,389 --> 00:30:57,600
Angry.
Always somewhat sweaty.

389
00:30:58,142 --> 00:31:03,648
I lean into the prime minister
and say, "He's very tense."

390
00:31:03,731 --> 00:31:05,441
He looks at me and says,
"So am I."

391
00:31:05,858 --> 00:31:09,987
I said, here we go!

392
00:31:12,198 --> 00:31:14,450
Begin is convinced that the Autonomy Plan

393
00:31:14,492 --> 00:31:17,161
is the perfect solution
for the Palestinian issue.

394
00:31:17,704 --> 00:31:20,873
Sadat is not thrilled,
to say the least.

395
00:31:21,416 --> 00:31:23,710
The negotiations are stuck.

396
00:31:24,002 --> 00:31:27,005
Is there any possibility
this meeting could be a failure?

397
00:31:27,088 --> 00:31:29,799
Maybe, maybe. Why not?

398
00:31:29,966 --> 00:31:36,514
The delegations of Egypt and Israel
discussed the Palestinian problem.

399
00:31:37,015 --> 00:31:43,688
The position of Egypt is that
in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip

400
00:31:43,771 --> 00:31:46,607
a Palestinian state
should be established.

401
00:31:46,774 --> 00:31:49,235
The position of Israel is

402
00:31:49,569 --> 00:31:56,451
that the Palestinian Arabs residing in
Judea, Samaria and the Gaza district

403
00:31:56,534 --> 00:31:59,245
should enjoy self-rule.

404
00:32:01,330 --> 00:32:03,583
Citizens are requested

405
00:32:03,666 --> 00:32:04,667
MARCH 1978, COASTAL HIGHWAY
to leave the area,

406
00:32:04,751 --> 00:32:06,210
MARCH 1978, COASTAL HIGHWAY
move to the other side of the road.

407
00:32:06,294 --> 00:32:07,879
A lethal attack on the Coastal Highway

408
00:32:07,962 --> 00:32:09,922
leading to Tel Aviv.

409
00:32:10,006 --> 00:32:12,258
The number of fatalities: 35.

410
00:32:12,342 --> 00:32:14,635
This was the first time
since the establishment of the state

411
00:32:14,719 --> 00:32:16,679
that Jewish citizens
were subject to a curfew.

412
00:32:16,763 --> 00:32:20,266
All citizens were asked
to remain at home and not go to work.

413
00:32:25,646 --> 00:32:28,274
The lethal attack was carried out
by terrorists from Lebanon

414
00:32:28,524 --> 00:32:32,278
where the Palestinian Liberation Organization
is gaining power,

415
00:32:32,445 --> 00:32:34,280
headed by Yasser Arafat.

416
00:32:34,947 --> 00:32:37,367
But this terrorist,
Menachem Begin,

417
00:32:37,784 --> 00:32:39,494
and you, the British, know him.

418
00:32:41,079 --> 00:32:43,414
It is his mentality - terrorism.

419
00:32:45,083 --> 00:32:48,294
Facism, Nazism.
It's very important.

420
00:32:50,254 --> 00:32:54,175
With terrorist attacks
and global political activities,

421
00:32:54,258 --> 00:32:56,636
Arafat reminds Begin and Sadat,

422
00:32:56,719 --> 00:33:00,556
"We, the Palestinians, are here.
You can't ignore us."

423
00:33:12,360 --> 00:33:14,696
What happened to you, Mr. Begin?

424
00:33:15,571 --> 00:33:19,534
Internally, attempts to bring peace
are met with aggressive resistance.

425
00:33:19,617 --> 00:33:22,787
"The Base," the loyal allies,

426
00:33:22,912 --> 00:33:25,456
cannot accept the price of peace.

427
00:33:26,833 --> 00:33:29,627
You don't have to renounce
your ideology for peace.

428
00:33:29,711 --> 00:33:32,463
Peace is not the final objective.

429
00:33:32,547 --> 00:33:34,924
Implementing the ideology is the objective.

430
00:33:35,008 --> 00:33:38,553
The purpose is that the people of Israel
live securely in its land

431
00:33:38,636 --> 00:33:42,098
and that's what we must strive for
and pay for, if need be,

432
00:33:42,223 --> 00:33:44,017
or others have to pay for it.

433
00:33:44,100 --> 00:33:45,643
Were you afraid of peace?

434
00:33:46,310 --> 00:33:49,230
No, we were afraid of its price.

435
00:33:55,153 --> 00:33:57,989
The price that Begin
is required to pay is heavy:

436
00:33:58,072 --> 00:34:00,366
Returning the Sinai to Egypt,

437
00:34:00,450 --> 00:34:03,578
including the uprooting of towns
in the Rafiah Plain

438
00:34:03,661 --> 00:34:07,248
and recognition, even partially,
of the Palestinian nationalism.

439
00:34:11,711 --> 00:34:15,089
Autonomy, a supposed administration,

440
00:34:15,173 --> 00:34:19,844
which every moderate Arab knows

441
00:34:19,927 --> 00:34:22,430
is the onset of a Palestinian state.

442
00:34:22,930 --> 00:34:24,974
This is a deception of the Land of Israel.

443
00:34:26,684 --> 00:34:29,354
The opponents,
loyal to Greater Israel,

444
00:34:29,437 --> 00:34:31,647
Gush Emunim members,
the settlers,

445
00:34:31,731 --> 00:34:35,443
do their best to fail
the treaty in the making.

446
00:34:37,862 --> 00:34:41,783
Begin's relationship
with Gush Emunim was complex.

447
00:34:41,866 --> 00:34:45,620
On the one hand,
he sensed this emotional affinity.

448
00:34:45,870 --> 00:34:48,039
Begin wanted settlements everywhere

449
00:34:48,122 --> 00:34:50,333
and they're willing to comply,

450
00:34:50,416 --> 00:34:53,002
in true pioneering conditions.

451
00:34:53,086 --> 00:34:55,546
He respected that very much.

452
00:34:55,630 --> 00:34:56,923
On the other hand...

453
00:34:57,006 --> 00:34:59,509
We will keep settling.

454
00:34:59,592 --> 00:35:02,845
That is our answer
to the Israeli government.

455
00:35:02,929 --> 00:35:07,266
Begin said the Gush Emunim members
had a Messiah complex.

456
00:35:07,350 --> 00:35:13,731
They saw themselves linked
to some historic process

457
00:35:13,815 --> 00:35:15,483
that is divine,

458
00:35:15,566 --> 00:35:20,488
that has a cosmic, Messianic meaning.

459
00:35:20,655 --> 00:35:24,117
There is a great Zionist process

460
00:35:24,200 --> 00:35:27,412
that no power can oppose.

461
00:35:27,495 --> 00:35:29,455
The bulldozer can vacate the rocks,

462
00:35:29,539 --> 00:35:31,958
but these "rocks" can't be evacuated

463
00:35:32,041 --> 00:35:34,168
and ultimately they determine a fact.

464
00:35:35,003 --> 00:35:37,714
They don't have to heed
government instructions.

465
00:35:37,797 --> 00:35:40,258
They can present the government
with a done deal.

466
00:35:40,383 --> 00:35:43,177
He has an ideology
he wants to fulfill

467
00:35:43,261 --> 00:35:44,929
and ultimately he did.

468
00:35:51,853 --> 00:35:54,522
Right after the '77 elections

469
00:35:54,605 --> 00:36:00,445
there were 38 settlements
with 1,900 settlers in the West Bank.

470
00:36:00,653 --> 00:36:04,449
In the mid '80s,
under Begin's government and his successors,

471
00:36:04,532 --> 00:36:07,326
the number of settlers
spiked to 50,000.

472
00:36:09,203 --> 00:36:15,084
As of 2019, 450,000 Jews live
in Judea and Samaria,

473
00:36:15,168 --> 00:36:18,254
4% of the Israeli population.

474
00:36:24,761 --> 00:36:26,846
Good week to you, Israeli citizens.

475
00:36:27,764 --> 00:36:29,974
Tonight I want to talk to you

476
00:36:30,433 --> 00:36:35,188
about several political,
economic and social issues.

477
00:36:35,355 --> 00:36:38,649
Let's start with
the Camp David conference.

478
00:36:41,319 --> 00:36:43,654
A very important meeting.

479
00:36:51,871 --> 00:36:56,959
At Camp David we will protect
our people in the Land of Israel

480
00:36:57,043 --> 00:37:02,256
because in this cruel world,
from Czechoslovakia to Lebanon,

481
00:37:03,091 --> 00:37:06,636
not only can we say,
we must say,

482
00:37:06,719 --> 00:37:09,764
if we are not for ourselves,
then who will be for us?

483
00:37:19,691 --> 00:37:23,194
Compromises will be mandatory.

484
00:37:24,112 --> 00:37:28,324
Without them,
no progress can be expected.

485
00:37:29,867 --> 00:37:32,328
The points of debate
remained the same:

486
00:37:32,412 --> 00:37:34,455
The nature of the Palestinian autonomy

487
00:37:34,497 --> 00:37:37,083
and the fate of the towns
in the Yamit district.

488
00:37:38,710 --> 00:37:40,837
The idyllic atmosphere
of Camp David

489
00:37:40,920 --> 00:37:43,673
couldn't soften the two leaders.

490
00:37:43,756 --> 00:37:47,969
Jimmy Carter took upon himself the role
of aggressive mediator.

491
00:37:48,845 --> 00:37:52,849
It's the president of the United States.
I was nervous.

492
00:37:52,932 --> 00:37:55,435
The situation was hard for me,

493
00:37:55,518 --> 00:37:59,272
sitting with the U.S. president,
drafting texts with him.

494
00:37:59,689 --> 00:38:01,607
Often I had to say,

495
00:38:01,941 --> 00:38:04,819
"No, Mr. President,
this is a no, this is a no..."

496
00:38:04,902 --> 00:38:06,738
At times he was very angry
and lashed out.

497
00:38:06,821 --> 00:38:09,407
"You don't want peace,
this will ruin everything,"

498
00:38:09,574 --> 00:38:10,908
statements of that nature.

499
00:38:12,285 --> 00:38:16,456
Weizman thought that Begin
is liable to torpedo the whole thing.

500
00:38:16,539 --> 00:38:19,250
He feared that Begin's hesitation

501
00:38:19,334 --> 00:38:22,211
and insistence
on a few formal issues

502
00:38:22,295 --> 00:38:24,339
could impede the peace treaty.

503
00:38:25,423 --> 00:38:29,052
Another major party
in the Israeli delegation

504
00:38:29,135 --> 00:38:30,970
is Foreign Minister Moshe Dayan,

505
00:38:31,054 --> 00:38:33,598
in charge of the creative solutions.

506
00:38:33,681 --> 00:38:37,143
Dayan was ill by then,

507
00:38:37,310 --> 00:38:39,979
he was in severe pain.

508
00:38:40,063 --> 00:38:41,773
He didn't sleep well at night.

509
00:38:42,607 --> 00:38:46,110
He would wake me up,

510
00:38:46,194 --> 00:38:50,698
not to discuss professional matters,
rather worldly wisdom,

511
00:38:50,782 --> 00:38:54,369
he quoted Shlonsky
and Alterman by heart.

512
00:38:55,161 --> 00:38:55,995
And you listened.

513
00:38:56,079 --> 00:38:57,914
I listened attentively.

514
00:38:59,165 --> 00:39:00,750
I respected the man very much.

515
00:39:01,626 --> 00:39:04,545
He wasn't the Dayan
of the Six Day War,

516
00:39:04,629 --> 00:39:07,924
he was the Dayan
of the Yom Kippur War,

517
00:39:08,007 --> 00:39:11,761
but he had many ideas,

518
00:39:11,844 --> 00:39:16,391
he was very independent in thought,
very creative.

519
00:39:25,358 --> 00:39:30,571
When you read the statements
of the people who attended Camp David,

520
00:39:30,655 --> 00:39:35,326
you understand that the wording
was paramount, not the meaning.

521
00:39:35,535 --> 00:39:38,371
And the meaning was that Begin
paves the way

522
00:39:38,454 --> 00:39:40,206
to a Palestinian state!

523
00:39:40,456 --> 00:39:45,169
The meaning was that Begin
uproots towns in the Sinai.

524
00:39:45,253 --> 00:39:48,006
Therefore his leadership was hollow.

525
00:39:50,591 --> 00:39:52,593
The Egyptians, and Carter,

526
00:39:52,677 --> 00:39:58,266
claimed that Begin is stubborn,
focusing on minute details,

527
00:39:58,349 --> 00:40:03,521
but it was those minute details
that gave us the detailed peace treaty

528
00:40:03,896 --> 00:40:06,899
that is in place to this day.

529
00:40:09,027 --> 00:40:11,904
Following 13 days
of intense discussions,

530
00:40:11,988 --> 00:40:15,575
harsh crises
and President Carter's headstrong pressure,

531
00:40:15,658 --> 00:40:18,619
white smoke billows over Camp David.

532
00:40:27,962 --> 00:40:31,966
The architects of peace are welcomed home
with love and cries of joy.

533
00:40:35,845 --> 00:40:39,140
The opponents are thrust to the sidelines,

534
00:40:39,307 --> 00:40:41,476
accumulating strength
to continue the struggle.

535
00:40:44,312 --> 00:40:47,231
The Knesset is asked
to approve the Camp David Accords.

536
00:40:49,317 --> 00:40:51,444
MKs, please be quiet!

537
00:40:51,527 --> 00:40:54,489
The performance was
in Camp David, not here!

538
00:40:56,657 --> 00:40:59,827
I will not let the prime minister

539
00:40:59,911 --> 00:41:03,498
say things to the Israeli people
that will raise false hope...

540
00:41:03,581 --> 00:41:08,586
MK Geula Cohen,
I call you to order for the third time.

541
00:41:09,921 --> 00:41:12,090
Begin clearly presents the options,

542
00:41:12,173 --> 00:41:15,968
a peace treaty or retaining the settlements
in the Rafiah Plain.

543
00:41:16,219 --> 00:41:18,137
Those are the options.

544
00:41:18,221 --> 00:41:20,390
Those are the two options.

545
00:41:20,598 --> 00:41:22,058
There is no third.

546
00:41:22,850 --> 00:41:27,939
And I declare
that this is the path to peace,

547
00:41:28,272 --> 00:41:31,317
it's the supreme national interest

548
00:41:31,401 --> 00:41:34,696
of my friends the settlers as well.

549
00:41:34,779 --> 00:41:39,951
The result: 13 MKs oppose,
17 abstain,

550
00:41:40,034 --> 00:41:42,578
84 vote in favor.

551
00:41:54,716 --> 00:41:57,218
Over six months
after the Camp David conference,

552
00:41:57,301 --> 00:41:59,137
the historic moment arrived.

553
00:41:59,220 --> 00:42:03,933
The peacemakers convened
to sign the treaty on the White House lawn.

554
00:42:15,737 --> 00:42:18,322
It is, ladies and gentlemen,

555
00:42:18,614 --> 00:42:22,410
the third greatest day in my life.

556
00:42:23,369 --> 00:42:27,707
The first was May the 14th, 1948

557
00:42:28,416 --> 00:42:34,630
when our independence
in our ancestors' land was proclaimed.

558
00:42:35,465 --> 00:42:41,012
The second day
was when Jerusalem became one city.

559
00:42:42,889 --> 00:42:47,935
This is the third day in my life:

560
00:42:48,353 --> 00:42:55,485
I have signed the treaty of peace
with our great neighbor, with Egypt.

561
00:42:56,486 --> 00:43:00,823
The heart is full and overflowing.

562
00:43:16,214 --> 00:43:20,426
A few days after the signing,
Israel hosts the Eurovision contest...

563
00:43:28,810 --> 00:43:31,688
Israel, 12 points.

564
00:43:33,272 --> 00:43:35,274
And believe it or not, it wins.

565
00:43:55,670 --> 00:43:59,215
The Broadcasting Authority gave me
two tickets to the Eurovision

566
00:43:59,340 --> 00:44:03,344
where Gali Atari and Milk and Honey
won with "Hallelujah."

567
00:44:03,428 --> 00:44:05,638
It was five days
after signing the peace treaty

568
00:44:05,722 --> 00:44:07,390
and the next day we went to Cairo.

569
00:44:26,701 --> 00:44:29,037
Begin can now tick off the box.

570
00:44:29,120 --> 00:44:32,832
The peace treaty with Egypt
shattered the Arab unity,

571
00:44:33,041 --> 00:44:37,003
eliminated Israel's existential fears.

572
00:44:44,385 --> 00:44:47,180
September 1st, 1939,

573
00:44:47,263 --> 00:44:49,432
the day the Nazis invaded Poland,

574
00:44:49,557 --> 00:44:55,188
Begin and Beitar leaders convened
at the site of the movement's newspaper,

575
00:44:55,271 --> 00:44:56,481
"Der Moment."

576
00:44:57,315 --> 00:45:00,318
Uri Zvi Greenberg burst into the room,

577
00:45:00,401 --> 00:45:03,529
looked at them and said,
"You're insane, what are you doing here?

578
00:45:03,946 --> 00:45:06,783
"Run, you shouldn't be here."

579
00:45:09,577 --> 00:45:12,413
Begin and wife Aliza flee east,

580
00:45:12,580 --> 00:45:17,418
find refuge with friends,
Batya and Israel (Scheib) Eldad,

581
00:45:17,502 --> 00:45:19,504
in a small village outside Vilnius.

582
00:45:20,213 --> 00:45:25,218
Begin and my father were playing chess
in that house in the village.

583
00:45:25,468 --> 00:45:27,804
The NKVD arrives,
the Russian secret police,

584
00:45:28,262 --> 00:45:30,556
and arrests Menachem Begin.

585
00:45:30,640 --> 00:45:34,602
My mother burst into tears
and Begin reassured her,

586
00:45:34,686 --> 00:45:36,145
"Everything will be alright,

587
00:45:36,229 --> 00:45:39,607
"they said I'd be back
after the interrogation."

588
00:45:40,191 --> 00:45:43,152
They both knew,
they all knew that...

589
00:45:43,236 --> 00:45:45,446
one doesn't get out of
Russian prison that easily.

590
00:45:47,407 --> 00:45:50,451
"My wife and I exchanged a few words,

591
00:45:50,702 --> 00:45:52,954
"there was no time for more.

592
00:45:54,163 --> 00:45:56,416
"I told her I think I'll be back,

593
00:45:56,666 --> 00:46:01,087
"anyway she mustn't arouse pity.

594
00:46:02,255 --> 00:46:06,551
"A few minutes later,
her waving hand vanished from sight."

595
00:46:15,893 --> 00:46:19,731
Begin was imprisoned in
a labor camp in Siberia for nine months,

596
00:46:19,897 --> 00:46:25,528
a bitter memory that he took with him
to the prime minister's office in Jerusalem.

597
00:46:25,695 --> 00:46:27,488
When he becomes prime minister

598
00:46:27,572 --> 00:46:29,157
within a week or two he summons

599
00:46:29,240 --> 00:46:32,201
the director of the Shin Bet,
Avraham Ahituv

600
00:46:32,285 --> 00:46:36,914
and said, "I forbid you to use force
or violence during interrogations."

601
00:46:36,998 --> 00:46:38,291
This was a novelty.

602
00:46:38,791 --> 00:46:39,917
He asked, "What then?"

603
00:46:40,001 --> 00:46:41,919
"Only the wisdom of the interrogator."

604
00:46:43,296 --> 00:46:47,216
Around two years later
President Carter said to Begin

605
00:46:47,300 --> 00:46:51,846
that he's getting complaints about
the Shin Bet using force, beating someone.

606
00:46:51,929 --> 00:46:53,389
He summons Ahituv again

607
00:46:53,473 --> 00:46:56,225
and says,
"I said no use of force.

608
00:46:56,309 --> 00:46:58,019
"This is not the Inquisition.

609
00:46:58,102 --> 00:47:00,188
"You don't use force or violence,

610
00:47:00,271 --> 00:47:01,606
"no beatings during interrogations."

611
00:47:01,814 --> 00:47:05,026
This is the same Begin
who dedicated his book,

612
00:47:05,109 --> 00:47:08,446
"White Nights"
to the unknown victim of torture.

613
00:47:28,007 --> 00:47:30,885
36 months after the joyous moment

614
00:47:30,968 --> 00:47:32,553
came payment time,

615
00:47:32,637 --> 00:47:34,764
the uprooting of the towns in Yamit.

616
00:47:43,106 --> 00:47:47,276
The new defense minister Ariel Sharon
was appointed the man in charge.

617
00:47:50,405 --> 00:47:53,866
The fear of civil war intensifies.

618
00:47:54,242 --> 00:47:57,620
Menachem Begin accepts
Defense Minister Ariel Sharon's plan

619
00:47:58,162 --> 00:48:00,289
to vacate the residents
of Yamit by force

620
00:48:00,373 --> 00:48:02,625
and raze the town.

621
00:48:15,221 --> 00:48:18,516
I arrived in Yamit
with 150 students.

622
00:48:18,766 --> 00:48:21,686
That day Channel 1,

623
00:48:21,769 --> 00:48:24,480
the only Israeli channel,

624
00:48:24,897 --> 00:48:28,276
was reporting on the arrival
of the students in Yamit.

625
00:48:28,359 --> 00:48:30,028
Shut up! No one's filming!

626
00:48:30,486 --> 00:48:31,446
You either!

627
00:48:31,529 --> 00:48:32,864
Are you nuts?

628
00:48:32,989 --> 00:48:35,074
And I was asked
by the correspondent,

629
00:48:35,158 --> 00:48:37,452
"What will happen
if you're driven out by force?"

630
00:48:37,577 --> 00:48:41,789
As a 25-year-old radical at the time,

631
00:48:41,873 --> 00:48:43,916
I replied aggressively,

632
00:48:44,000 --> 00:48:45,918
"We will meet force with force."

633
00:48:49,922 --> 00:48:52,842
The next day
there was a Knesset discussion

634
00:48:52,925 --> 00:48:57,680
and Prime Minister Begin argued
with my statement.

635
00:48:57,764 --> 00:48:59,974
"Tzechi, Tzechi, my son..."

636
00:49:00,099 --> 00:49:03,853
Whenever he wanted to offend someone
he'd distort their name,

637
00:49:03,936 --> 00:49:06,272
I assume he knew
my name is Tzachi,

638
00:49:06,356 --> 00:49:08,191
but he called me Tzechi.

639
00:49:08,274 --> 00:49:12,445
"Ask your mother
who we applied force against.

640
00:49:12,528 --> 00:49:15,865
"We applied force against the British,
not against IDF soldiers."

641
00:49:22,163 --> 00:49:24,791
We are fighting for peace.

642
00:49:25,041 --> 00:49:27,001
We should be thankful.

643
00:49:27,293 --> 00:49:30,046
Yes, peace comes with difficulties.

644
00:49:30,129 --> 00:49:32,548
Yes, peace comes with pain.

645
00:49:32,715 --> 00:49:35,134
Yes, peace comes with victims.

646
00:49:35,218 --> 00:49:37,929
They are all better
than the victims of war!

647
00:49:40,890 --> 00:49:43,101
This I declare,

648
00:49:43,184 --> 00:49:46,270
the man who lead
a freedom organization.

649
00:49:51,609 --> 00:49:55,113
I will tell the Knesset
about a very simple human thought.

650
00:49:55,196 --> 00:49:58,783
Why shouldn't I share it with them?

651
00:49:59,075 --> 00:50:00,952
I broke my leg

652
00:50:01,536 --> 00:50:04,414
and one day or night,
I don't know,

653
00:50:04,497 --> 00:50:06,916
a thought came to me...

654
00:50:07,542 --> 00:50:10,044
Oh no, if war breaks out,

655
00:50:10,128 --> 00:50:14,340
dozens, perhaps hundreds
of our young men will lie in bed

656
00:50:14,465 --> 00:50:17,677
with a broken leg
or with no leg at all, God forbid.

657
00:50:20,471 --> 00:50:22,390
War must be prevented!

658
00:50:28,771 --> 00:50:31,065
In retrospect,
was this peace a mistake?

659
00:50:31,274 --> 00:50:33,026
No.

660
00:50:33,109 --> 00:50:39,198
I thought this peace could be a trap
and Egypt would use it

661
00:50:39,782 --> 00:50:43,119
to build military bases in the Sinai
and attack us from there,

662
00:50:43,202 --> 00:50:44,203
that didn't happen.

663
00:50:44,287 --> 00:50:46,414
In retrospect,
that peace wasn't a mistake.

664
00:51:02,847 --> 00:51:08,144
All people standing by the windows,
please go to the shelters.

665
00:51:08,227 --> 00:51:09,979
A few days after Begin was elected

666
00:51:10,063 --> 00:51:12,565
as prime minister for a second term,

667
00:51:12,690 --> 00:51:15,109
a war of attrition breaks out in the north.

668
00:51:15,651 --> 00:51:21,366
For 12 days, PLO artillery bombards
Kiryat Shmona, Nahariya, Metula.

669
00:51:22,241 --> 00:51:24,327
We will protect our children!

670
00:51:25,870 --> 00:51:31,918
If a hand of a bipedal animal is raised
against them, that hand will be cut off.

671
00:51:33,378 --> 00:51:35,254
Just a little while more

672
00:51:35,922 --> 00:51:39,884
and not one more Katyusha
will land on Kiryat Shmona!

673
00:51:42,053 --> 00:51:44,430
The target was marked:
The PLO,

674
00:51:45,056 --> 00:51:49,727
the Palestinian Liberation Organization
and its leader, Yasser Arafat.

675
00:51:58,194 --> 00:52:00,738
On the way to the target, tragedy.

676
00:52:00,822 --> 00:52:04,200
Members of the Muslim Brotherhood
assassinate the partner to peace,

677
00:52:04,283 --> 00:52:06,786
Egyptian President Anwar Sadat.

678
00:52:11,582 --> 00:52:14,419
After Sadat's funeral,
and I was there,

679
00:52:15,712 --> 00:52:17,714
Menachem Begin met with

680
00:52:17,797 --> 00:52:19,799
the American Secretary of State

681
00:52:19,882 --> 00:52:21,175
Alexander Haig

682
00:52:21,259 --> 00:52:23,177
and to his astonishment

683
00:52:23,261 --> 00:52:27,432
Haig said,
"Now we must assure

684
00:52:27,515 --> 00:52:30,268
"we establish a Palestinian entity."

685
00:52:30,351 --> 00:52:33,604
As he perceived the peace treaty
with Egypt, Begin thought,

686
00:52:33,688 --> 00:52:39,152
"I give the Sinai,
I get the West Bank."

687
00:52:39,235 --> 00:52:42,947
Then he finds out,
"No, you don't get the West Bank."

688
00:52:43,239 --> 00:52:49,454
Once he realized that the world
would insist he talk to the PLO,

689
00:52:49,746 --> 00:52:53,374
the idea was to destroy
the Palestinian option.

690
00:52:57,337 --> 00:53:03,092
In November 1981, a health incident suspends
the urgent national tasks.

691
00:53:03,885 --> 00:53:07,180
68-year-old Menachem Begin
slips in the bathtub.

692
00:53:11,267 --> 00:53:13,519
21 days of painful hospitalization

693
00:53:13,644 --> 00:53:15,688
left much time for thought.

694
00:53:16,397 --> 00:53:19,108
Begin returns home
with new insights.

695
00:53:20,360 --> 00:53:24,280
He's convinced.
This is the time for momentous moves.

696
00:53:24,864 --> 00:53:26,532
The first trial balloon:

697
00:53:26,616 --> 00:53:29,369
Applying Israeli sovereignty
on the Golan Heights,

698
00:53:29,452 --> 00:53:33,581
Syrian territory seized by Israel
during the Six Day War.

699
00:53:33,831 --> 00:53:35,792
Immediately. Tonight.

700
00:53:37,085 --> 00:53:38,211
"Gentlemen,

701
00:53:38,294 --> 00:53:41,130
"this is obviously a bold step
and we will have problems.

702
00:53:41,255 --> 00:53:44,092
"I am sure
the United States will protest.

703
00:53:44,175 --> 00:53:45,510
"What will Egypt do?

704
00:53:45,593 --> 00:53:48,888
"Militarily, I don't think
it can wage war against us.

705
00:53:48,971 --> 00:53:49,889
"Syria...

706
00:53:49,972 --> 00:53:52,266
"it knows that if it attacks,
it will collapse.

707
00:53:53,142 --> 00:53:56,062
"Russia? It is dealing
with a coup in Poland,

708
00:53:56,145 --> 00:53:59,190
"it has Afghanistan,
so will it deploy aircrafts against us?

709
00:53:59,357 --> 00:54:01,025
"Will it deploy tanks?"

710
00:54:02,110 --> 00:54:05,363
All in favor, raise your hands.
Please count.

711
00:54:06,572 --> 00:54:09,617
In a quick procedure
the Knesset agrees with Begin

712
00:54:09,701 --> 00:54:11,994
and authorizes the annexation
of the Golan Heights.

713
00:54:14,497 --> 00:54:15,998
The time is 9:30 a.m.,

714
00:54:16,082 --> 00:54:19,043
U.S. Ambassador Lewis
is summoned by the prime minister

715
00:54:19,127 --> 00:54:23,172
to hear Israel's reaction
to the U.S. sanctions

716
00:54:23,256 --> 00:54:25,967
following Knesset confirmation
of the Golan Heights law.

717
00:54:26,175 --> 00:54:28,636
Reality complied
with the political analysis.

718
00:54:28,720 --> 00:54:31,806
The U.S. was angry,
it reproached and that was that.

719
00:54:33,182 --> 00:54:34,809
The time is 10:30 a.m.,

720
00:54:34,892 --> 00:54:38,187
the U.S. ambassador ends his discussion
with the prime minister.

721
00:54:38,396 --> 00:54:43,526
IDF generals, commanders of the various
forces, headed by the chief of staff, arrive.

722
00:54:45,778 --> 00:54:48,698
The other actors,
Russia, Egypt, Syria,

723
00:54:48,781 --> 00:54:50,992
evidently didn't respond.

724
00:54:51,659 --> 00:54:53,161
The game can be stepped up.

725
00:54:54,245 --> 00:54:59,208
Begin demands the ministers agree
that the IDF enter Lebanon

726
00:54:59,292 --> 00:55:01,544
and cleanse it of terrorist bases.

727
00:55:01,961 --> 00:55:05,840
Defense Minister Arik Sharon presents
the big military plan:

728
00:55:05,923 --> 00:55:08,551
attacking the PLO,
weakening the Syrians,

729
00:55:08,718 --> 00:55:12,555
reinforcing the Christians before
the Lebanese presidential elections.

730
00:55:13,139 --> 00:55:15,350
The defense minister
presents the plan

731
00:55:15,433 --> 00:55:17,852
and Begin grants
the ministers the floor.

732
00:55:17,935 --> 00:55:20,980
He lets Erlich speak, Burg,

733
00:55:21,064 --> 00:55:25,360
this one and that one
and they all have their reservations.

734
00:55:25,443 --> 00:55:28,988
Then Begin says to Sharon,
"You see, Arik?

735
00:55:29,072 --> 00:55:30,448
"It's not the time yet."

736
00:55:30,573 --> 00:55:32,367
With that it was off the table

737
00:55:32,450 --> 00:55:34,702
and never reintroduced,

738
00:55:34,786 --> 00:55:37,747
not to the security cabinet,
not to the Knesset plenum.

739
00:55:40,375 --> 00:55:43,628
Despite the resistance,
Begin and Sharon proceed.

740
00:55:47,465 --> 00:55:52,428
Sharon goes to Lebanon to meet
with the Christian leaders, the Gemayel family.

741
00:55:54,138 --> 00:55:56,432
On the way back from Beirut

742
00:55:56,516 --> 00:55:59,602
Sharon called me at home
in the middle of the night

743
00:55:59,686 --> 00:56:02,563
and uttered the zinger,

744
00:56:02,814 --> 00:56:05,900
"Tonight I tied their legs,

745
00:56:06,776 --> 00:56:11,531
"I agreed on the order of actions
with the Christians.

746
00:56:12,073 --> 00:56:13,282
"They are with us."

747
00:56:15,952 --> 00:56:18,663
Begin is in Washington

748
00:56:18,788 --> 00:56:20,623
preparing the political groundwork,

749
00:56:20,748 --> 00:56:24,252
obtaining American agreement
for an Israeli military campaign

750
00:56:24,419 --> 00:56:27,755
if the latter is attacked
and distinctly provoked.

751
00:56:37,306 --> 00:56:41,394
And here it comes,
the necessary distinct provocation.

752
00:56:41,477 --> 00:56:46,357
Gunfire fatally wounded
Israel's ambassador in London, Shlomo Argov.

753
00:56:54,157 --> 00:56:58,119
The Israeli government has decided
to charge the IDF

754
00:56:58,369 --> 00:57:02,206
with removing all the Galilee towns

755
00:57:02,373 --> 00:57:07,670
from the line of fire of terrorists,
their headquarters and bases,

756
00:57:07,754 --> 00:57:08,838
which are in Lebanon.

757
00:57:10,798 --> 00:57:13,885
The name of the operation:
Peace for Galilee.

758
00:57:15,428 --> 00:57:17,764
Our armored corps races in.

759
00:57:17,930 --> 00:57:20,933
The guys wave hello
and give the thumbs up.

760
00:57:21,017 --> 00:57:24,270
"Leave it to us," they smile,
and we are all hopeful.

761
00:57:32,695 --> 00:57:37,158
Operation Peace for Galilee is not
a military campaign forced upon us.

762
00:57:39,243 --> 00:57:43,247
The terrorists didn't threaten
the existence of the State of Israel.

763
00:57:44,540 --> 00:57:48,294
They just threatened the lives
of the citizens of Israel.

764
00:57:54,133 --> 00:57:58,471
Begin and Defense Minister Sharon
join the forces raiding Lebanon.

765
00:57:58,680 --> 00:58:03,184
They visit command headquarters
and remain overnight in Safed.

766
00:58:03,643 --> 00:58:06,854
I wake up in the morning
in the Rockenstein Hotel in Safed,

767
00:58:06,938 --> 00:58:08,648
I go to the war room with first light

768
00:58:08,773 --> 00:58:12,735
and the war room commander tells me
that the Beaufort fell.

769
00:58:13,569 --> 00:58:14,821
I go to Arik

770
00:58:14,904 --> 00:58:16,989
and say,
"Arik, the Beaufort has fallen."

771
00:58:17,448 --> 00:58:19,742
We go to Begin,
"The Beaufort has fallen."

772
00:58:21,536 --> 00:58:24,414
Then Begin says,
"Let's go up to the Beaufort."

773
00:58:25,998 --> 00:58:27,458
We go up.

774
00:58:27,542 --> 00:58:31,004
I am not informed what happened,

775
00:58:31,087 --> 00:58:34,757
who was there, nothing.

776
00:58:40,096 --> 00:58:42,432
We land first,
I get out first

777
00:58:42,515 --> 00:58:45,810
and I instantly see,
50-100 meters beyond the landing,

778
00:58:45,893 --> 00:58:47,103
the bodies of dead terrorists.

779
00:58:47,854 --> 00:58:50,648
Still pretty warm.
From the night before.

780
00:58:50,732 --> 00:58:54,610
I say to Arik,
"There was a battle here last night."

781
00:58:55,653 --> 00:58:59,073
As we're talking, Begin lands.

782
00:59:00,950 --> 00:59:05,038
Six soldiers were killed in the
uncalled for battle to seize the Beaufort.

783
00:59:05,121 --> 00:59:06,914
Begin was not apprised.

784
00:59:07,206 --> 00:59:09,500
I feel the mountain air.

785
00:59:09,667 --> 00:59:10,960
It's high.

786
00:59:11,502 --> 00:59:14,839
This place was...
-An open wound.

787
00:59:14,922 --> 00:59:17,133
A threat for years and years.

788
00:59:18,718 --> 00:59:19,594
Very high.

789
00:59:19,677 --> 00:59:23,514
These young soldiers took part in...
-The occupation?

790
00:59:23,598 --> 00:59:26,017
Where?
-This young fellow.

791
00:59:27,185 --> 00:59:30,146
Did you fight all night?
-Not all night.

792
00:59:32,106 --> 00:59:34,901
Did they have machine guns?

793
00:59:35,234 --> 00:59:38,112
They had fairly large firearms
around the fort

794
00:59:38,196 --> 00:59:40,823
and rifles in the trench.

795
00:59:41,908 --> 00:59:43,368
Did many surrender?

796
00:59:44,077 --> 00:59:45,703
No one surrendered.
-No one?

797
00:59:45,787 --> 00:59:48,581
They were either killed or fled.
-Yes?

798
00:59:50,667 --> 00:59:51,959
Thank you.

799
00:59:57,507 --> 01:00:00,927
Israeli prime ministers
like rubbing shoulders with soldiers,

800
01:00:01,010 --> 01:00:03,513
to boast the image of "Mr. Security."

801
01:00:08,810 --> 01:00:11,062
There are no combat images of Begin.

802
01:00:11,354 --> 01:00:15,441
The encounter on the Beaufort
was embarrassing and a one off.

803
01:00:19,654 --> 01:00:23,783
Begin deemed himself a path maker,
an ideologist, a statesman.

804
01:00:24,283 --> 01:00:28,162
From that narrow perspective,
Begin can chalk up a success.

805
01:00:28,371 --> 01:00:33,584
He warded off international pressure
and enabled his warlord, Arik Sharon,

806
01:00:33,668 --> 01:00:36,045
to wage weeks of war.

807
01:00:40,675 --> 01:00:44,262
It is said that
Begin revered generals.

808
01:00:44,345 --> 01:00:47,390
That's not completely true
and not completely untrue.

809
01:00:47,515 --> 01:00:54,147
There were three generals
whom Begin revered very, very much.

810
01:00:54,230 --> 01:00:57,608
Moshe Dayan,
Ariel Sharon and Rafael Eitan.

811
01:00:57,734 --> 01:01:02,655
Three bold fighters,
heroes, in fact,

812
01:01:02,822 --> 01:01:07,577
three farmers,
men of the soil,

813
01:01:07,785 --> 01:01:13,124
qualities that Begin greatly respected

814
01:01:13,207 --> 01:01:15,043
and they were
the complete opposite of himself.

815
01:01:25,553 --> 01:01:28,598
Two wars were
essentially waged in Lebanon.

816
01:01:28,681 --> 01:01:32,894
One against PLO terrorists
and one against the Syrian army.

817
01:01:32,977 --> 01:01:34,312
A blitzkrieg

818
01:01:34,395 --> 01:01:38,399
that according to initial statements,
Israel didn't want.

819
01:01:40,151 --> 01:01:46,032
If we reach 40 km
from our northern border,

820
01:01:46,824 --> 01:01:50,286
our work will have been done
and the fighting will stop.

821
01:01:51,579 --> 01:01:55,041
I want the Syrian president
to heed my words,

822
01:01:55,124 --> 01:01:58,336
act in this spirit in Lebanon

823
01:01:58,419 --> 01:02:01,547
and your Syrian soldiers
will remain unharmed.

824
01:02:05,635 --> 01:02:08,429
Just a few hours
after this placatory statement,

825
01:02:08,513 --> 01:02:09,847
war is on.

826
01:02:11,933 --> 01:02:16,979
The IAF set out to apply nine years
of planning, training and advanced systems

827
01:02:17,063 --> 01:02:20,316
to destroy the Syrian air defense

828
01:02:20,441 --> 01:02:23,945
that caused great damage
to the Israeli air force

829
01:02:24,028 --> 01:02:25,697
during the Yom Kippur War.

830
01:02:26,155 --> 01:02:27,865
I see a MiG!

831
01:02:27,949 --> 01:02:29,742
Okay, I have eye contact.

832
01:02:29,826 --> 01:02:31,619
I'm taking it out.

833
01:02:34,539 --> 01:02:36,374
Victory was swift.

834
01:02:36,457 --> 01:02:39,127
19 missile batteries
were destroyed.

835
01:02:39,377 --> 01:02:42,046
During the air combat that day

836
01:02:42,130 --> 01:02:44,549
29 MiGs were shot down.

837
01:02:46,217 --> 01:02:51,556
This is what I think
Operation Peace for Galilee did for us -

838
01:02:52,056 --> 01:02:57,562
it cured the nation's trauma
from the Yom Kippur War.

839
01:02:57,645 --> 01:02:59,230
In my opinion, completely.

840
01:02:59,313 --> 01:03:02,483
We shot down 85 MiGs.

841
01:03:02,567 --> 01:03:05,486
We destroyed 19 batteries.

842
01:03:06,237 --> 01:03:09,115
The people and the world realized

843
01:03:09,198 --> 01:03:13,995
that if you have superior technology
developed by the Jewish mind,

844
01:03:14,078 --> 01:03:15,246
then it triumphs.

845
01:03:17,665 --> 01:03:21,794
The military success led to
a ceasefire agreement with the Syrians.

846
01:03:22,045 --> 01:03:24,797
Israel is convinced of its power

847
01:03:24,881 --> 01:03:27,800
and sets its sights on destroying
PLO headquarters in Beirut.

848
01:03:28,468 --> 01:03:32,680
You see that distant mountain

849
01:03:33,264 --> 01:03:35,600
and the valley in front of it,

850
01:03:35,767 --> 01:03:41,230
in the valley between the distant mountain
and the ridge before us,

851
01:03:41,314 --> 01:03:45,026
is the Beirut-Damascus Highway.

852
01:03:45,360 --> 01:03:48,696
To convince government ministers
that it's imperative to reach Beirut,

853
01:03:48,863 --> 01:03:52,283
Arik Sharon takes them on a trip
to the city outskirts.

854
01:03:55,828 --> 01:03:58,623
I joined the Israeli government

855
01:03:58,706 --> 01:04:03,628
that went to the war zones
in Lebanon,

856
01:04:03,711 --> 01:04:08,424
and Sharon explained
the maneuvers,

857
01:04:08,508 --> 01:04:10,009
they were very pleased,

858
01:04:10,176 --> 01:04:13,763
got on the two choppers
that brought them

859
01:04:14,180 --> 01:04:17,809
and then I heard
Defense Minister Sharon

860
01:04:17,934 --> 01:04:23,064
giving orders
to open massive fire on Beirut.

861
01:04:45,837 --> 01:04:48,798
Menachem Begin committed
to a brief campaign.

862
01:04:50,967 --> 01:04:54,012
48 hours to remove PLO artillery

863
01:04:54,095 --> 01:04:57,056
to a distance of 40 km
from the northern towns.

864
01:05:04,772 --> 01:05:07,483
48 hours turned into weeks.

865
01:05:07,567 --> 01:05:10,486
The 40 km guarantee was violated.

866
01:05:10,737 --> 01:05:14,365
IDF soldiers reached
the Lebanese capital, Beirut.

867
01:05:15,033 --> 01:05:16,367
The price was heavy.

868
01:05:16,451 --> 01:05:19,746
Dozens of soldiers were killed.
Hundreds were wounded.

869
01:05:41,059 --> 01:05:45,104
Come down to us, airplane

870
01:05:45,188 --> 01:05:48,941
Take us to Lebanon

871
01:05:49,067 --> 01:05:52,862
We will fight for Sharon

872
01:05:53,029 --> 01:05:56,449
And return in a coffin

873
01:05:56,908 --> 01:05:59,410
We wanna go home, come on.

874
01:06:00,370 --> 01:06:04,499
You may be aware
that parts of the population,

875
01:06:04,582 --> 01:06:07,168
I can't gauge how many,

876
01:06:07,460 --> 01:06:12,131
fear that Defense Minister Sharon
caused the government

877
01:06:12,215 --> 01:06:15,593
to deviate from the originally
planned operation.

878
01:06:15,635 --> 01:06:19,389
Excuse me, Yaakov, I don't say this to you,
rather to the journalists

879
01:06:19,472 --> 01:06:22,934
it's a malicious lie.
That is not the case.

880
01:06:23,017 --> 01:06:26,270
It's idle talk.

881
01:06:27,146 --> 01:06:31,609
Despite the explicit denial,
the narrative took root in Israel.

882
01:06:31,693 --> 01:06:35,613
Defense Minister Sharon
is the driving force behind the war

883
01:06:35,697 --> 01:06:40,660
and he didn't always tell Begin
and the ministers the whole truth.

884
01:06:41,411 --> 01:06:43,538
No one deceived anyone.

885
01:06:43,621 --> 01:06:47,125
You ministers who attended
all the government sessions,

886
01:06:47,542 --> 01:06:53,089
you were informed that three divisions
were entering Lebanon from various directions.

887
01:06:53,172 --> 01:06:55,091
Didn't you ask yourselves,

888
01:06:55,174 --> 01:06:59,387
if it's 40 km, if it's 24 hours,
why three divisions?

889
01:06:59,846 --> 01:07:02,682
The objective was to reach Beirut.

890
01:07:11,024 --> 01:07:15,987
We'll drop a one-ton bomb
on any target we decide on,

891
01:07:16,696 --> 01:07:19,949
we'll cut off the power,
we won't provide them with fuel.

892
01:07:21,951 --> 01:07:26,164
Let's see who'll last longer.

893
01:07:31,961 --> 01:07:37,133
Was one of the objectives to capture
PLO leader Yasser Arafat?

894
01:07:37,216 --> 01:07:38,760
No.

895
01:07:38,843 --> 01:07:41,596
Perhaps prevent him...

896
01:07:42,055 --> 01:07:45,641
from commanding over his armies.

897
01:07:48,519 --> 01:07:53,358
We wanted to bring an end to his command
and two other Abus,

898
01:07:53,524 --> 01:07:56,027
Abu Iyad and Abu Zayyad.

899
01:08:01,115 --> 01:08:04,285
As Israeli bombing continues
in a futile pursuit

900
01:08:04,369 --> 01:08:06,621
after Yasser Arafat,

901
01:08:06,788 --> 01:08:11,000
U.S. envoy Philip Habib
is running back and forth

902
01:08:11,167 --> 01:08:13,378
trying to promote a political solution,

903
01:08:13,461 --> 01:08:16,130
voluntary withdrawal
of the terrorists from Lebanon.

904
01:08:25,264 --> 01:08:29,185
Meanwhile, the residents of Beirut
are paying the painful price

905
01:08:29,268 --> 01:08:31,020
of the Israeli-Palestinian struggle.

906
01:08:40,697 --> 01:08:43,991
An image was published
in the media,

907
01:08:44,200 --> 01:08:45,910
TV, press,

908
01:08:46,035 --> 01:08:49,580
of an Arab girl who
lost her hands in the bombings.

909
01:08:53,167 --> 01:08:54,502
Begin was in his office
in the Knesset

910
01:08:54,711 --> 01:08:58,506
where he had this niche
with a bed

911
01:08:58,589 --> 01:08:59,799
and he went for a nap.

912
01:08:59,882 --> 01:09:02,176
Suddenly his secretary asked me,

913
01:09:02,510 --> 01:09:04,554
"Azriel, what do I do?"

914
01:09:04,637 --> 01:09:05,430
I asked, "What happened?"

915
01:09:05,513 --> 01:09:07,849
"The White House
wants the prime minister."

916
01:09:08,057 --> 01:09:10,518
I went in, woke him up

917
01:09:10,601 --> 01:09:13,521
and said,
"President Reagan wants you."

918
01:09:14,439 --> 01:09:15,815
It was a harsh conversation.

919
01:09:16,232 --> 01:09:19,569
I think Reagan even mentioned
the word "Holocaust."

920
01:09:20,111 --> 01:09:24,991
He said something like,
"What you're doing in Beirut is a Holocaust."

921
01:09:27,618 --> 01:09:32,999
"Mr. President, you don't have to teach me
what a Holocaust is."

922
01:09:33,082 --> 01:09:36,753
That's the first time I grasped
that you can't ignore the media,

923
01:09:36,836 --> 01:09:41,632
not because I'm a bleeding heart, but because
war takes place on the screen as well.

924
01:09:41,841 --> 01:09:44,052
If you lose the war on the screen,
you lose the war.

925
01:10:01,569 --> 01:10:05,698
The American reproach
led to a stormy government session.

926
01:10:06,157 --> 01:10:07,867
The defense minister complained,

927
01:10:07,950 --> 01:10:11,829
"It's impossible to explain to every minister
what's going on in every house."

928
01:10:12,163 --> 01:10:15,500
The frustrated ministers express
their lack of confidence in Sharon

929
01:10:15,583 --> 01:10:17,877
and demand his authorities
be restricted.

930
01:10:19,253 --> 01:10:22,757
Begin, though he knows
the war is about to end,

931
01:10:22,840 --> 01:10:26,010
raises his hand in favor
of the unprecedented decision.

932
01:10:26,552 --> 01:10:31,432
Was this a strategy on Begin's part to assuage
the ministers and the U.S. president

933
01:10:31,808 --> 01:10:34,435
or was it a red card
to Defense Minister Sharon

934
01:10:34,519 --> 01:10:38,856
who many thought deceived
the government and its leader?

935
01:10:40,274 --> 01:10:43,194
I had a longstanding argument,

936
01:10:43,277 --> 01:10:45,446
for many years after I left my office,

937
01:10:45,530 --> 01:10:48,866
with the late Yechiel Kadishai.

938
01:10:48,950 --> 01:10:52,036
He'd listen to my opinions,
I never hid them,

939
01:10:52,120 --> 01:10:56,165
that, to put it mildly,

940
01:10:56,249 --> 01:10:59,168
Begin was duped.

941
01:10:59,794 --> 01:11:03,423
He said,
"Azriel, you don't understand.

942
01:11:04,298 --> 01:11:08,720
"Begin wanted it,
Begin supported it,

943
01:11:09,262 --> 01:11:10,972
"you're all clueless."

944
01:11:37,457 --> 01:11:41,294
We see the first ship sailing

945
01:11:42,920 --> 01:11:45,381
with 400 terrorists on board.

946
01:11:46,424 --> 01:11:49,844
As they leave Beirut,
we have completed

947
01:11:49,927 --> 01:11:54,599
the objective for which
we set out for this war,

948
01:11:54,724 --> 01:11:56,934
removing the terrorists.

949
01:11:59,479 --> 01:12:01,522
Under the supervision
of an international force,

950
01:12:01,606 --> 01:12:05,193
dozens of ships take
the PLO members out of Beirut.

951
01:12:07,445 --> 01:12:11,574
I promised them
that this march will continue

952
01:12:11,824 --> 01:12:15,703
till we'll be able to establish
our independent state,

953
01:12:17,246 --> 01:12:19,665
with its capital, Jerusalem.

954
01:12:20,416 --> 01:12:23,211
Forgive the Sabra expression,

955
01:12:23,336 --> 01:12:25,713
Arafat is a big show-off.

956
01:12:25,797 --> 01:12:29,759
A horrible man,
a professional killer,

957
01:12:29,842 --> 01:12:34,555
he merely wanders the world,
lives in fancy hotels.

958
01:12:35,098 --> 01:12:41,020
Unlike him, no comparison intended,
we too fought in the underground,

959
01:12:41,104 --> 01:12:46,693
none of us left this country,
not even for a day, and fought.

960
01:12:46,859 --> 01:12:50,363
Again, no comparison at all.

961
01:12:53,408 --> 01:12:56,285
The last of the exiled is Yasser Arafat.

962
01:12:57,245 --> 01:12:59,956
For Menachem Begin,
this is a joyous moment.

963
01:13:00,790 --> 01:13:02,959
Without Arafat in the picture,
he is convinced

964
01:13:03,126 --> 01:13:06,337
he can revive
the negotiations for the autonomy,

965
01:13:06,504 --> 01:13:11,467
his flagship plan to ensure that Judea,
Samaria and Gaza remain whole.

966
01:13:15,430 --> 01:13:16,973
And it doesn't end here.

967
01:13:17,056 --> 01:13:20,184
While PLO members
are exiled from Beirut,

968
01:13:20,268 --> 01:13:23,938
in the city's parliament,
Lebanon elects a president,

969
01:13:24,313 --> 01:13:28,401
Bashir Gemayel, commander
of the Christian Phalange Party,

970
01:13:28,484 --> 01:13:29,610
our man.

971
01:13:30,111 --> 01:13:34,282
We helped Bashir get elected
just by being there.

972
01:13:34,365 --> 01:13:36,325
We brought voters?
-Could be.

973
01:13:36,409 --> 01:13:39,245
Perhaps people who couldn't make it,

974
01:13:39,328 --> 01:13:42,081
I'm trying to recall,

975
01:13:42,248 --> 01:13:44,500
couldn't make it without us.

976
01:13:48,755 --> 01:13:50,548
To herald the new era,

977
01:13:50,631 --> 01:13:53,885
Begin and wife Aliza
went on vacation in Nahariya.

978
01:13:58,806 --> 01:14:02,143
It is there,
in the peaceful north

979
01:14:02,226 --> 01:14:05,605
that the shaky house of cards
starts to collapse.

980
01:14:09,442 --> 01:14:12,612
In August '82, Bashir Gemayel

981
01:14:12,695 --> 01:14:17,241
is brought to a Rafael facility
outside Nahariya

982
01:14:17,825 --> 01:14:20,078
to meet Menachem Begin

983
01:14:20,161 --> 01:14:25,083
and Begin says,
"I expect you

984
01:14:25,166 --> 01:14:28,044
"to sign a peace treaty with us"

985
01:14:28,127 --> 01:14:31,255
and Bashir Gemayel looks
at Begin and says,

986
01:14:31,339 --> 01:14:35,093
"I can't sign
a peace treaty with you"

987
01:14:35,259 --> 01:14:40,348
and Begin realized
it was all built on a lie,

988
01:14:40,431 --> 01:14:46,604
that Israel made good on its deal
with the Christians in Lebanon

989
01:14:46,688 --> 01:14:48,856
and will get nothing.

990
01:14:57,657 --> 01:15:00,493
Removal of the bodies
from the rubble

991
01:15:00,576 --> 01:15:03,538
of the Phalange headquarters
in Achrafieh lasted all night.

992
01:15:03,705 --> 01:15:05,581
The three-story building

993
01:15:05,665 --> 01:15:09,127
collapsed from the force
of the 200-kilo bomb

994
01:15:09,419 --> 01:15:11,838
that was presumably activated
by remote control.

995
01:15:13,131 --> 01:15:15,341
Two weeks after the meeting
with Begin,

996
01:15:15,425 --> 01:15:19,679
Bashir Gemayel,
Lebanese president-elect, was murdered.

997
01:15:20,513 --> 01:15:22,974
The terrorist,
so it quickly turned out,

998
01:15:23,057 --> 01:15:27,854
was Tanious Shartouni,
acting on behalf of the Syrian Intelligence.

999
01:15:31,441 --> 01:15:36,029
Syrian President Hafez al-Assad,
whose army was defeated in battle,

1000
01:15:36,195 --> 01:15:38,614
succeeded in one act of terrorism

1001
01:15:38,781 --> 01:15:42,243
to immerse Israel
for many years in the Lebanese mire,

1002
01:15:46,080 --> 01:15:49,000
to shatter the illusion
that by brute strength

1003
01:15:49,083 --> 01:15:51,794
one can shape the Middle East.

1004
01:16:00,094 --> 01:16:03,139
This is the Voice of Israel
from Jerusalem.

1005
01:16:03,222 --> 01:16:06,309
Correspondents in Beirut
report on what they call

1006
01:16:06,392 --> 01:16:10,313
the slaughter of the Phalangists
in the West Beirut refugee camps.

1007
01:16:10,396 --> 01:16:12,648
The correspondents indicate
hundreds of fatalities.

1008
01:16:15,360 --> 01:16:19,030
During the many days that
the IDF imposed a siege on Beirut,

1009
01:16:19,280 --> 01:16:24,577
the Israelis were not privy to the horrors
documented by the foreign media.

1010
01:16:28,915 --> 01:16:33,628
Then, with the cruel slaughter
carried out by the Phalange fighters,

1011
01:16:33,711 --> 01:16:38,549
the Israelis too were exposed
to the horrendous toll of the war in Lebanon.

1012
01:16:42,804 --> 01:16:47,100
Begin is a murderer!
Begin is a murderer!

1013
01:16:49,143 --> 01:16:53,481
Heavy public pressure was put on
the government that was reluctantly forced

1014
01:16:53,731 --> 01:16:57,527
to establish an official inquiry commission,
the Kahan Commission.

1015
01:17:02,532 --> 01:17:06,536
The prime minister attends the discussions
as a subject of interrogation.

1016
01:17:17,755 --> 01:17:20,133
Worse, as the saying goes,

1017
01:17:20,216 --> 01:17:21,676
comes to worse

1018
01:17:24,220 --> 01:17:26,889
During an official visit to the U.S.,

1019
01:17:26,973 --> 01:17:29,934
Begin is struck
by the most painful news of all.

1020
01:17:30,018 --> 01:17:32,854
His wife, Aliza Begin,
has passed away.

1021
01:17:36,482 --> 01:17:40,445
"Two weeks before I left,
my wife's condition was much improved.

1022
01:17:40,528 --> 01:17:42,447
"The doctors were optimistic.

1023
01:17:42,739 --> 01:17:45,616
"My son Ze'ev Binyamin
was with her Saturday night.

1024
01:17:45,700 --> 01:17:48,911
"My wife was in good spirits
and he parted with her.

1025
01:17:50,621 --> 01:17:53,374
"Aliza, of blessed memory,
left us that night

1026
01:17:53,458 --> 01:17:55,168
"very suddenly

1027
01:17:55,251 --> 01:17:58,671
"and none of her family
was with her."

1028
01:18:01,549 --> 01:18:04,135
What plans do you have
for the future?

1029
01:18:06,637 --> 01:18:08,097
Me?

1030
01:18:13,353 --> 01:18:15,897
It is really hard to say,
because, you see,

1031
01:18:16,147 --> 01:18:19,359
all my life I was rather satisfied
with what was coming

1032
01:18:19,442 --> 01:18:22,028
and was never bored in my life

1033
01:18:22,111 --> 01:18:27,825
and sometimes it is really hard to say
what you actually want.

1034
01:18:28,701 --> 01:18:32,789
Begin met Aliza, née Arnold,
at dinner at her father's home.

1035
01:18:34,332 --> 01:18:36,167
"I saw you,
you were 17 years old,

1036
01:18:36,250 --> 01:18:38,461
"and my heart said,
she will be my wife.

1037
01:18:39,087 --> 01:18:42,256
"I wrote a letter to the young woman,
a one-line letter.

1038
01:18:42,340 --> 01:18:45,593
"I saw you, my lady,
for the first time,

1039
01:18:45,843 --> 01:18:49,055
"yet I felt as if I had known you
my entire life."

1040
01:18:51,099 --> 01:18:53,351
Women don't cry.

1041
01:18:53,434 --> 01:18:55,520
I think that we can't afford it.

1042
01:18:55,853 --> 01:18:57,063
It is a luxury.

1043
01:18:58,064 --> 01:19:00,650
Perhaps others can do it,

1044
01:19:02,276 --> 01:19:06,489
but we can't cry in sorrow
because we must be strong

1045
01:19:06,572 --> 01:19:08,866
in order to support the men
and our children.

1046
01:19:15,039 --> 01:19:17,125
After three months
of discussions,

1047
01:19:17,208 --> 01:19:20,128
the Kahan Commission
publishes its conclusions.

1048
01:19:22,880 --> 01:19:26,342
A Shin Bet messenger
arrived at 7 p.m.

1049
01:19:26,426 --> 01:19:30,304
with a brown envelope
containing the Kahan report.

1050
01:19:30,680 --> 01:19:33,850
I leafed through it

1051
01:19:33,933 --> 01:19:35,977
and saw no conclusion about Begin,

1052
01:19:36,060 --> 01:19:38,021
but Sharon must go home.

1053
01:19:39,522 --> 01:19:43,067
We sat in the prime minister's office
and the conclusions were clear.

1054
01:19:43,484 --> 01:19:47,405
Everyone said,
"You have to send him packing."

1055
01:19:48,072 --> 01:19:49,532
"At once."

1056
01:19:52,952 --> 01:19:57,457
He sat there, nodded

1057
01:19:58,082 --> 01:20:01,169
and said, and I quote,

1058
01:20:01,544 --> 01:20:03,129
"Oy, kinderlach,

1059
01:20:04,797 --> 01:20:09,093
"it's easy for you to say,
I'm the one who has to do it."

1060
01:20:22,940 --> 01:20:27,820
Outside the conference room where
the cabinet was discussing Sharon's dismissal,

1061
01:20:27,904 --> 01:20:29,947
a violent conflict is taking place.

1062
01:20:30,031 --> 01:20:33,951
Peace Now protesters against
Begin and Sharon supporters.

1063
01:20:37,997 --> 01:20:38,956
The windows are closed,

1064
01:20:39,040 --> 01:20:40,750
otherwise you can't work

1065
01:20:40,833 --> 01:20:42,543
with all the yelling and the noise.

1066
01:20:43,336 --> 01:20:45,463
Begin is a murderer!

1067
01:20:45,546 --> 01:20:48,383
I went over
to the northern window,

1068
01:20:48,716 --> 01:20:51,010
opened it, looked down,

1069
01:20:51,094 --> 01:20:52,970
I couldn't see,
I could only hear voices.

1070
01:20:57,141 --> 01:20:59,018
Then we heard a boom.

1071
01:21:09,612 --> 01:21:12,949
Yona Avrushmi, a right-wing protester,
hurls a grenade.

1072
01:21:13,449 --> 01:21:16,953
Emil Grunzweig,
a Peace Now activist, is killed.

1073
01:21:31,426 --> 01:21:34,762
This is a tragedy,
I can't do this.

1074
01:21:34,846 --> 01:21:36,931
Tell them to be quiet.

1075
01:21:41,519 --> 01:21:46,065
What a horrible thing.

1076
01:21:46,149 --> 01:21:50,820
The heart cries for the young man
who was murdered.

1077
01:21:51,029 --> 01:21:54,157
There is grave dissent
among the people,

1078
01:21:56,200 --> 01:22:00,747
but we are free citizens
in a democratic state.

1079
01:22:01,247 --> 01:22:05,460
We mustn't go down
this cursed path of violence.

1080
01:22:05,835 --> 01:22:07,253
We mustn't.

1081
01:22:21,768 --> 01:22:24,854
The Lebanon mire
continues to claim victims.

1082
01:22:25,146 --> 01:22:28,733
A protest guard is situated
outside the prime minister's residence.

1083
01:22:29,108 --> 01:22:32,362
A daily, painful reminder
of the tragedy.

1084
01:22:35,031 --> 01:22:38,284
One morning he comes to work,
as usual, I entered with him

1085
01:22:38,368 --> 01:22:41,371
and he asks me,
"Did you read Yoel Marcus today?"

1086
01:22:41,996 --> 01:22:44,624
Yoel Marcus,
an analyst for Ha'aretz newspaper.

1087
01:22:44,874 --> 01:22:46,376
I said, "I did."

1088
01:22:46,959 --> 01:22:49,170
And he said,
"He's right."

1089
01:22:50,254 --> 01:22:52,757
"This government embroiled the country,

1090
01:22:52,924 --> 01:22:55,093
"mortgaged its financial future,

1091
01:22:55,385 --> 01:22:58,971
"planted the seeds of civil war
for generations to come

1092
01:22:59,722 --> 01:23:03,768
"and it cannot solve the problems
that it created."

1093
01:23:12,235 --> 01:23:14,654
August 1983,

1094
01:23:14,779 --> 01:23:17,824
one year after euphoria skyrocketed

1095
01:23:17,949 --> 01:23:21,786
with the expulsion of the terrorists
and Gemayel's election as Lebanese president,

1096
01:23:21,911 --> 01:23:25,289
Begin attends the government session
with a decision.

1097
01:23:26,249 --> 01:23:27,417
The session was routine.

1098
01:23:27,500 --> 01:23:30,211
I'm cabinet secretary, I sit next to him,
he runs the session.

1099
01:23:30,378 --> 01:23:32,380
Routine government matters...

1100
01:23:32,672 --> 01:23:34,465
Towards the end of the session
he says,

1101
01:23:34,549 --> 01:23:36,467
"I want to make
a personal statement."

1102
01:23:37,260 --> 01:23:40,513
"I ask for your forgiveness and pardon.

1103
01:23:40,805 --> 01:23:42,849
"If these will be granted,
I do not know.

1104
01:23:43,307 --> 01:23:46,060
"I intend to resign
as prime minister.

1105
01:23:47,478 --> 01:23:50,231
"I cannot go on any longer."

1106
01:23:59,115 --> 01:24:03,077
The curtain came down
on dozens of years of public service

1107
01:24:03,161 --> 01:24:05,288
for his people, for his country.

1108
01:24:16,382 --> 01:24:19,010
Then the question followed,
where will Menachem Begin go?

1109
01:24:19,635 --> 01:24:20,887
He has no home.

1110
01:24:21,512 --> 01:24:25,767
The man served his people,
his country, for dozens of years

1111
01:24:26,142 --> 01:24:28,811
and he has nothing.
Where will he go?

1112
01:24:28,895 --> 01:24:31,481
So I looked for
an apartment for him,

1113
01:24:31,564 --> 01:24:38,071
we found one that cost
$600 a month, if I remember correctly.

1114
01:24:38,446 --> 01:24:40,406
We signed a lease.

1115
01:24:40,531 --> 01:24:44,911
Not the state. He did, personally.
And he lived out the rest of his days there.

1116
01:25:13,147 --> 01:25:18,611
With blood and sweat
a new race shall arise

1117
01:25:18,695 --> 01:25:23,449
Proud, generous and cruel...

1118
01:25:24,701 --> 01:25:28,705
Begin steered the helm of power
for six years and three months

1119
01:25:28,788 --> 01:25:34,627
that left their mark, for better or for worse,
on the current Israeli reality.

1120
01:25:43,886 --> 01:25:45,471
Menachem Begin,

1121
01:25:46,556 --> 01:25:49,350
Prime Minister of Israel,

1122
01:25:51,019 --> 01:25:54,731
I call upon you
to come to the rostrum

1123
01:25:54,814 --> 01:26:00,319
and receive the gold medal
of the Nobel Peace Prize

1124
01:26:00,403 --> 01:26:04,323
for 1978.

1125
01:26:11,789 --> 01:26:14,208
Peace is the beauty of life.

1126
01:26:14,459 --> 01:26:16,544
It is sunshine,

1127
01:26:17,420 --> 01:26:20,256
it is the smile of a child,

1128
01:26:20,340 --> 01:26:22,050
the love of a mother,

1129
01:26:23,176 --> 01:26:25,053
the joy of a father,

1130
01:26:25,178 --> 01:26:27,555
the togetherness of a family.

1131
01:26:28,556 --> 01:26:31,517
It is the advancement of man,

1132
01:26:31,601 --> 01:26:34,437
the victory of the just cause,

1133
01:26:35,146 --> 01:26:38,066
the triumph of the truth.

1134
01:26:39,192 --> 01:26:42,487
Peace is all of these

1135
01:26:42,612 --> 01:26:46,491
and more... and more...

1136
01:26:48,076 --> 01:26:50,828
Despite the tragedies

1137
01:26:50,912 --> 01:26:54,082
and the disappointments of the past

1138
01:26:54,165 --> 01:26:56,417
we must never forsake

1139
01:26:56,668 --> 01:26:58,252
that vision,

1140
01:26:58,753 --> 01:27:01,047
that human dream,

1141
01:27:01,130 --> 01:27:05,051
that unshakable faith.

1142
01:27:05,343 --> 01:27:07,804
No more war.

1143
01:27:08,137 --> 01:27:11,099
No more bloodshed.