1 00:00:39,216 --> 00:00:41,799 (gentle music) 2 00:00:56,800 --> 00:01:01,800 - I was born in 1928, the youngest of seven. 3 00:01:02,107 --> 00:01:05,780 My mom and dad came from eastern Europe 4 00:01:05,780 --> 00:01:10,113 to Manchester, England at the turn of the century. 5 00:01:11,466 --> 00:01:15,803 My mother was a very passionate Zionist. 6 00:01:16,690 --> 00:01:20,670 I remember chatting with my mom about things 7 00:01:20,670 --> 00:01:23,480 going on in Palestine, always nice things, 8 00:01:23,480 --> 00:01:28,480 always children, summer, bronzed, always carefully. 9 00:01:29,080 --> 00:01:34,080 And one day, I was introduced to a religious Zionist. 10 00:01:35,390 --> 00:01:38,200 He was a movement called the Bnei Akiva. 11 00:01:39,150 --> 00:01:42,333 They communicated to us. 12 00:01:43,230 --> 00:01:48,220 I had a magnificent dream of a paradise awaiting us, 13 00:01:48,220 --> 00:01:52,710 if only we would leave this background of Manchester 14 00:01:52,710 --> 00:01:57,710 to the new future of the home Israel, of Palestine, 15 00:01:59,290 --> 00:02:01,603 where we were going to build Utopia. 16 00:02:03,060 --> 00:02:07,210 So I would daydream, thinking of myself out there 17 00:02:07,210 --> 00:02:10,870 in Galilee or somewhere, a rifle over my shoulder 18 00:02:10,870 --> 00:02:15,320 pushing a plow, thinking as I stare at sunsets 19 00:02:15,320 --> 00:02:20,320 on yonder horizon, I was determined to get there. 20 00:02:20,727 --> 00:02:23,953 And then a small miracle fell into my lap. 21 00:02:25,090 --> 00:02:28,173 I actually got a scholarship to go to Palestine. 22 00:02:29,810 --> 00:02:34,810 In November 1947, I found myself at the railway station 23 00:02:35,760 --> 00:02:39,090 in Manchester bidding farewell to a lovely family, 24 00:02:39,090 --> 00:02:40,477 a most lovely family. 25 00:02:42,690 --> 00:02:47,690 Sitting on the train and hearing the most exciting sounds 26 00:02:47,790 --> 00:02:49,910 that a young fellow can ever hear, 27 00:02:49,910 --> 00:02:54,580 and that's the puff, puff, puff of the train 28 00:02:54,580 --> 00:02:58,850 leaving the station into the unknown, 29 00:02:58,850 --> 00:03:02,003 but the unknown was so exciting. 30 00:03:04,840 --> 00:03:07,903 I never could have imagined as that young boy of 17 31 00:03:07,903 --> 00:03:11,270 where that unknown was going to take me 32 00:03:11,270 --> 00:03:13,000 over the next four decades, 33 00:03:13,000 --> 00:03:17,546 that I would not only witness but also participate 34 00:03:17,546 --> 00:03:22,546 in some of the greatest events not just of Israel's history 35 00:03:22,840 --> 00:03:27,243 but which also impacted the world's history as well. 36 00:03:28,081 --> 00:03:30,831 (dramatic music) 37 00:03:52,838 --> 00:03:55,838 (explosion booming) 38 00:04:07,986 --> 00:04:11,370 At the end of 1947, the ground in Jerusalem 39 00:04:11,370 --> 00:04:13,230 was beginning to shake 40 00:04:13,230 --> 00:04:17,950 as the United Nations was about to pass a resolution, 41 00:04:17,950 --> 00:04:20,690 a partition of the country, 42 00:04:20,690 --> 00:04:22,740 between a Jewish state and an Arab state. 43 00:04:25,290 --> 00:04:28,480 What had began as demonstrations and riots 44 00:04:28,480 --> 00:04:33,480 within weeks after my arrival became the actual bloodiness 45 00:04:36,173 --> 00:04:38,973 of the War of Independence. 46 00:04:42,810 --> 00:04:46,583 It was in this atmosphere that the students 47 00:04:46,583 --> 00:04:49,820 of that group to which I belonged volunteered 48 00:04:49,820 --> 00:04:53,520 and we became kind of a diggers brigade. 49 00:04:53,520 --> 00:04:55,650 We were digging fortifications 50 00:04:55,650 --> 00:04:59,547 because the impending prospect was that five Arab 51 00:04:59,547 --> 00:05:02,765 regular armies were going to invade us. 52 00:05:02,765 --> 00:05:07,765 May the 14th, 1948, midnight on that Friday 53 00:05:09,580 --> 00:05:12,720 the they bid us, the Jew, to leave 54 00:05:12,720 --> 00:05:17,610 the territorial waters of Palestine. 55 00:05:17,610 --> 00:05:21,020 My bucket brigade, some 25 of us 56 00:05:21,020 --> 00:05:24,980 on a location overlooking a cargo. 57 00:05:24,980 --> 00:05:29,900 Among our group was a fellow called Leopold Mahler, 58 00:05:29,900 --> 00:05:34,667 a violinist, grandfather of the composer Gustav Mahler. 59 00:05:37,160 --> 00:05:39,970 He had been leader of the violin section 60 00:05:39,970 --> 00:05:42,638 of the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra. 61 00:05:42,638 --> 00:05:46,313 World War II, Final Solution, 62 00:05:48,069 --> 00:05:51,413 Auschwitz, that's where he ended up. 63 00:05:52,350 --> 00:05:56,320 And there he played, he went to the Auschwitz Orchestra. 64 00:05:56,320 --> 00:05:59,000 This is where he would also keep his violin, 65 00:05:59,000 --> 00:05:59,900 in the death camp. 66 00:06:01,140 --> 00:06:03,593 And wherever he went, he took his violin. 67 00:06:04,980 --> 00:06:09,980 Everything that he says, it was expressive of melancholy. 68 00:06:11,000 --> 00:06:14,250 We, our group were very, very sensitive 69 00:06:14,250 --> 00:06:16,460 about Mahler's fingers. 70 00:06:16,460 --> 00:06:20,460 Where we were, we had no field intelligence, 71 00:06:20,460 --> 00:06:21,600 we had no telephone, 72 00:06:21,600 --> 00:06:26,170 we had no radio, we had no idea what was happening. 73 00:06:26,170 --> 00:06:30,463 And now, commander to protect Mahler and his fingers. 74 00:06:31,550 --> 00:06:36,300 Told him, try and get away to get into town. 75 00:06:36,300 --> 00:06:38,593 Bring back information what's happening. 76 00:06:39,640 --> 00:06:42,920 There we were in the trenches, some with rifles, 77 00:06:42,920 --> 00:06:46,000 some without rifles, waiting for the attack, 78 00:06:46,000 --> 00:06:50,400 for the anchor in the midst of all this. 79 00:06:50,400 --> 00:06:54,723 Out of the blackness of the sky suddenly appears Mahler. 80 00:06:55,560 --> 00:06:57,437 He brought some news. 81 00:06:57,437 --> 00:07:01,560 And he says, Ben-Gurion did declare independence. 82 00:07:01,560 --> 00:07:04,127 The state is coming into being at midnight. 83 00:07:04,127 --> 00:07:07,490 And the British have known all the union Jacks, 84 00:07:07,490 --> 00:07:08,823 they've left the country. 85 00:07:10,060 --> 00:07:12,343 Mahler, what's the name of our state? 86 00:07:13,890 --> 00:07:17,303 Mahler looks with a blank stare. 87 00:07:18,910 --> 00:07:23,910 And he says, I don't know, I didn't think to ask. 88 00:07:25,130 --> 00:07:27,470 What do you mean, you don't know? 89 00:07:27,470 --> 00:07:29,743 So somebody says, you know what? 90 00:07:30,600 --> 00:07:33,610 I bet it's gonna be called Yehuda, Judea. 91 00:07:33,610 --> 00:07:35,870 King David's kingdom was called Judea. 92 00:07:35,870 --> 00:07:39,801 Nah, said another, it'll be called, Zion, Zion, 93 00:07:39,801 --> 00:07:44,210 Zionist, so I said maybe they'll call it Israel, Israel. 94 00:07:44,210 --> 00:07:45,839 Whatever, who cares, let's drink 95 00:07:45,839 --> 00:07:48,113 a (speaking in a foreign language) to our new state. 96 00:07:49,556 --> 00:07:52,139 (upbeat music) 97 00:07:55,436 --> 00:07:58,050 And we went into town, that's where we found out 98 00:07:58,050 --> 00:08:00,402 the name of this place is called Israel. 99 00:08:00,402 --> 00:08:04,060 There were tons of people all over the place celebrating. 100 00:08:04,060 --> 00:08:09,023 They saw Mahler's violin, so they urged him to take it out. 101 00:08:14,568 --> 00:08:18,814 It was almost celestial, and he began first of all 102 00:08:18,814 --> 00:08:22,877 to play a very slow motion (speaking in a foreign language). 103 00:08:29,627 --> 00:08:33,889 And then gradually, the rhythm began to pick up 104 00:08:33,889 --> 00:08:37,472 until everyone, prances into a whole dance, 105 00:08:39,840 --> 00:08:44,423 this (speaking in a foreign language). 106 00:08:47,335 --> 00:08:51,616 And for the first time, I saw a smile on his face 107 00:08:51,616 --> 00:08:53,699 and a glitter in his eye. 108 00:09:03,387 --> 00:09:05,970 (gentle music) 109 00:09:34,254 --> 00:09:39,171 Returning to Kibbutz Lavi with a wife on the upper suburbia 110 00:09:40,350 --> 00:09:44,310 of the Jewish community in London to still the tents 111 00:09:44,310 --> 00:09:48,750 and the shacks and the mud and the stones 112 00:09:48,750 --> 00:09:49,870 and the locks of Lavi, 113 00:09:52,490 --> 00:09:53,770 it didn't last very long. 114 00:09:54,693 --> 00:09:57,483 And a year later, we moved to Jerusalem. 115 00:09:59,410 --> 00:10:02,160 I'd always enjoyed writing, I'd always enjoyed editing. 116 00:10:03,046 --> 00:10:08,046 In 1955 I got a job editing a rather obscure magazine 117 00:10:09,790 --> 00:10:12,253 published on behalf of the Jewish Agency. 118 00:10:13,270 --> 00:10:16,583 I was lucky to get this job, but it paid in pigeons. 119 00:10:17,950 --> 00:10:21,870 I was moon lighting, with whatever other work I could get 120 00:10:21,870 --> 00:10:25,900 in translation and composition. 121 00:10:25,900 --> 00:10:26,890 And this brought me 122 00:10:26,890 --> 00:10:31,231 into the orbit of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. 123 00:10:31,231 --> 00:10:33,990 John DeMair was the foreign minister 124 00:10:33,990 --> 00:10:38,990 and he had embarked upon a very ambitious program 125 00:10:40,100 --> 00:10:43,680 of leap frogging over our immediate Arab neighbors 126 00:10:43,680 --> 00:10:45,440 to start the ties of friendship 127 00:10:45,440 --> 00:10:47,730 with the African emerging states. 128 00:10:47,730 --> 00:10:49,720 And I was moon lighting 129 00:10:49,720 --> 00:10:53,423 writing in this propaganda material word into Africa. 130 00:10:55,030 --> 00:10:58,150 The head of the department in the foreign ministry, 131 00:10:58,150 --> 00:11:00,870 a guy called Eddie Affi, and one day, 132 00:11:00,870 --> 00:11:04,800 this must have been about 1958, I got a phone call from him. 133 00:11:04,800 --> 00:11:06,550 And he said to me, Yehuda, 134 00:11:06,550 --> 00:11:09,243 would you like to come in and join us? 135 00:11:09,243 --> 00:11:14,243 And the foreign minister, I said sure I would. 136 00:11:20,120 --> 00:11:23,270 Came a day and it was in 1963 137 00:11:23,270 --> 00:11:26,207 when Eddie Affi was appointed 138 00:11:26,207 --> 00:11:31,207 as Bureau Chief of the then prime minister, Levi Ashford. 139 00:11:35,260 --> 00:11:37,040 You need to come, we need you here 140 00:11:37,040 --> 00:11:40,370 in the prime minister's bureau for English speech, 141 00:11:40,370 --> 00:11:44,519 writing, note taking, and English correspondence. 142 00:11:44,519 --> 00:11:46,450 And that's how I began working 143 00:11:46,450 --> 00:11:48,023 in the prime minister's office. 144 00:11:50,170 --> 00:11:52,753 (upbeat music) 145 00:11:56,820 --> 00:12:01,031 Eshkol was a most affable man, very easygoing boss. 146 00:12:01,031 --> 00:12:04,690 He was utterly accessible, he loved Yiddishisms. 147 00:12:04,690 --> 00:12:07,390 The first speech I ever wrote for him 148 00:12:07,390 --> 00:12:09,500 I put in the words, and yes, 149 00:12:09,500 --> 00:12:12,186 we shall be a light unto the nations. 150 00:12:12,186 --> 00:12:17,186 And Eshkol, he could peer at you over his spectacles. 151 00:12:18,840 --> 00:12:21,231 And when he did that, you knew 152 00:12:21,231 --> 00:12:25,850 something was coming, he says. 153 00:12:25,850 --> 00:12:26,980 - [Levi Eshkol] Younger man, 154 00:12:26,980 --> 00:12:29,710 let's first be a light unto ourselves 155 00:12:29,710 --> 00:12:33,103 and then, we'll bother about being a light unto the nations. 156 00:12:34,730 --> 00:12:37,980 - I was escorting to his car one day. 157 00:12:37,980 --> 00:12:40,000 A policeman called Lui Yankala. 158 00:12:40,000 --> 00:12:43,350 He was always the one who opened the prime minister's door. 159 00:12:43,350 --> 00:12:46,009 And so Yankala opens the door of the car 160 00:12:46,009 --> 00:12:51,009 and Levi Eshkol, prime minister says to him. 161 00:12:51,830 --> 00:12:53,220 - [Levi Eshkol] Lui Yankala, 162 00:12:53,220 --> 00:12:55,670 how am I doing as your prime minister today? 163 00:12:55,670 --> 00:12:58,430 And Mr. Frieden, are you satisfied? 164 00:12:58,430 --> 00:13:01,530 - [Lui Yanakal] No, I'm not, my taxes are far too high. 165 00:13:01,530 --> 00:13:03,740 You have to bring down, I'm being robbed. 166 00:13:03,740 --> 00:13:06,080 - [Levi Eshkol] Yankala, we have to buy weapons for our army 167 00:13:06,080 --> 00:13:09,134 to deter our enemies, and that cost a lot of money. 168 00:13:09,134 --> 00:13:12,490 And we have to build homes for our refugee immigrants, 169 00:13:12,490 --> 00:13:15,420 schools for our children, hospitals for our sick, 170 00:13:15,420 --> 00:13:17,112 and factories for employment. 171 00:13:17,112 --> 00:13:19,190 And while we develop the economy, 172 00:13:19,190 --> 00:13:21,760 the quicker I'll be able to bring your taxes down. 173 00:13:21,760 --> 00:13:24,808 So be patient, Yankala, be patient. 174 00:13:24,808 --> 00:13:29,808 - Yankala looked at him with a look which says, 175 00:13:31,966 --> 00:13:34,103 maybe you will, maybe you won't. 176 00:13:35,370 --> 00:13:40,370 And then, he saluted and he closed the door. 177 00:13:40,510 --> 00:13:43,850 And I'm standing there, I'm only, 178 00:13:43,850 --> 00:13:46,613 what other prime minister in the world 179 00:13:46,613 --> 00:13:50,833 asks a question like that of a police officer? 180 00:13:51,948 --> 00:13:56,899 And then listen to what he has to say 181 00:13:56,899 --> 00:14:01,063 and then answer him, explain to him what he's trying to do. 182 00:14:02,328 --> 00:14:05,740 That was not only the nature of the man, 183 00:14:05,740 --> 00:14:09,700 it was the nature of our society at the time. 184 00:14:19,600 --> 00:14:23,650 One day, a group of about 10, 12 leaders 185 00:14:23,650 --> 00:14:27,927 of the various Jewish federations and the United States 186 00:14:27,927 --> 00:14:32,927 come to visit him, one of them says to Eshkol, 187 00:14:33,557 --> 00:14:38,557 "Mr. Prime Minister, you expect us American Jews 188 00:14:38,927 --> 00:14:43,927 "to know every new kibbutz, every new moshav. 189 00:14:45,407 --> 00:14:49,990 "But what do Israelis know about us American Jews?" 190 00:14:49,990 --> 00:14:51,617 And then he turned to me and he said, 191 00:14:51,617 --> 00:14:54,737 "When was the last time, young man, you were in America?" 192 00:14:56,050 --> 00:14:58,887 And I looked, I said, "I've never been." 193 00:14:58,887 --> 00:15:02,160 "Ah-ha," said the gentleman to the prime minister. 194 00:15:02,160 --> 00:15:04,437 "You see, you have a member of your own staff 195 00:15:04,437 --> 00:15:07,670 "who doesn't even know what American Jews look like." 196 00:15:07,670 --> 00:15:11,507 To which Eshkol said, "So why don't you invite him?" 197 00:15:12,690 --> 00:15:15,400 To which he said, "I shall." 198 00:15:15,400 --> 00:15:20,040 Now it so happened that that very morning 199 00:15:20,040 --> 00:15:22,610 I had put on the prime minister's desk 200 00:15:22,610 --> 00:15:24,887 a letter for his signature addressed 201 00:15:24,887 --> 00:15:28,720 to the former president Harry Truman. 202 00:15:28,720 --> 00:15:32,790 And this letter had been requested by the Hebrew University 203 00:15:32,790 --> 00:15:35,990 in Jerusalem who were about to establish 204 00:15:35,990 --> 00:15:40,010 what they called an Institute for the Study of Peace. 205 00:15:40,010 --> 00:15:42,840 And they wanted it to be named after Harry Truman. 206 00:15:42,840 --> 00:15:46,161 And as he signed it, he asked this group, 207 00:15:46,161 --> 00:15:51,161 "Will Independence, Missouri be a part of the story 208 00:15:52,273 --> 00:15:55,220 "arranging for Yehuda here?" 209 00:15:55,220 --> 00:15:58,356 To which the leader of the group said, 210 00:15:58,356 --> 00:16:00,820 "Sure, we can do that." 211 00:16:00,820 --> 00:16:03,447 Eshkol then said to me, "In that case, Yehuda, 212 00:16:03,447 --> 00:16:06,627 "I want you to present this letter personally 213 00:16:06,627 --> 00:16:08,880 "to President Truman." 214 00:16:08,880 --> 00:16:10,080 - [Levi Eshkol] Mr. President, 215 00:16:10,080 --> 00:16:12,400 I cannot think of a better choice than you 216 00:16:12,400 --> 00:16:15,053 to bear the name of this important institution. 217 00:16:15,053 --> 00:16:18,100 The state of Israel will forever be grateful to you 218 00:16:18,100 --> 00:16:20,480 for your moral and courageous decision 219 00:16:20,480 --> 00:16:22,670 to assert the power and the prestige 220 00:16:22,670 --> 00:16:24,730 of the United States in your support 221 00:16:24,730 --> 00:16:27,463 of Israel's founding in 1949. 222 00:16:29,161 --> 00:16:30,981 - And I said, they came. 223 00:16:30,981 --> 00:16:35,340 I found myself in Independence, Missouri, 224 00:16:35,340 --> 00:16:39,193 ringing the doorbell of a Victorian style house. 225 00:16:40,395 --> 00:16:45,395 A maid opened the door, took me into a lounge 226 00:16:45,400 --> 00:16:50,400 which was full of memorabilia of his whole political life 227 00:16:50,420 --> 00:16:54,030 including clearly from his days in the oval office. 228 00:16:54,030 --> 00:16:55,920 And there was a piano there. 229 00:16:55,920 --> 00:16:58,098 And on the piano was sheet music. 230 00:16:58,098 --> 00:17:03,098 And I know a bit about music, so I began studying the notes. 231 00:17:04,220 --> 00:17:06,665 It was called the Missouri Waltz. 232 00:17:06,665 --> 00:17:09,165 (piano music) 233 00:17:14,750 --> 00:17:16,420 - [Harry Truman] I don't give a damn about that waltz, 234 00:17:16,420 --> 00:17:18,769 young man, but I can't say that out loud in public 235 00:17:18,769 --> 00:17:21,830 because it's the state song of Missouri. 236 00:17:21,830 --> 00:17:24,031 - I turn around and there in the doorway 237 00:17:24,031 --> 00:17:27,168 is President Harry Truman. 238 00:17:27,168 --> 00:17:29,520 He'd already read the letter. 239 00:17:29,520 --> 00:17:31,550 The maid had given it to him. 240 00:17:31,550 --> 00:17:33,460 - [Harry Truman] Very kind of Prime Minister Eshkol 241 00:17:33,460 --> 00:17:36,240 to send you personally to deliver his letter, 242 00:17:36,240 --> 00:17:38,410 and kinder still to give me such credit 243 00:17:38,410 --> 00:17:40,220 for your nation's independence. 244 00:17:40,220 --> 00:17:42,370 But the man he really ought to be thanking 245 00:17:42,370 --> 00:17:44,730 is Eddie Jacobson, not me. 246 00:17:44,730 --> 00:17:48,063 Dear old Eddie, best friend a man could ever have. 247 00:17:48,063 --> 00:17:50,500 We went through some tough times together, 248 00:17:50,500 --> 00:17:53,560 World War I and then our haberdashery store, 249 00:17:53,560 --> 00:17:57,017 Truman and Jacobson, went bust during the Depression. 250 00:17:57,017 --> 00:18:00,340 There was never a sharp word between Eddie and me 251 00:18:00,340 --> 00:18:03,030 until one day some time in March '48 252 00:18:03,030 --> 00:18:06,510 he came barging into my Oval Office unannounced. 253 00:18:06,510 --> 00:18:09,193 He said he wanted to talk to me about Palestine. 254 00:18:09,193 --> 00:18:13,350 Eddie's Zionist friends had been badgering me nonstop, 255 00:18:13,350 --> 00:18:16,227 some of them in a very disrespectful way. 256 00:18:16,227 --> 00:18:18,720 They wanted me to engage America 257 00:18:18,720 --> 00:18:21,435 to stop Arabic tax on the Jews in Palestine, 258 00:18:21,435 --> 00:18:23,970 keep the British from destroying the Arabs, 259 00:18:23,970 --> 00:18:27,830 deploy American soldiers to do this, that, and the other. 260 00:18:27,830 --> 00:18:30,610 The fate of the Jewish victims of Hitlerism 261 00:18:30,610 --> 00:18:33,660 was a matter of deep personal concern to me. 262 00:18:33,660 --> 00:18:36,822 Hitler's war against the Jews was not just a Jewish problem, 263 00:18:36,822 --> 00:18:39,413 it was an American problem. 264 00:18:39,413 --> 00:18:41,950 I had been seized of the issue 265 00:18:41,950 --> 00:18:44,193 from the day I became president. 266 00:18:44,193 --> 00:18:46,090 And now things had reached a point 267 00:18:46,090 --> 00:18:49,330 where I wanted to let the whole Palestine petition matter 268 00:18:49,330 --> 00:18:51,830 run its course in the United Nations. 269 00:18:51,830 --> 00:18:53,450 That's where it belonged. 270 00:18:53,450 --> 00:18:55,600 I issued instructions that I didn't wanna see 271 00:18:55,600 --> 00:18:57,337 any more Zionist spokesmen 272 00:18:57,337 --> 00:19:00,301 so I put off seeing Dr. Chaim Weizmann. 273 00:19:00,301 --> 00:19:03,414 He had come to the states especially to see me 274 00:19:03,414 --> 00:19:07,371 and Eddie was insistent that I see him right away. 275 00:19:07,371 --> 00:19:09,694 Because of that, we had words. 276 00:19:09,694 --> 00:19:13,337 I had a statue of Andrew Jackson in my Oval Office. 277 00:19:13,337 --> 00:19:15,491 Jackson is my lifelong hero. 278 00:19:15,491 --> 00:19:17,900 When Eddie confronted me that day, 279 00:19:17,900 --> 00:19:19,957 he waved to the statue and said, 280 00:19:19,957 --> 00:19:23,812 "Your hero is Andrew Jackson, I have a hero, too. 281 00:19:23,812 --> 00:19:26,004 "He's the greatest Jew alive. 282 00:19:26,004 --> 00:19:28,507 "I'm talking about Chaim Weizmann. 283 00:19:28,507 --> 00:19:31,307 "He's an old man and he's traveled thousands of miles 284 00:19:31,307 --> 00:19:34,017 "to see you and now you're putting him off. 285 00:19:34,017 --> 00:19:36,240 "This isn't like you, Harry." 286 00:19:36,240 --> 00:19:38,637 And I remember looking back at Eddie standing there 287 00:19:38,637 --> 00:19:42,467 and my saying to him, "You bald headed SOB. 288 00:19:42,467 --> 00:19:44,316 "You win, I'll see him." 289 00:19:44,316 --> 00:19:47,543 Dr. Weizmann and I talked for about an hour. 290 00:19:47,543 --> 00:19:51,119 He was a man of remarkable achievements and personality. 291 00:19:51,119 --> 00:19:53,780 He put it to me that the choice for his people 292 00:19:53,780 --> 00:19:57,430 was between statehood and extermination. 293 00:19:57,430 --> 00:19:58,840 It was then I assured him 294 00:19:58,840 --> 00:20:00,800 that I would support Jewish statehood. 295 00:20:00,800 --> 00:20:05,800 - And with that, I told him that I'm about to go home 296 00:20:06,060 --> 00:20:08,994 to my son's bar mitzveh and he instructed his maid 297 00:20:08,994 --> 00:20:12,135 to bring me out his two volume memoirs. 298 00:20:12,135 --> 00:20:16,997 And he dedicated one volume to me and I said, 299 00:20:16,997 --> 00:20:18,667 "Since it's my son's bar mitzveh, 300 00:20:18,667 --> 00:20:22,240 "would you mind dedicating the other one to my son?" 301 00:20:22,240 --> 00:20:25,930 And he said, "Sure," and then as he escorted me to his door, 302 00:20:25,930 --> 00:20:29,617 he said, "Now, how did Eddie used to say congratulations? 303 00:20:29,617 --> 00:20:31,400 "Mazel something?" 304 00:20:31,400 --> 00:20:34,750 I said, "Tov," he said, "Yeah, that's right, mazel tov." 305 00:20:34,750 --> 00:20:35,890 And he shook my hand. 306 00:20:37,588 --> 00:20:40,171 (gentle music) 307 00:20:53,351 --> 00:20:58,351 Levi Eshkol was a pioneer already in the 1920s 308 00:21:00,170 --> 00:21:02,240 in the Jordan Valley, he was a member 309 00:21:02,240 --> 00:21:03,670 of the very first kibbutz 310 00:21:03,670 --> 00:21:06,813 that was ever established called Deganya. 311 00:21:06,813 --> 00:21:11,346 And irrigation became his thing. 312 00:21:11,346 --> 00:21:14,789 As he entered into government service, 313 00:21:14,789 --> 00:21:18,762 he oversaw the construction of the national water carrier 314 00:21:18,762 --> 00:21:22,530 which remains to this day the spine 315 00:21:22,530 --> 00:21:27,123 of all our water supplies throughout the country. 316 00:21:28,220 --> 00:21:32,120 And if you're looking for the origin origins 317 00:21:32,120 --> 00:21:36,050 of the Six Day War that broke out in 1967 318 00:21:36,050 --> 00:21:38,970 that begins with the fact that the Syrians 319 00:21:38,970 --> 00:21:40,970 up in the north on the Golan Heights 320 00:21:40,970 --> 00:21:45,592 were striving to divert the headwaters of the river Jordan 321 00:21:45,592 --> 00:21:49,010 which were the main waters of Pilai 322 00:21:49,010 --> 00:21:51,033 of the national water carrier. 323 00:21:52,900 --> 00:21:55,470 So if the Syrians were going to succeed, 324 00:21:55,470 --> 00:21:56,993 then the country would dry up. 325 00:21:57,870 --> 00:22:00,870 (rhythmic drumming) 326 00:22:02,230 --> 00:22:04,610 - [Narrator] Trouble and death in the Middle East, 327 00:22:04,610 --> 00:22:07,220 a ground and air battle heavily damages Tiberius 328 00:22:07,220 --> 00:22:09,210 on the Israeli-Syrian border. 329 00:22:09,210 --> 00:22:12,416 Israeli Premier Levi Eshkol inspects the ruins. 330 00:22:12,416 --> 00:22:16,070 The fighting erupted quickly when Syrians allegedly fired 331 00:22:16,070 --> 00:22:18,580 on Israeli farmers operating tractors. 332 00:22:18,580 --> 00:22:22,450 Israel used tanks, mortars, and aircraft to counter attack. 333 00:22:22,450 --> 00:22:24,907 Premier Eshkol said, "Friendly foreign powers 334 00:22:24,907 --> 00:22:27,203 "will understand the situation." 335 00:22:28,845 --> 00:22:33,350 - Nasir then joined Syria in support of this, 336 00:22:33,350 --> 00:22:37,020 I can only describe it as the initial act of war. 337 00:22:37,020 --> 00:22:42,020 And I can still remember Independence Day of 1967. 338 00:22:42,586 --> 00:22:46,669 There was a parade of the Israel Defense Forces 339 00:22:46,669 --> 00:22:49,530 taking the prime minister Levi Eshkol. 340 00:22:49,530 --> 00:22:52,805 And by his side was his chief of staff, 341 00:22:52,805 --> 00:22:55,163 Lieutenant General Yitzhak Rabin. 342 00:22:56,230 --> 00:22:59,137 Rabin was handed a note 343 00:22:59,137 --> 00:23:02,819 and then he handed the note to Eshkol 344 00:23:02,819 --> 00:23:06,016 and that note said that Nasir 345 00:23:06,016 --> 00:23:10,060 had just blockaded the straits of Tehran, 346 00:23:10,060 --> 00:23:14,503 the maritime route to a certain city Eilat. 347 00:23:15,961 --> 00:23:18,711 (dramatic music) 348 00:23:19,860 --> 00:23:23,713 Abdul Nasir began to mobilize the whole of the Arab world. 349 00:23:25,000 --> 00:23:30,000 Then the rhetoric began to escalate. 350 00:23:30,110 --> 00:23:32,240 And what began as threats against Israel 351 00:23:32,240 --> 00:23:36,273 ended up with the capital, throw the Jews into the sea. 352 00:23:40,430 --> 00:23:43,910 President Johnson is telling us restraint, 353 00:23:43,910 --> 00:23:46,530 do not fire the first shot. 354 00:23:46,530 --> 00:23:50,722 I am going to put together an International Flotilla 355 00:23:50,722 --> 00:23:55,530 that is going to make its way through the straits of Tehran 356 00:23:55,530 --> 00:23:59,890 and thereby break the Egyptian blockade. 357 00:23:59,890 --> 00:24:04,890 And all the time, Eshkol was restraining his military, 358 00:24:05,360 --> 00:24:10,199 insisting that we have to give America a chance 359 00:24:10,199 --> 00:24:14,500 to do what Lyndon Johnson said he's going to try and do. 360 00:24:14,500 --> 00:24:16,430 But then I remember telling him 361 00:24:16,430 --> 00:24:18,850 that we don't have the time. 362 00:24:18,850 --> 00:24:22,409 That they are going to attack any minute. 363 00:24:22,409 --> 00:24:24,806 And a week went by and two weeks went by 364 00:24:24,806 --> 00:24:29,600 and Lyndon Johnson simply couldn't deliver. 365 00:24:29,600 --> 00:24:34,600 And the mood in the country became totally demoralized. 366 00:24:35,761 --> 00:24:38,344 (gentle music) 367 00:24:43,208 --> 00:24:47,291 (speaking in a foreign language) 368 00:25:10,449 --> 00:25:11,870 I was in there, 369 00:25:11,870 --> 00:25:16,870 when Eshkol's chief diplomatic advisor came in 370 00:25:17,730 --> 00:25:21,786 to say that we received a message from President Johnson 371 00:25:21,786 --> 00:25:25,067 that we should show self restraint 372 00:25:25,067 --> 00:25:27,100 and the Russians have sent us a message 373 00:25:27,100 --> 00:25:31,192 that we should beware of firing the first shot. 374 00:25:31,192 --> 00:25:34,335 And the prime minister's military secretary 375 00:25:34,335 --> 00:25:37,592 added that the Egyptians have introduced 376 00:25:37,592 --> 00:25:41,090 poison gas equipment into the Sinai. 377 00:25:41,090 --> 00:25:44,143 And we have no gas masks in the country. 378 00:25:46,950 --> 00:25:51,500 Well then Eshkol said that our foreign minister Abba Eban 379 00:25:51,500 --> 00:25:55,790 is shortly to meet with President Johnson in the White House 380 00:25:55,790 --> 00:25:58,023 so I want to speak to him immediately. 381 00:25:59,810 --> 00:26:04,050 Now, the relationship between Prime Minister Eshkol 382 00:26:04,050 --> 00:26:05,380 and Foreign Minister Eban 383 00:26:07,171 --> 00:26:12,171 was not one of total mutual admiration. 384 00:26:13,104 --> 00:26:15,797 I remember Eshkol once saying, 385 00:26:15,797 --> 00:26:20,527 "Abba Eban never knows to make the right decision, 386 00:26:20,527 --> 00:26:22,047 "only the right speech." 387 00:26:23,313 --> 00:26:25,240 (Levi speaking in a foreign language) 388 00:26:25,240 --> 00:26:27,258 - [Levi Eshkol] Blood will spill like water. 389 00:26:27,258 --> 00:26:29,400 (Levi speaking in a foreign language) 390 00:26:29,400 --> 00:26:32,060 I must speak to the learned fool. 391 00:26:32,060 --> 00:26:34,342 - [Operator] I have Eban on the line, prime minister. 392 00:26:34,342 --> 00:26:35,820 - [Levi Eshkol] You hear me, Eban? 393 00:26:35,820 --> 00:26:38,950 I'm telling you to remind the president what he promised me, 394 00:26:38,950 --> 00:26:40,810 that the United States would stand by us 395 00:26:40,810 --> 00:26:41,890 if we were threatened. 396 00:26:41,890 --> 00:26:46,040 Tell him this is about to happen with poison gas, too. 397 00:26:46,040 --> 00:26:48,647 The question is Israel's existence. 398 00:26:48,647 --> 00:26:51,397 (dramatic music) 399 00:27:21,282 --> 00:27:26,282 - Abba Eban called on the prime minister at his office 400 00:27:26,357 --> 00:27:29,860 and as he walks in, Eshkol says to him, 401 00:27:29,860 --> 00:27:34,535 his eyes bright with a beaming smile. 402 00:27:34,535 --> 00:27:38,250 (speaking in a foreign language) 403 00:27:38,250 --> 00:27:41,243 We have to make a thanksgiving benediction. 404 00:27:42,240 --> 00:27:43,800 - [Levi Eshkol] This morning, our air force 405 00:27:43,800 --> 00:27:45,958 caught the whole of Egypt's air force by surprise 406 00:27:45,958 --> 00:27:49,210 and destroyed practically all of it on the ground. 407 00:27:49,210 --> 00:27:52,123 We've taken complete control of the skies and the Gaza Strip 408 00:27:52,123 --> 00:27:54,930 and now we're moving deep into Sinai. 409 00:27:54,930 --> 00:27:57,470 The Syrian, Iraqi, and Jordanian air forces 410 00:27:57,470 --> 00:27:59,650 have tried firing back but we're in the process 411 00:27:59,650 --> 00:28:01,935 of destroying them as well. 412 00:28:01,935 --> 00:28:02,768 (Abba speaking in a foreign language) 413 00:28:02,768 --> 00:28:05,240 - [Abba Eban] Thank God, tell me the Jordanian attack, 414 00:28:05,240 --> 00:28:06,683 how serious is it? 415 00:28:06,683 --> 00:28:09,470 - [Levi Eshkol] So far just artillery exchanges, 416 00:28:09,470 --> 00:28:12,080 mainly in Jerusalem with a few skirmishes 417 00:28:12,080 --> 00:28:13,640 around Mount Scopus. 418 00:28:13,640 --> 00:28:16,453 I've sent word to King Hussein for the UN and the Americans 419 00:28:16,453 --> 00:28:20,924 that if Jordan stays out of the war, we won't touch them. 420 00:28:20,924 --> 00:28:23,757 (alarms sounding) 421 00:28:28,087 --> 00:28:32,820 - Begin had an enormous sense of Jewish history 422 00:28:32,820 --> 00:28:35,851 and now quoting him, well he said to me, he said, 423 00:28:35,851 --> 00:28:40,851 "I took myself into a coma and I thought to myself, 424 00:28:41,319 --> 00:28:46,319 "this is the opportunity to be able to get back 425 00:28:46,687 --> 00:28:51,687 "all our treasures lost to the Jordanians 426 00:28:52,417 --> 00:28:55,117 "in the old city in 1948." 427 00:28:56,187 --> 00:29:00,943 And he was joined by another minister of labor, Yigal Allon. 428 00:29:00,943 --> 00:29:05,943 And he found in Yigal Allon, he found a kindred spirit. 429 00:29:06,130 --> 00:29:09,025 And there standing in a room, the two of them 430 00:29:09,025 --> 00:29:14,025 sharing the reflections 431 00:29:14,527 --> 00:29:18,456 about this great historic opportunity 432 00:29:18,456 --> 00:29:20,720 to retrieve the old city. 433 00:29:20,720 --> 00:29:24,280 And Eshkol spies him through the half open door 434 00:29:24,280 --> 00:29:26,150 and he says. 435 00:29:26,150 --> 00:29:28,680 - [Levi Eshkol] No, tell me what you two are hatching. 436 00:29:28,680 --> 00:29:30,350 - [Yigal Allon] Jerusalem, 437 00:29:30,350 --> 00:29:33,347 Begin and I want the old city of Jerusalem. 438 00:29:33,347 --> 00:29:35,110 (Levi speaking in a foreign language) 439 00:29:35,110 --> 00:29:37,561 - [Levi Eshkol] That is an interesting idea. 440 00:29:37,561 --> 00:29:40,311 (dramatic music) 441 00:29:48,005 --> 00:29:51,100 - The Jordanians are pounding away. 442 00:29:51,100 --> 00:29:53,954 Jerusalem streets are empty. 443 00:29:53,954 --> 00:29:57,097 And then shells begin to fall 444 00:29:58,147 --> 00:30:00,400 around the general area of the Knesset. 445 00:30:00,400 --> 00:30:02,653 Everybody's ordered into the shelters. 446 00:30:05,590 --> 00:30:09,620 One of the lower floors of the Knesset 447 00:30:09,620 --> 00:30:11,860 serves as a shelter and there, 448 00:30:11,860 --> 00:30:15,900 you've got members of Parliament 449 00:30:15,900 --> 00:30:18,220 and you have got senior officials 450 00:30:18,220 --> 00:30:20,067 all sitting there on benches 451 00:30:20,067 --> 00:30:24,420 and you've got clocks and you've got cleaning women 452 00:30:24,420 --> 00:30:28,559 and you've everybody all huddled, bundled together, 453 00:30:28,559 --> 00:30:32,610 scores of them in this shelter. 454 00:30:32,610 --> 00:30:35,260 And then enters Ben-Gurion from one side 455 00:30:35,260 --> 00:30:37,650 and in comes Begin from the other side 456 00:30:37,650 --> 00:30:40,580 and they move towards each other and they embrace 457 00:30:40,580 --> 00:30:44,770 and there are cheers galore as they see these two 458 00:30:44,770 --> 00:30:49,770 old oppositionists, I can tell you that there have been 459 00:30:51,300 --> 00:30:54,820 such a moment of unity in the history of the Jewish state 460 00:30:54,820 --> 00:30:59,330 as at that moment, as when Menachem was being showed. 461 00:30:59,330 --> 00:31:00,803 And then the Six Day War. 462 00:31:02,410 --> 00:31:06,390 And Begin all the time was thinking old city, old city. 463 00:31:06,390 --> 00:31:08,800 How do we capture them, we have to capture the old city. 464 00:31:08,800 --> 00:31:13,310 And Begin runs out and there here comes the prime minister 465 00:31:13,310 --> 00:31:14,780 and takes him to a corner 466 00:31:14,780 --> 00:31:17,740 and asks for the immediate meeting of a cabinet. 467 00:31:17,740 --> 00:31:22,740 And Eshkol agrees and Begin makes a pitch supported by Elon 468 00:31:24,059 --> 00:31:28,330 for the immediate occupation of the old city. 469 00:31:28,330 --> 00:31:31,430 One person who's not there is minister of defense Dayan. 470 00:31:31,430 --> 00:31:33,590 He's out in the field somewhere. 471 00:31:33,590 --> 00:31:35,870 And so Eshkol speaks on his behalf. 472 00:31:35,870 --> 00:31:38,490 - [Levi Eshkol] Dayan has serious reservations about this. 473 00:31:38,490 --> 00:31:40,921 He believes that entering into the old city 474 00:31:40,921 --> 00:31:43,010 will involve house to house fighting 475 00:31:43,010 --> 00:31:44,360 and that could be costly 476 00:31:44,360 --> 00:31:47,430 and there's a chance it will cause damage to the holy places 477 00:31:47,430 --> 00:31:49,980 of the other faiths and that will bring the whole world 478 00:31:49,980 --> 00:31:51,870 crashing down on our heads. 479 00:31:51,870 --> 00:31:53,870 Dayan thinks it would be sufficient simply 480 00:31:53,870 --> 00:31:55,930 to surround the old city. 481 00:31:55,930 --> 00:31:58,340 It would then fall to us like a ripe fruit. 482 00:31:58,340 --> 00:32:01,260 - [Menachem Begin] I disagree, unless and until Jewish feet 483 00:32:01,260 --> 00:32:04,310 are deep inside the old city and on the temple mount, 484 00:32:04,310 --> 00:32:06,380 Jerusalem will remain forever divided. 485 00:32:06,380 --> 00:32:08,940 We have to occupy it physically. 486 00:32:08,940 --> 00:32:10,510 - [Simcha Dinitz] Gentlemen, 487 00:32:10,510 --> 00:32:12,890 the Jordanian army is all but smashed 488 00:32:12,890 --> 00:32:15,421 and our own army's at the city's gates. 489 00:32:15,421 --> 00:32:18,960 Our soldiers are almost in sight of the western wall. 490 00:32:18,960 --> 00:32:20,836 How can we tell not to reach it? 491 00:32:20,836 --> 00:32:23,060 We have in our hands a gift of history. 492 00:32:23,060 --> 00:32:25,620 Future generations will never forgive us 493 00:32:25,620 --> 00:32:27,129 if we do not seize it. 494 00:32:27,129 --> 00:32:30,293 - [Levi Eshkol] Order, please, I've made a decision. 495 00:32:30,293 --> 00:32:33,720 In view of the situation created in Jerusalem 496 00:32:33,720 --> 00:32:36,133 by King Hussein's refusal to heed our warnings, 497 00:32:36,133 --> 00:32:39,932 an opportunity has been created to capture the old city. 498 00:32:39,932 --> 00:32:43,313 If it comes to it, I overrule Dayan. 499 00:32:45,057 --> 00:32:48,390 - In the meantime, a brigade of the parachuters 500 00:32:48,390 --> 00:32:53,056 had been ordered from the south where they had been engaged 501 00:32:53,056 --> 00:32:55,283 to come to Jerusalem. 502 00:32:58,386 --> 00:33:01,040 Begin was staying at the King David Hotel 503 00:33:01,040 --> 00:33:05,823 and couldn't sleep and he kept the radio on all the time. 504 00:33:05,823 --> 00:33:08,182 And at the four o'clock broadcast, 505 00:33:08,182 --> 00:33:11,370 he heard the news that the Security Council 506 00:33:11,370 --> 00:33:16,370 was about to pass a ceasefire resolution. 507 00:33:16,420 --> 00:33:20,600 Begin immediately phoned the prime minister. 508 00:33:20,600 --> 00:33:22,190 - [Menachem Begin] Forgive me for disturbing your sleep, 509 00:33:22,190 --> 00:33:24,930 prime minister, we have no time left. 510 00:33:24,930 --> 00:33:27,180 I propose the army be ordered to enter the old city 511 00:33:27,180 --> 00:33:29,690 forthwith before it's too late. 512 00:33:29,690 --> 00:33:34,690 - Eshkol authorized Begin to contact Vayan 513 00:33:35,216 --> 00:33:39,449 to obtain his approval and it was decided 514 00:33:39,449 --> 00:33:41,630 that at seven o'clock the following morning 515 00:33:41,630 --> 00:33:44,010 there'd be an emergency meeting of the cabinet 516 00:33:44,010 --> 00:33:49,010 for the immediate entry into the old city. 517 00:33:50,275 --> 00:33:53,025 (dramatic music) 518 00:33:58,410 --> 00:34:02,243 The parachute brigade found serious opposition 519 00:34:04,530 --> 00:34:07,814 but nothing like the intensity that they had feared 520 00:34:07,814 --> 00:34:12,225 from the Jordanian legion who were good fighters. 521 00:34:12,225 --> 00:34:17,225 And within a few hours came what in the Israeli folklore 522 00:34:18,062 --> 00:34:23,062 is a declaration that has entered the pantheon 523 00:34:25,191 --> 00:34:30,191 of Israeli triumph. 524 00:34:31,410 --> 00:34:35,480 Those were the words communicated over the radios 525 00:34:35,480 --> 00:34:37,673 by Colonel Motegol, 526 00:34:37,673 --> 00:34:40,683 the commander of the parachuter's brigade. 527 00:34:41,729 --> 00:34:43,711 (speaking in a foreign language) 528 00:34:43,711 --> 00:34:47,102 The temple mount is in our hands. 529 00:34:47,102 --> 00:34:49,852 (dramatic music) 530 00:34:54,254 --> 00:34:58,337 (speaking in a foreign language) 531 00:35:02,292 --> 00:35:04,740 - But I'd been instructed meantime 532 00:35:04,740 --> 00:35:08,840 to fly to the United Nations to be at hand for Abba Eban, 533 00:35:08,840 --> 00:35:12,340 who was then addressing the security council. 534 00:35:12,340 --> 00:35:14,720 But I wouldn't leave without first of all 535 00:35:14,720 --> 00:35:16,290 seeing the west wall. 536 00:35:16,290 --> 00:35:19,163 I knew the chief army spokesman in Jerusalem 537 00:35:19,163 --> 00:35:22,330 and through his good offices and military deep 538 00:35:22,330 --> 00:35:24,290 took me through the lion's gate. 539 00:35:24,290 --> 00:35:26,506 And inside was pandemonium, 540 00:35:26,506 --> 00:35:30,446 soldiers of every stripe and of every rank 541 00:35:30,446 --> 00:35:32,729 were rushing through the alley ways 542 00:35:32,729 --> 00:35:36,033 to see the west wall, just to touch it. 543 00:35:37,542 --> 00:35:41,140 And I was privileged to look at it. 544 00:35:41,140 --> 00:35:45,757 I couldn't get anywhere near it before I flew off to the UN. 545 00:35:47,401 --> 00:35:50,151 (dramatic music) 546 00:35:53,070 --> 00:35:55,578 And here it must be stressed, 547 00:35:55,578 --> 00:36:00,578 this was the first time since the destruction of the temple 548 00:36:01,700 --> 00:36:06,700 in the year 70 AD that one of its major constructions 549 00:36:07,133 --> 00:36:12,133 that we made was back in the hands of the Jewish people. 550 00:36:14,522 --> 00:36:17,105 (gentle music) 551 00:36:22,580 --> 00:36:25,444 Would the old city have been a priority 552 00:36:25,444 --> 00:36:27,980 within the confines of the Battle of Jerusalem 553 00:36:28,850 --> 00:36:30,373 had it not been for Begin? 554 00:36:31,650 --> 00:36:36,650 It was this sense of history and mission, the mission 555 00:36:37,442 --> 00:36:42,442 that it inspired and he spelled it out 556 00:36:42,873 --> 00:36:45,250 in the cabinet meeting. 557 00:36:45,250 --> 00:36:47,833 (gentle music) 558 00:37:00,148 --> 00:37:03,770 Well, it was only the historian looking back 559 00:37:03,770 --> 00:37:07,574 who saw Levi Eshkol in the perspective 560 00:37:07,574 --> 00:37:12,574 of the extraordinary war leader that he really was. 561 00:37:14,200 --> 00:37:19,200 As the countdowns began, certain major generals 562 00:37:19,600 --> 00:37:24,090 were publicly accusing Eshkol of procrastination, 563 00:37:24,090 --> 00:37:27,863 if timidity, of indecisiveness 564 00:37:27,863 --> 00:37:32,070 and simply lacking the guts to make the decision 565 00:37:32,070 --> 00:37:35,360 to do what was necessary to do. 566 00:37:35,360 --> 00:37:37,486 He withstood all these pressures 567 00:37:37,486 --> 00:37:42,486 until the exact moment when he knew it was time to go. 568 00:37:43,700 --> 00:37:45,679 And by his side was a very important 569 00:37:45,679 --> 00:37:48,600 chief of staff, Yitzhak Rabin. 570 00:37:48,600 --> 00:37:51,224 And so if you take all this together, 571 00:37:51,224 --> 00:37:56,224 the war was more successful than anybody had anticipated. 572 00:37:58,070 --> 00:38:00,680 Even in six days, we had the whole if Sinai, 573 00:38:00,680 --> 00:38:02,848 we had the whole of the Gaza Strip, 574 00:38:02,848 --> 00:38:04,910 we had the whole of the West Bank, 575 00:38:04,910 --> 00:38:07,455 we had the whole of the Golan Heights. 576 00:38:07,455 --> 00:38:12,455 Levi Eshkol with his Yiddish wit of his, 577 00:38:12,663 --> 00:38:15,350 he was going around everywhere doing this. 578 00:38:15,350 --> 00:38:19,120 So somebody asked him, "What does this V stand for?" 579 00:38:19,120 --> 00:38:22,850 You would expect him to say like, V for victory. 580 00:38:22,850 --> 00:38:25,385 And he said, "This is a V." 581 00:38:25,385 --> 00:38:27,940 (speaking in a foreign language) 582 00:38:27,940 --> 00:38:29,930 How do we get out of all of this? 583 00:38:29,930 --> 00:38:33,845 Suddenly we're in charge of larger populations 584 00:38:33,845 --> 00:38:36,401 and mass territories. 585 00:38:36,401 --> 00:38:38,984 (gentle music) 586 00:39:34,470 --> 00:39:37,023 Immediately after the defeat of the Arabs, 587 00:39:37,023 --> 00:39:41,750 the Soviet Union began replenishing the Arab arsenals. 588 00:39:41,750 --> 00:39:44,834 Those who were in the inner circle here in Israel 589 00:39:44,834 --> 00:39:48,060 knew a horrendous truth, 590 00:39:48,060 --> 00:39:50,982 that we had virtually exhausted ourselves 591 00:39:50,982 --> 00:39:54,330 and having accomplished in a matter of six days 592 00:39:54,330 --> 00:39:55,723 this extraordinary victory. 593 00:39:57,281 --> 00:40:02,281 We won the Six Day War with French aircraft, 594 00:40:03,090 --> 00:40:05,000 particularly standing in Melage. 595 00:40:05,000 --> 00:40:08,543 In those days, France was our major supplier. 596 00:40:09,700 --> 00:40:13,096 But on the very eve of the war, 597 00:40:13,096 --> 00:40:16,870 French President Charles de Gaulle 598 00:40:16,870 --> 00:40:19,463 slapped an arms embargo on us. 599 00:40:20,320 --> 00:40:24,283 So when the war ended, we had no spare parts. 600 00:40:25,180 --> 00:40:26,872 And this is the context in which 601 00:40:26,872 --> 00:40:29,249 the prime minister Levi Eshkol 602 00:40:29,249 --> 00:40:34,203 decided he must speak to President Johnson. 603 00:40:35,080 --> 00:40:38,740 Back in Washington, President Johnson also decided 604 00:40:38,740 --> 00:40:42,891 it's time he had a word with Levi Eshkol. 605 00:40:42,891 --> 00:40:46,181 And it was at the president's suggestion 606 00:40:46,181 --> 00:40:49,782 that instead of meeting in Washington, 607 00:40:49,782 --> 00:40:54,782 he invited Levi Eshkol to his ranch in Texas. 608 00:40:57,948 --> 00:41:02,330 I get a phone call from Jerusalem to New York 609 00:41:02,330 --> 00:41:05,430 instructing me to drop whatever I was doing 610 00:41:05,430 --> 00:41:08,649 and put yourself totally at the prime minister's disposal 611 00:41:08,649 --> 00:41:12,430 for the course of his visit to the states 612 00:41:12,430 --> 00:41:13,873 which began in New York. 613 00:41:15,865 --> 00:41:18,751 (speaking in a foreign language) 614 00:41:18,751 --> 00:41:20,921 - Should I try to talk Hebrew to you? 615 00:41:20,921 --> 00:41:21,754 English. 616 00:41:21,754 --> 00:41:23,701 - Mr. Prime Minister, are you seeking military aid 617 00:41:23,701 --> 00:41:27,002 from the United States at this time, sir? 618 00:41:27,002 --> 00:41:28,538 Are you seeking additional aircraft, 619 00:41:28,538 --> 00:41:30,157 Phantom jets as it has been reported, sir? 620 00:41:30,157 --> 00:41:34,414 - I wouldn't like to discuss details 621 00:41:34,414 --> 00:41:37,583 until after I meet the president and go there. 622 00:41:41,521 --> 00:41:46,521 - We flew into San Antonio, Texas. 623 00:41:48,860 --> 00:41:53,070 There the president was waiting 624 00:41:53,070 --> 00:41:56,010 with virtually the whole 625 00:41:56,010 --> 00:41:58,970 of the Jewish community of San Antonio. 626 00:41:58,970 --> 00:42:00,570 And then we transferred 627 00:42:00,570 --> 00:42:03,913 into the president's private, executive jet. 628 00:42:05,860 --> 00:42:08,123 And then we flew to his ranch. 629 00:42:11,970 --> 00:42:14,633 When we descended from plane, 630 00:42:15,467 --> 00:42:20,467 there was a big car driven by the foreman of the ranch. 631 00:42:21,440 --> 00:42:25,289 Lots of howdies as we were introduced to him and so on. 632 00:42:25,289 --> 00:42:30,289 And the president said, "I'll take over the wheel now." 633 00:42:30,480 --> 00:42:35,480 This beefy guy, he goes charging into his acres. 634 00:42:36,614 --> 00:42:39,070 And the acres were vast. 635 00:42:39,070 --> 00:42:43,188 So we were bumping around, we came into one pasture. 636 00:42:43,188 --> 00:42:47,113 There was a whole herd of cows there. 637 00:42:47,113 --> 00:42:50,977 And the president went charging right into them 638 00:42:50,977 --> 00:42:53,540 and they scattered, except one. 639 00:42:53,540 --> 00:42:55,740 - [Lyndon Johnson] That's Daisy, she's as pig headed 640 00:42:55,740 --> 00:42:58,004 as a Texas senator cowlick. 641 00:42:58,004 --> 00:42:59,180 (Levi speaking in a foreign language) 642 00:42:59,180 --> 00:43:01,610 - [Levi Eshkol] What is the gentile talking about? 643 00:43:01,610 --> 00:43:03,020 - [Lyndon Johnson] This is my old homestead, 644 00:43:03,020 --> 00:43:04,510 Mr. Prime Minister. 645 00:43:04,510 --> 00:43:07,981 This hill country is where my mammy and pappy brought me up. 646 00:43:07,981 --> 00:43:10,780 Most of my neighbors are my old playmates. 647 00:43:10,780 --> 00:43:13,350 I've known them all my life. 648 00:43:13,350 --> 00:43:16,300 - [Levi Eshkol] Very nice, very nice. 649 00:43:16,300 --> 00:43:17,750 - Then we came to a cow shed. 650 00:43:19,983 --> 00:43:22,865 And we stop at the cow shed and out jumps the president 651 00:43:22,865 --> 00:43:25,150 and Eshkol behind him and here 652 00:43:25,150 --> 00:43:29,133 you've got this six foot plus Texan. 653 00:43:30,730 --> 00:43:34,529 Every stride, muscular authority 654 00:43:34,529 --> 00:43:36,157 and our little Levi 655 00:43:39,050 --> 00:43:43,573 trying to keep up with his Hamburg hat. 656 00:43:46,170 --> 00:43:48,669 So the president and the prime minister 657 00:43:48,669 --> 00:43:51,370 walked into the cow shed. 658 00:43:51,370 --> 00:43:56,050 There was this cow, she'd just calved. 659 00:43:56,050 --> 00:44:01,050 All slivery and leathery, much like feet next to its mom. 660 00:44:03,000 --> 00:44:04,550 And something amazing happened. 661 00:44:05,704 --> 00:44:08,173 He, Eshkol was an old Kibbutz. 662 00:44:09,150 --> 00:44:11,710 It worked in the cow shed as well. 663 00:44:11,710 --> 00:44:16,710 So he crouched down to feel the muscles of this calf 664 00:44:16,975 --> 00:44:19,880 and the president crouched down with him 665 00:44:19,880 --> 00:44:24,880 and they were doing it with intense exchange, 666 00:44:26,860 --> 00:44:28,060 discussion between them. 667 00:44:29,683 --> 00:44:34,683 And that coalesced a relationship even more. 668 00:44:39,350 --> 00:44:42,726 Now we come to the next day when the talks began. 669 00:44:42,726 --> 00:44:46,130 The talks took place in the president's den. 670 00:44:46,130 --> 00:44:50,815 There were deep leather furniture 671 00:44:50,815 --> 00:44:55,815 and over stuffed cushions where you just sat down 672 00:44:56,740 --> 00:44:58,993 and then you went down and down and down. 673 00:44:59,977 --> 00:45:04,977 The president on a rocking chair up there, up, up, up. 674 00:45:05,497 --> 00:45:07,500 And in order to communicate with him 675 00:45:07,500 --> 00:45:10,008 you had to sit at the very edge of the couch. 676 00:45:10,008 --> 00:45:13,823 I can just see Eshkol now and his team. 677 00:45:17,290 --> 00:45:18,293 And the talks began. 678 00:45:19,631 --> 00:45:20,640 - [Levi Eshkol] The heart of my mission 679 00:45:20,640 --> 00:45:22,920 is how to create peace in the Middle East 680 00:45:22,920 --> 00:45:25,520 at a time when the Syrian and Egyptian armies 681 00:45:25,520 --> 00:45:27,590 are being rebuilt at a menacing rate 682 00:45:27,590 --> 00:45:29,620 under Soviet guidance so fast 683 00:45:29,620 --> 00:45:32,390 that the Arab leaders are contemplating renewed war. 684 00:45:32,390 --> 00:45:34,453 In a word, Mr. President, we presently 685 00:45:34,453 --> 00:45:37,690 do not have the minimum means to defend ourselves. 686 00:45:37,690 --> 00:45:39,860 - [Lyndon Johnson] So what are you asking for exactly? 687 00:45:39,860 --> 00:45:40,870 Spell it out. 688 00:45:40,870 --> 00:45:43,830 - [Levi Eshkol] I'm asking for your F4 Phantom jets. 689 00:45:43,830 --> 00:45:46,120 Without those Phantoms, we will be deprived 690 00:45:46,120 --> 00:45:47,730 of our minimum security. 691 00:45:47,730 --> 00:45:50,395 We need 50 Phantoms as rapidly as possible. 692 00:45:50,395 --> 00:45:51,790 - [Lyndon Johnson] 50? 693 00:45:51,790 --> 00:45:52,930 - [Levi Eshkol] Within two years, 694 00:45:52,930 --> 00:45:56,330 our Arab neighbors will have 900 to 1,000 aircraft. 695 00:45:56,330 --> 00:45:58,564 So it's an either or situation. 696 00:45:58,564 --> 00:46:02,203 Either the United States provides us with the arms we need 697 00:46:02,203 --> 00:46:04,010 or you leave us to our fate. 698 00:46:04,010 --> 00:46:06,575 If I leave here empty handed, the Arabs will know 699 00:46:06,575 --> 00:46:08,700 that it was not only the French who said no to us, 700 00:46:08,700 --> 00:46:10,916 but the Americans, too. 701 00:46:10,916 --> 00:46:14,738 Mr. President, Israel is pleading for your help. 702 00:46:14,738 --> 00:46:15,990 - [Lyndon Johnson] Planes won't 703 00:46:15,990 --> 00:46:17,783 radically change your realities. 704 00:46:17,783 --> 00:46:20,769 The big problem is how two and a half million Jews 705 00:46:20,769 --> 00:46:23,363 can live in a sea of Arabs. 706 00:46:25,100 --> 00:46:28,892 - Then Dean Rusk, his secretary of state spoke, 707 00:46:28,892 --> 00:46:31,810 and the essence of his remarks were, 708 00:46:31,810 --> 00:46:34,088 however many aircraft we supply, 709 00:46:34,088 --> 00:46:36,140 you're never going to be able to catch up 710 00:46:36,140 --> 00:46:40,080 to the Arabs and what the Russians are supplying to them. 711 00:46:40,080 --> 00:46:41,050 - [Dean Rusk] What kind of Israel 712 00:46:41,050 --> 00:46:42,767 do you want the Arabs to live with? 713 00:46:42,767 --> 00:46:44,350 What kind of Israel do you 714 00:46:44,350 --> 00:46:46,575 want the American people to support? 715 00:46:46,575 --> 00:46:48,870 Surely the answer to those questions 716 00:46:48,870 --> 00:46:51,250 is not to be found in military hardware. 717 00:46:51,250 --> 00:46:52,560 - [Levi Eshkol] These are difficult remarks 718 00:46:52,560 --> 00:46:54,100 you're making, Mr. Secretary. 719 00:46:54,100 --> 00:46:56,253 All I can say to you now is that our victory 720 00:46:56,253 --> 00:46:59,362 blocked the Soviet Union from taking over the Middle East 721 00:46:59,362 --> 00:47:01,825 and that surely is an American interest. 722 00:47:01,825 --> 00:47:04,117 As for the kind of Israel the Arabs can live with 723 00:47:04,117 --> 00:47:06,240 and the American people can support, 724 00:47:06,240 --> 00:47:08,560 the only answer I can give you is an Israel 725 00:47:08,560 --> 00:47:09,970 whose map will be different 726 00:47:09,970 --> 00:47:12,840 from the one on the eve of the Six Day War. 727 00:47:12,840 --> 00:47:14,212 - [Dean Rusk] How different? 728 00:47:14,212 --> 00:47:17,522 - But Dean Rusk again began pressing this point, 729 00:47:17,522 --> 00:47:20,313 the president scribbled a note to him. 730 00:47:21,320 --> 00:47:24,103 Dean, go slow on this thing. 731 00:47:25,620 --> 00:47:26,453 How do I know? 732 00:47:27,990 --> 00:47:30,480 Because when the meeting broke up 733 00:47:30,480 --> 00:47:32,150 that note was still on the table 734 00:47:32,150 --> 00:47:33,970 and I slipped it into my pocket 735 00:47:33,970 --> 00:47:35,220 and I got it to this day. 736 00:47:44,780 --> 00:47:47,363 Those words, Dean, go slow on this thing, 737 00:47:49,910 --> 00:47:53,420 echoed a sentiment within the president himself. 738 00:47:53,420 --> 00:47:58,420 That he was not going to accept blankly 739 00:47:58,721 --> 00:48:02,360 the advice of his advisors on the subject. 740 00:48:02,360 --> 00:48:04,851 There was something inside him 741 00:48:04,851 --> 00:48:09,851 that was whispering that we have to help in some way. 742 00:48:11,352 --> 00:48:14,070 - [Lyndon Johnson] I have absolutely no argument 743 00:48:14,070 --> 00:48:15,570 with you, Mr. Prime Minister, 744 00:48:15,570 --> 00:48:18,985 as to your peace aim and a need to keep Israel secure. 745 00:48:18,985 --> 00:48:21,840 And it seems to me that the most useful thing 746 00:48:21,840 --> 00:48:24,320 that can be done is for America 747 00:48:24,320 --> 00:48:26,010 to reach an agreement with the Soviets 748 00:48:26,010 --> 00:48:27,557 to avoid an arms race 749 00:48:27,557 --> 00:48:29,510 while at the same time 750 00:48:29,510 --> 00:48:33,007 trying to get some kind of peace process going. 751 00:48:33,007 --> 00:48:34,090 (Levi speaking in a foreign language) 752 00:48:34,090 --> 00:48:35,590 - [Lyndon Johnson] What was that, Mr. Prime Minister? 753 00:48:35,590 --> 00:48:37,770 - [Levi Eshkol] Nothing, just a sigh. 754 00:48:37,770 --> 00:48:40,690 If only we could get the peace process going. 755 00:48:40,690 --> 00:48:42,630 - [Lyndon Johnson] The chances might be slim, 756 00:48:42,630 --> 00:48:44,863 but time must be given to try. 757 00:48:46,930 --> 00:48:49,690 - [Levi Eshkol] Mr. President, how much time? 758 00:48:49,690 --> 00:48:50,975 I would love somebody in the world 759 00:48:50,975 --> 00:48:52,869 here in this room to tell me 760 00:48:52,869 --> 00:48:56,350 how I can get a peace process going with the Arabs. 761 00:48:56,350 --> 00:48:59,470 But instead of peace, we're faced with an Arab rearmament 762 00:48:59,470 --> 00:49:02,100 that again threatens our very existence. 763 00:49:02,100 --> 00:49:03,970 Mr. President, the state of Israel 764 00:49:03,970 --> 00:49:06,189 is the last chance for the Jewish people 765 00:49:06,189 --> 00:49:07,960 but I know of only one address 766 00:49:07,960 --> 00:49:10,360 to acquire the tools we need to defend ourselves 767 00:49:10,360 --> 00:49:12,053 and that address is you. 768 00:49:12,948 --> 00:49:17,605 - Eshkol had caught the president's inner ear. 769 00:49:17,605 --> 00:49:20,274 And the president came back 770 00:49:20,274 --> 00:49:24,690 with a draft of a written statement. 771 00:49:24,690 --> 00:49:29,320 The bottom line of it meant, you could see this 772 00:49:29,320 --> 00:49:34,320 in Eshkol's eyes, yes, we've understood you, 773 00:49:35,031 --> 00:49:37,945 we understand your predicament, 774 00:49:37,945 --> 00:49:41,780 and we are going to consider favorably 775 00:49:41,780 --> 00:49:44,463 the supply of the F-4 Phantom aircraft. 776 00:49:45,552 --> 00:49:50,520 And I can still see Levi Eshkol's face 777 00:49:50,520 --> 00:49:53,217 as he rose and the president rose 778 00:49:53,217 --> 00:49:55,752 and they shook hands warmly 779 00:49:55,752 --> 00:49:58,394 and Eshkol say to him, 780 00:49:58,394 --> 00:50:02,035 "Thank you, Mr. President, thank you." 781 00:50:02,035 --> 00:50:05,702 And indeed, it was a historic turning point. 782 00:50:09,967 --> 00:50:12,717 (dramatic music) 783 00:50:24,460 --> 00:50:29,460 Levi Eshkol summoned Lieutenant General Yitzhak Rabin, 784 00:50:29,640 --> 00:50:31,749 chief of staff of Israel's defense forces 785 00:50:31,749 --> 00:50:34,530 and a hero of the Six Day War 786 00:50:34,530 --> 00:50:36,882 to report to him on what had happened 787 00:50:36,882 --> 00:50:40,530 in his conversations with the president. 788 00:50:40,530 --> 00:50:42,835 - [Levi Eshkol] If the president is true to his word, 789 00:50:42,835 --> 00:50:44,850 there could be a new relationship 790 00:50:44,850 --> 00:50:46,680 between us and the Americans. 791 00:50:46,680 --> 00:50:50,600 It might even be the start of a de facto strategic alliance. 792 00:50:50,600 --> 00:50:53,500 - [Yitzhak Rabin] This is why, when I retire from the army, 793 00:50:53,500 --> 00:50:55,320 my ambition is to be appointed 794 00:50:55,320 --> 00:50:58,311 Israel's next ambassador to Washington. 795 00:50:58,311 --> 00:51:00,520 - [Levi Eshkol] You, ambassador? 796 00:51:00,520 --> 00:51:01,690 Are you telling me that you're ready 797 00:51:01,690 --> 00:51:03,530 to stand around at cocktail parties, 798 00:51:03,530 --> 00:51:04,920 sit through boring banquets, 799 00:51:04,920 --> 00:51:07,310 and play all those dreary diplomatic games 800 00:51:07,310 --> 00:51:08,930 diplomats have to play? 801 00:51:08,930 --> 00:51:11,850 Believe me, Yitzhak, you're no diplomat. 802 00:51:11,850 --> 00:51:14,580 - He knew who he was talking to 803 00:51:14,580 --> 00:51:18,000 because Rabin had no small talk. 804 00:51:18,000 --> 00:51:21,340 If he had a sense of humor at all, he rarely showed it. 805 00:51:21,340 --> 00:51:24,679 He was shy to a fault. 806 00:51:24,679 --> 00:51:28,060 If somebody would say to him, 807 00:51:28,060 --> 00:51:32,030 how are you, he was capable of clamping up 808 00:51:32,030 --> 00:51:34,533 and considering that an unacceptable intrusion 809 00:51:34,533 --> 00:51:36,510 into his privacy. 810 00:51:36,510 --> 00:51:38,230 - [Yitzhak Rabin] The reason I want Washington 811 00:51:38,230 --> 00:51:41,550 is because strengthening our links with the United States 812 00:51:41,550 --> 00:51:43,688 is gonna be our biggest political challenge 813 00:51:43,688 --> 00:51:45,482 in the years ahead. 814 00:51:45,482 --> 00:51:49,270 Here is an area where I can make a contribution. 815 00:51:49,270 --> 00:51:50,680 - [Levi Eshkol] I'll have to think about it 816 00:51:50,680 --> 00:51:53,413 and of course, I'll need to discuss this with Abba Eban. 817 00:51:53,413 --> 00:51:57,210 As foreign minister, he'll have to approve the appointment. 818 00:51:57,210 --> 00:52:00,330 - [Yitzhak Rabin] Oh, I'm sure he'll have reservations. 819 00:52:00,330 --> 00:52:02,420 He's not one of my greatest fans 820 00:52:02,420 --> 00:52:04,753 and the feeling is mutual. 821 00:52:05,722 --> 00:52:10,722 - Abba Eban invited Rabin for a conversation on the subject. 822 00:52:12,250 --> 00:52:17,020 And Rabin later told me that the conversation with Abba Eban 823 00:52:17,020 --> 00:52:19,720 is invariably a soliloquy 824 00:52:20,973 --> 00:52:25,410 where he does the talking and you do the listening. 825 00:52:25,410 --> 00:52:28,653 But nevertheless, he got the appointment. 826 00:52:31,251 --> 00:52:36,251 I was sitting at my desk with the counselors in New York. 827 00:52:36,277 --> 00:52:40,654 I was responsible for political information 828 00:52:40,654 --> 00:52:44,090 and dealing with the media when my telephone rings 829 00:52:44,090 --> 00:52:46,557 and there is a deep, baritone. 830 00:52:47,699 --> 00:52:51,782 (speaking in a foreign language) 831 00:52:54,127 --> 00:52:57,372 And here is now this voice asking me 832 00:52:57,372 --> 00:53:02,020 to join him in Washington because he said 833 00:53:02,020 --> 00:53:04,150 that some embarrassment over the telephone 834 00:53:04,150 --> 00:53:07,351 because speaking Hebrew, not his English, 835 00:53:07,351 --> 00:53:10,333 left much to be desired. 836 00:53:12,085 --> 00:53:15,720 So there I found myself in Washington 837 00:53:15,720 --> 00:53:19,712 at the embassy and I asked him, 838 00:53:19,712 --> 00:53:23,690 knowing that he'd just arrived, what do you plan to do? 839 00:53:23,690 --> 00:53:26,780 What are your goals here in Washington? 840 00:53:26,780 --> 00:53:31,410 He stood up, walked to the window, hands in his pockets. 841 00:53:31,410 --> 00:53:33,513 Stared out of the window. 842 00:53:34,591 --> 00:53:39,591 And talking to space, not to me, said. 843 00:53:39,870 --> 00:53:42,620 - [Yitzhak Rabin] My objectives in Washington are one, 844 00:53:42,620 --> 00:53:44,924 to ensure that Israel is provided 845 00:53:44,924 --> 00:53:47,020 with her defense requirements. 846 00:53:47,020 --> 00:53:51,086 Two, coordinate the policies of the United States 847 00:53:51,086 --> 00:53:55,634 and of Israel in preparation for possible peace moves. 848 00:53:55,634 --> 00:53:59,354 Three, securing American financial support 849 00:53:59,354 --> 00:54:04,010 to cover our arms purchases and buttress our economy. 850 00:54:04,010 --> 00:54:07,210 And four, ensuring that America 851 00:54:07,210 --> 00:54:08,853 employs its deterrent strength 852 00:54:08,853 --> 00:54:12,310 to prevent direct Soviet military intervention 853 00:54:12,310 --> 00:54:15,123 against Israel in the even of war. 854 00:54:16,460 --> 00:54:21,460 - This was a mind that was so analytical, so structured 855 00:54:23,119 --> 00:54:27,829 that you would put before him what would seem to be 856 00:54:27,829 --> 00:54:30,820 a complexity of issues. 857 00:54:30,820 --> 00:54:35,820 And he'd very soon cut right to the bone 858 00:54:36,396 --> 00:54:40,593 and say, well, it boils down to this, A, B, C, D, E. 859 00:54:43,840 --> 00:54:47,120 I remember he asked me to prepare a talking paper. 860 00:54:47,120 --> 00:54:50,110 This essentially was my job, talking papers. 861 00:54:50,110 --> 00:54:53,082 And so there I was on that first day, 862 00:54:53,082 --> 00:54:57,898 trying to transpose his cryptic Hebrew 863 00:54:57,898 --> 00:55:00,960 into a simple English. 864 00:55:00,960 --> 00:55:03,130 So by the time I finished, he'd gone home 865 00:55:03,130 --> 00:55:06,080 and he'd left instructions I should deliver it to his home. 866 00:55:08,912 --> 00:55:11,820 He was in the middle of dinner 867 00:55:11,820 --> 00:55:16,820 with two guests who were old pals of Rabin for the night. 868 00:55:19,110 --> 00:55:21,882 And that was the first time I set eyes in there, Rabin, 869 00:55:21,882 --> 00:55:26,219 strikingly attractive woman. 870 00:55:26,219 --> 00:55:28,100 It was all very jolly. 871 00:55:28,100 --> 00:55:32,129 And she loved Rabin as well, she was part of this, 872 00:55:32,129 --> 00:55:33,610 what they call the (speaking in a foreign language), 873 00:55:33,610 --> 00:55:38,610 this crowd, and after the cold formal experience 874 00:55:39,710 --> 00:55:41,970 I'd had with him a few hours beforehand 875 00:55:41,970 --> 00:55:45,070 in the embassy, this was astonishing. 876 00:55:45,070 --> 00:55:46,770 He was a totally different person. 877 00:55:46,770 --> 00:55:49,712 I realized I was in the presence 878 00:55:49,712 --> 00:55:53,787 of a special breed, the (speaking in a foreign language). 879 00:55:54,660 --> 00:55:58,061 The born of the soil of Israel, 880 00:55:58,061 --> 00:56:03,061 the lives totally dedicated to the defense of Israel. 881 00:56:05,558 --> 00:56:09,925 Teasers, calling each other 882 00:56:09,925 --> 00:56:13,101 by the most ridiculous nicknames. 883 00:56:13,101 --> 00:56:18,101 All of them had an aversion to collars and ties. 884 00:56:18,190 --> 00:56:23,139 And I realized then that this is the one arena 885 00:56:23,139 --> 00:56:26,793 in which Rabin can totally relax and be himself. 886 00:56:35,150 --> 00:56:39,161 It was literally a very few months after 887 00:56:39,161 --> 00:56:43,410 Rabin assumed office as ambassador 888 00:56:43,410 --> 00:56:47,870 that he gave instructions to lower the flag 889 00:56:47,870 --> 00:56:50,170 over the embassy door to half mast 890 00:56:50,170 --> 00:56:53,201 and open the memorial book for visitors 891 00:56:53,201 --> 00:56:56,144 to express their condolences 892 00:56:56,144 --> 00:57:01,021 at the passing of Prime Minister Levi Eshkol, 893 00:57:01,021 --> 00:57:02,371 from a sudden heart attack. 894 00:57:10,100 --> 00:57:13,187 Back in Tel Aviv, the central committee 895 00:57:13,187 --> 00:57:16,210 of the Mapai Labor Party met 896 00:57:16,210 --> 00:57:18,953 to vote for Levi Eshkol's successor. 897 00:57:19,840 --> 00:57:21,744 In those days, there were no primaries. 898 00:57:21,744 --> 00:57:26,490 The decisions of who would serve as what 899 00:57:26,490 --> 00:57:28,532 were made in smoke-filled rooms 900 00:57:28,532 --> 00:57:32,823 by the leaders of the various parties. 901 00:57:32,823 --> 00:57:35,460 And this is how Golda Meir 902 00:57:35,460 --> 00:57:37,713 was chosen as the next prime minister. 903 00:57:39,440 --> 00:57:43,565 When a few hundred hands rise all together 904 00:57:43,565 --> 00:57:47,900 in support of the motion, she looked around her 905 00:57:47,900 --> 00:57:50,613 first wondering who they were voting for. 906 00:57:51,710 --> 00:57:52,860 She realized it was her 907 00:57:54,023 --> 00:57:59,023 and she put her hands over her face, 908 00:58:00,281 --> 00:58:03,717 half bent and she began to cry. 909 00:58:04,660 --> 00:58:07,663 And she was later to tell me in one of those 910 00:58:08,500 --> 00:58:12,670 very intimate moments, Golda, why did you cry? 911 00:58:12,670 --> 00:58:14,957 And she said, "I suddenly realized 912 00:58:14,957 --> 00:58:19,032 "the life and death burden of responsibility 913 00:58:19,032 --> 00:58:22,547 "that were being thrust on my shoulders." 914 00:58:24,800 --> 00:58:27,760 - Mrs. Meir, may I just ask you how you feel today? 915 00:58:27,760 --> 00:58:29,573 Just right now, how do you feel? 916 00:58:31,744 --> 00:58:35,680 - I feel terrible because I know that I'm 917 00:58:36,743 --> 00:58:40,350 may be called upon, of course, parliament decides, 918 00:58:40,350 --> 00:58:44,450 take upon myself a very awful responsibility. 919 00:58:44,450 --> 00:58:47,044 I'll try with my colleagues in the cabinet 920 00:58:47,044 --> 00:58:48,830 to do the best we can. 921 00:58:48,830 --> 00:58:50,280 - Thank you very much indeed. 922 00:58:55,344 --> 00:58:57,927 (gentle music) 923 00:59:01,969 --> 00:59:03,350 - In the Washington scene, 924 00:59:03,350 --> 00:59:06,230 Rabin was very, very quickly recognized 925 00:59:07,190 --> 00:59:11,123 as not the normal, run of the mill diplomat. 926 00:59:12,780 --> 00:59:15,190 The politicalites, actually was curious about him 927 00:59:15,190 --> 00:59:17,840 because they knew he had the direct line 928 00:59:17,840 --> 00:59:19,992 to the decision makers and Jews, 929 00:59:19,992 --> 00:59:21,542 some on the very highest level. 930 00:59:24,460 --> 00:59:29,212 After it came to the attention of the senior echelons 931 00:59:29,212 --> 00:59:32,693 of the Nixon administration, 932 00:59:33,762 --> 00:59:37,308 some extraordinary things happened. 933 00:59:37,308 --> 00:59:41,920 On one occasion, Rabin was invited by Dr. Henry Kissinger, 934 00:59:41,920 --> 00:59:44,560 who was president Nixon's head 935 00:59:44,560 --> 00:59:49,560 of the National Security Council to the White House. 936 00:59:50,100 --> 00:59:55,100 Kissinger said to Rabin that President Nixon 937 00:59:56,270 --> 00:59:58,813 would like to meet you and shake you by the hand. 938 01:00:00,710 --> 01:00:05,270 And there in the room was President Nixon 939 01:00:05,270 --> 01:00:09,447 and he says to him, "I know these are difficult times. 940 01:00:09,447 --> 01:00:12,284 "I appreciate the problems you're facing 941 01:00:12,284 --> 01:00:15,897 "and I understand that you have to safeguard 942 01:00:15,897 --> 01:00:17,873 "your national interests. 943 01:00:19,253 --> 01:00:22,207 "And I would just like to shake you by the hand 944 01:00:22,207 --> 01:00:24,317 "and it's been a pleasure meeting you." 945 01:00:25,332 --> 01:00:26,165 And that was it. 946 01:00:29,000 --> 01:00:30,663 Eban was livid. 947 01:00:33,170 --> 01:00:38,170 Eban complained that Rabin has got no notion of diplomacy 948 01:00:39,226 --> 01:00:43,173 in the sense that he recognizes no hierarchy. 949 01:00:45,380 --> 01:00:50,380 Rabin is true behaved in a fashion as if 950 01:00:50,380 --> 01:00:54,236 he was sharing ministerial responsibility 951 01:00:54,236 --> 01:00:58,100 and Golda was not disabusing him 952 01:00:58,100 --> 01:01:01,340 of this and neither was Nixon. 953 01:01:01,340 --> 01:01:05,094 Because at a previous meeting between Golda and Nixon, 954 01:01:05,094 --> 01:01:09,280 they had agreed that the communications between them 955 01:01:09,280 --> 01:01:14,280 would be direct facilitated through Kissinger and Rabin 956 01:01:15,260 --> 01:01:17,413 and Eban didn't like it. 957 01:01:20,200 --> 01:01:24,086 I think Rabin overdid it with respect to Abba Eban. 958 01:01:24,086 --> 01:01:27,120 Abba Eban was a patriot, was a man of high culture, 959 01:01:27,120 --> 01:01:29,630 he was a scholar of oriental studies. 960 01:01:29,630 --> 01:01:31,350 He was an excellent foreign minister 961 01:01:31,350 --> 01:01:35,760 as a spokesman of Israel and as a voice of Israel, 962 01:01:35,760 --> 01:01:39,413 he was adored by the Jewish communities abroad. 963 01:01:40,490 --> 01:01:44,160 He was admired by governments. 964 01:01:44,160 --> 01:01:49,160 However, through the earthy, nitty gritty, 965 01:01:54,310 --> 01:01:59,310 pan-generation, fighting generation of Israel leadership, 966 01:02:01,440 --> 01:02:05,063 he was a square peg in a round hole. 967 01:02:06,240 --> 01:02:09,850 - To blockade, after all, is to attempt strangulation 968 01:02:11,380 --> 01:02:13,068 and sovereign states are entitled 969 01:02:13,068 --> 01:02:16,200 not to have their trade strangled. 970 01:02:16,200 --> 01:02:20,700 To understand how the state of Israel felt, 971 01:02:20,700 --> 01:02:23,140 one merely has to look around this table 972 01:02:23,140 --> 01:02:25,790 and imagine a foreign power, for example, 973 01:02:25,790 --> 01:02:30,790 forcibly closing New York or Montreal or Boston 974 01:02:30,920 --> 01:02:33,760 or Marseille or Tulum or Copenhagen or Rio 975 01:02:33,760 --> 01:02:35,483 or Tokyo or Bombay Harbor. 976 01:02:37,102 --> 01:02:40,403 How would your governments react? 977 01:02:41,820 --> 01:02:42,823 What would you do? 978 01:02:44,803 --> 01:02:47,900 How long, how long would you wait? 979 01:02:47,900 --> 01:02:50,168 - He did have a vocabulary 980 01:02:50,168 --> 01:02:54,200 that could be rather verbose at times. 981 01:02:54,200 --> 01:02:57,120 There was a satire parody of him 982 01:02:57,120 --> 01:03:00,480 addressing these United Nations general assembly 983 01:03:00,480 --> 01:03:04,710 and there were all the delegates with English dictionaries 984 01:03:04,710 --> 01:03:06,260 quickly turning over the pages, 985 01:03:06,260 --> 01:03:10,270 trying to find out the words, what the meanings were. 986 01:03:10,270 --> 01:03:14,142 But I learned from him a lot. 987 01:03:14,142 --> 01:03:16,725 (gentle music) 988 01:03:23,165 --> 01:03:25,748 (upbeat music) 989 01:03:26,844 --> 01:03:31,844 Rabin's tour of duty as ambassador was remarkable. 990 01:03:32,130 --> 01:03:37,130 He had gained entry to every senior level in Washington, DC. 991 01:03:37,480 --> 01:03:39,994 He had a reputation second to none 992 01:03:39,994 --> 01:03:44,994 and in December of 1972, Newsweek had declared him 993 01:03:47,380 --> 01:03:49,463 to be the ambassador of the year. 994 01:03:51,300 --> 01:03:52,933 Why did it do so? 995 01:03:53,900 --> 01:03:56,023 We were a small embassy. 996 01:03:56,023 --> 01:04:01,023 In Washington, 22 NR, a ramshackled building really. 997 01:04:02,867 --> 01:04:06,533 But thanks to Rabin, it had enormous prestige. 998 01:04:13,108 --> 01:04:16,690 It's like Rabin had returned from Washington 999 01:04:16,690 --> 01:04:19,206 in the early part of 1973, 1000 01:04:19,206 --> 01:04:23,233 having concluded his tour of duty as ambassador. 1001 01:04:24,887 --> 01:04:28,950 I had returned some six months before that 1002 01:04:29,840 --> 01:04:34,840 and became Golda Meir's head of the foreign media bureau. 1003 01:04:37,770 --> 01:04:38,950 While I was in Washington, 1004 01:04:38,950 --> 01:04:41,670 Golda had promised me a job in the cabinet. 1005 01:04:41,670 --> 01:04:46,360 And we met, Rabin and I over coffee 1006 01:04:46,360 --> 01:04:49,283 in a downtown cafe in Jerusalem one day. 1007 01:04:50,130 --> 01:04:51,770 And he spoke very britly of the fact 1008 01:04:51,770 --> 01:04:53,520 that she wasn't keeping her promise. 1009 01:04:53,520 --> 01:04:55,073 It had virtually nothing to do. 1010 01:04:56,160 --> 01:04:58,069 - [Yitzhak Rabin] Three times, 1011 01:04:58,069 --> 01:05:00,280 three different party big shots 1012 01:05:00,280 --> 01:05:02,260 have promised me a cabinet position 1013 01:05:02,260 --> 01:05:04,935 but nothing has come of any one of them. 1014 01:05:04,935 --> 01:05:08,345 It seems that if I want to go into politics, 1015 01:05:08,345 --> 01:05:10,652 I'll have to do it the hard way, 1016 01:05:10,652 --> 01:05:12,620 doing my own campaigning 1017 01:05:12,620 --> 01:05:16,852 and not relying on Golda Meir's promises. 1018 01:05:16,852 --> 01:05:19,435 (gentle music) 1019 01:05:21,899 --> 01:05:26,899 - Golda Meir exuded a sense of warmth on the one hand 1020 01:05:30,270 --> 01:05:35,270 and also the classic Jewish grandmother 1021 01:05:35,886 --> 01:05:39,433 of keeping a very watchful eye on you. 1022 01:05:40,399 --> 01:05:44,990 Time and again she would reiterate the famous phrase 1023 01:05:44,990 --> 01:05:48,740 that all Jews are responsible for each other. 1024 01:05:48,740 --> 01:05:52,603 Her whole life was an expression of it. 1025 01:05:55,630 --> 01:06:00,630 She was born in Kiev in 1898 and to the family Mabovitch. 1026 01:06:03,157 --> 01:06:06,300 Her family moved to the United States 1027 01:06:06,300 --> 01:06:09,780 in the early part of the 20th century. 1028 01:06:09,780 --> 01:06:12,263 Ended up in Milwaukee of all places. 1029 01:06:16,550 --> 01:06:21,550 She married very young, a man called Morris Meyerson. 1030 01:06:23,403 --> 01:06:28,400 From my understanding, he was a sign painter by profession 1031 01:06:28,400 --> 01:06:33,400 but his whole inner being was that of a poet. 1032 01:06:34,670 --> 01:06:37,090 He was a lover of the arts. 1033 01:06:37,090 --> 01:06:41,487 He was happy in Milwaukee, going to constant art galleries 1034 01:06:41,487 --> 01:06:46,090 and moving in the circles of high culture. 1035 01:06:46,090 --> 01:06:49,150 And all the time she in Milwaukee 1036 01:06:49,150 --> 01:06:53,810 was going to these passionate Zionist meetings 1037 01:06:53,810 --> 01:06:57,846 until the day came in the early 1920s 1038 01:06:57,846 --> 01:07:00,607 and she's saying, we're going 1039 01:07:00,607 --> 01:07:03,273 to erets, to the land of Israel. 1040 01:07:04,650 --> 01:07:08,530 To do what, literally to drain swamps. 1041 01:07:08,530 --> 01:07:11,177 And to go to kibbutz. 1042 01:07:11,177 --> 01:07:16,177 And the kibbutz that she chose was an isolated place 1043 01:07:17,120 --> 01:07:19,433 in the middle of swamps called Merhavia. 1044 01:07:20,280 --> 01:07:23,787 And she loved it and he hated it. 1045 01:07:23,787 --> 01:07:28,787 And so while Golda thrived in the rustic, simple life 1046 01:07:30,786 --> 01:07:35,750 of a pioneer, all that Morris could do 1047 01:07:35,750 --> 01:07:38,340 was to look at his blistered hands 1048 01:07:38,340 --> 01:07:41,363 and say to himself, what am I doing here? 1049 01:07:42,730 --> 01:07:47,140 Golda regretfully said, all right, we'll leave. 1050 01:07:47,140 --> 01:07:51,250 And she tore herself away from the kibbutz life. 1051 01:07:51,250 --> 01:07:55,270 She would write lyrical in later years 1052 01:07:55,270 --> 01:08:00,150 about how the kibbutz of the 1920s 1053 01:08:00,150 --> 01:08:02,862 were the happiest years of her life. 1054 01:08:02,862 --> 01:08:04,623 And so they moved to Tel Aviv. 1055 01:08:06,499 --> 01:08:10,283 Subsequently, they separated. 1056 01:08:11,960 --> 01:08:16,200 She threw herself, she thrust herself 1057 01:08:16,200 --> 01:08:19,627 into the political work of the Labor Party. 1058 01:08:19,627 --> 01:08:23,620 There was Golda Meir rubbing shoulders 1059 01:08:23,620 --> 01:08:27,819 with the top leadership led by David Ben-Gurion. 1060 01:08:27,819 --> 01:08:30,133 As one of the very first tasks 1061 01:08:30,133 --> 01:08:35,133 as she entered into leadership of the Zionist movement 1062 01:08:37,983 --> 01:08:40,383 was in 1938. 1063 01:08:41,652 --> 01:08:46,652 In order to deal with the ever expanding flow 1064 01:08:48,921 --> 01:08:53,310 of refugees from Germany, 1065 01:08:53,310 --> 01:08:57,980 President Roosevelt convened the World Conference 1066 01:08:57,980 --> 01:09:02,980 in Arielle, France to decide upon allocating the numbers 1067 01:09:03,242 --> 01:09:05,993 that each country would accept. 1068 01:09:06,880 --> 01:09:11,880 And it is one of the badges of shame of human history 1069 01:09:13,329 --> 01:09:18,329 that with all the high folluting diplomatic vernacular, 1070 01:09:20,660 --> 01:09:24,283 nobody accepted any of the Jewish refugees. 1071 01:09:25,472 --> 01:09:28,710 And who was there as an observer 1072 01:09:28,710 --> 01:09:31,551 on behalf of the Jewish community then 1073 01:09:31,551 --> 01:09:34,253 in Israel was Golda Meir. 1074 01:09:38,044 --> 01:09:43,044 On the very eve of independence, desperate situation, 1075 01:09:44,160 --> 01:09:47,000 Ben-Gurion dispatched to Golda Meir 1076 01:09:47,000 --> 01:09:49,830 on a very unusual mission 1077 01:09:49,830 --> 01:09:52,920 to dress herself up as an Arab woman 1078 01:09:52,920 --> 01:09:56,879 to cross the lines to go to Jordan's capital Amman 1079 01:09:56,879 --> 01:10:01,670 to meet with the king of Jordan, Abdullah 1080 01:10:01,670 --> 01:10:06,670 and to negotiate with him that in this war that was impeding 1081 01:10:06,760 --> 01:10:10,873 with the other Arab states that he should stay out of it. 1082 01:10:12,380 --> 01:10:17,380 And through Tritel, she received a fair listening 1083 01:10:19,250 --> 01:10:23,449 from King Abdullah, but when it came to the crunch, 1084 01:10:23,449 --> 01:10:25,477 he joined in the war. 1085 01:10:28,546 --> 01:10:32,053 Very few people thought that we were going to survive. 1086 01:10:33,110 --> 01:10:35,300 It was one thing to declare independence. 1087 01:10:35,300 --> 01:10:38,060 It's another thing to defend that independence. 1088 01:10:38,060 --> 01:10:40,410 I mean, how would they have the means to do so? 1089 01:10:41,520 --> 01:10:43,660 Some of the first things that Ben-Gurion did 1090 01:10:43,660 --> 01:10:45,800 was to call in Golda and say, 1091 01:10:45,800 --> 01:10:48,630 Golda, for God's sake, get on a plane 1092 01:10:48,630 --> 01:10:50,644 and go to America as fast as you can 1093 01:10:50,644 --> 01:10:54,728 and collect money, we have no money to buy weapons. 1094 01:10:54,728 --> 01:10:57,140 And so Golda went to America. 1095 01:10:57,140 --> 01:11:01,230 And she brought back some unbelievable sum 1096 01:11:01,230 --> 01:11:02,913 like a few million dollars. 1097 01:11:03,788 --> 01:11:08,650 She was a natural person to ask to go off 1098 01:11:08,650 --> 01:11:11,810 to countries far and wide. 1099 01:11:11,810 --> 01:11:15,600 And she developed into an orator in English. 1100 01:11:15,600 --> 01:11:20,440 She developed a style which was one, simple. 1101 01:11:20,440 --> 01:11:23,293 But because it was simple it was all the more compelling. 1102 01:11:26,370 --> 01:11:29,760 She became the face of Israel 1103 01:11:29,760 --> 01:11:33,510 to hundreds and hundreds of thousands of Jews 1104 01:11:33,510 --> 01:11:36,523 across the world, not least in the United States. 1105 01:11:38,090 --> 01:11:42,513 - Israel was created, not for the purpose of winning wars. 1106 01:11:42,513 --> 01:11:46,769 Israel was created to safeguard 1107 01:11:46,769 --> 01:11:50,643 the life of the entire Jewish people. 1108 01:11:53,140 --> 01:11:57,878 Israel was created so that every Jew 1109 01:11:57,878 --> 01:12:01,740 knows that he can come home 1110 01:12:01,740 --> 01:12:04,457 when he has to or when he wants to. 1111 01:12:04,457 --> 01:12:07,707 (audience applauding) 1112 01:12:12,220 --> 01:12:15,760 And Israel was created for the one purpose 1113 01:12:15,760 --> 01:12:17,687 that is the greatest of all, 1114 01:12:17,687 --> 01:12:20,999 and that is the in gathering of our people. 1115 01:12:20,999 --> 01:12:24,166 (audience applauding) 1116 01:12:37,653 --> 01:12:40,710 - She proved herself time and again 1117 01:12:40,710 --> 01:12:44,100 as a person who could bite the bullet 1118 01:12:44,100 --> 01:12:47,383 and she was a person who could devote us. 1119 01:12:48,455 --> 01:12:50,910 There were some situations 1120 01:12:53,270 --> 01:12:58,270 that would have broken lesser people. 1121 01:13:01,960 --> 01:13:06,960 During her watch, with her declarative insistence 1122 01:13:07,100 --> 01:13:09,400 for all the world to hear, 1123 01:13:09,400 --> 01:13:13,860 I will not negotiate with terrorists. 1124 01:13:13,860 --> 01:13:16,260 Children were being held hostage at a school 1125 01:13:16,260 --> 01:13:19,643 that had been captured by the terrorists in northern Israel. 1126 01:13:20,570 --> 01:13:23,530 She wouldn't negotiate with them. 1127 01:13:23,530 --> 01:13:28,480 There was a time of aircraft, a Belgian aircraft 1128 01:13:28,480 --> 01:13:30,963 that was hijacked and landed in Ben-Gurion. 1129 01:13:32,033 --> 01:13:35,063 And she wouldn't negotiate with them. 1130 01:13:36,839 --> 01:13:39,290 She believed with all her heart 1131 01:13:39,290 --> 01:13:41,980 that the moment you start surrendering to terrorists, 1132 01:13:41,980 --> 01:13:43,113 there's no end to it. 1133 01:13:46,540 --> 01:13:49,290 (dramatic music) 1134 01:14:02,161 --> 01:14:05,556 In September 1973, there was a trickle 1135 01:14:05,556 --> 01:14:10,556 of Jews from the Soviet Union that were low down. 1136 01:14:11,063 --> 01:14:12,900 It was very difficult to get out. 1137 01:14:12,900 --> 01:14:16,103 The only exit they had was from Russia to Vienna. 1138 01:14:16,997 --> 01:14:20,026 Then in Vienna there was an old castle called Chennault 1139 01:14:20,026 --> 01:14:23,064 and that we had rented as a way station, 1140 01:14:23,064 --> 01:14:27,580 a transit point for such Jews. 1141 01:14:27,580 --> 01:14:29,740 And there was this day in September 1142 01:14:29,740 --> 01:14:33,343 when the train, the Russian train, 1143 01:14:33,343 --> 01:14:37,768 at the very border of Austria was hijacked. 1144 01:14:37,768 --> 01:14:41,851 (speaking in a foreign language) 1145 01:14:55,670 --> 01:15:00,098 Hostages were taken and the ultimatum that was given 1146 01:15:00,098 --> 01:15:03,030 to the Austrian government was, 1147 01:15:03,030 --> 01:15:06,130 close the Chennault transit camp. 1148 01:15:08,770 --> 01:15:13,770 Bruno Kreisky, chancellor of Austria, a Jew 1149 01:15:14,290 --> 01:15:18,381 capitulated on the spot, closed down Chennault, 1150 01:15:18,381 --> 01:15:23,381 gave the terrorists safe passage to the Vienna airport 1151 01:15:25,050 --> 01:15:26,573 and off they flew to Libya. 1152 01:15:28,550 --> 01:15:31,520 Now Golda Meir heard this 1153 01:15:31,520 --> 01:15:35,950 just before she was about to board a plane to Strasburg 1154 01:15:37,468 --> 01:15:42,468 where she had been invited to address the council of Europe. 1155 01:15:43,100 --> 01:15:46,000 Now, protocol required that Golda Meir 1156 01:15:46,000 --> 01:15:47,237 read from a written speech 1157 01:15:47,237 --> 01:15:49,999 and it was my task to write the speech. 1158 01:15:49,999 --> 01:15:54,999 And to my astonishment, disappointment, even horror, 1159 01:15:57,020 --> 01:16:01,152 Golda invited to the podium carrying her speech, 1160 01:16:01,152 --> 01:16:04,746 and then in an almost theatrical fashion 1161 01:16:04,746 --> 01:16:09,746 faces the speech to one side and says. 1162 01:16:11,440 --> 01:16:13,890 - You will forgive me if I break from protocol 1163 01:16:13,890 --> 01:16:16,229 and speak in an impromptu fashion. 1164 01:16:16,229 --> 01:16:20,040 I say this in light of what has occurred in Austria 1165 01:16:20,040 --> 01:16:21,583 during the last few days. 1166 01:16:21,583 --> 01:16:24,583 Since the Arab terrorists have failed 1167 01:16:24,583 --> 01:16:28,042 in their ghastly efforts to wreak havoc in Israel, 1168 01:16:28,042 --> 01:16:31,320 they have increasingly taken their atrocities 1169 01:16:31,320 --> 01:16:35,460 against Israel and Jewish targets into Europe. 1170 01:16:35,460 --> 01:16:38,380 European governments have no alternative 1171 01:16:38,380 --> 01:16:41,155 but to decide what they're going to do. 1172 01:16:41,155 --> 01:16:44,724 To each one that upholds the rule of law, 1173 01:16:44,724 --> 01:16:49,020 I suggest there is only but one answer. 1174 01:16:49,020 --> 01:16:52,133 No deals with terrorists. 1175 01:16:52,133 --> 01:16:55,850 What happened in Vienna is that a democratic government 1176 01:16:55,850 --> 01:16:58,669 came to an agreement with terrorists. 1177 01:16:58,669 --> 01:17:03,312 In doing so, it brought shame upon itself. 1178 01:17:03,312 --> 01:17:07,549 Oh, what a victory for terrorism this is. 1179 01:17:07,549 --> 01:17:10,059 (gentle music) 1180 01:17:10,059 --> 01:17:13,226 (audience applauding) 1181 01:17:17,296 --> 01:17:20,620 - They gave her tremendous applause 1182 01:17:20,620 --> 01:17:22,730 and in the course of it, 1183 01:17:22,730 --> 01:17:27,650 she slipped a note to her chief aide 1184 01:17:27,650 --> 01:17:29,450 to the effect that she wants to fly 1185 01:17:29,450 --> 01:17:33,943 from here to Vienna to confront Bruno Kreisky on the spot. 1186 01:17:35,142 --> 01:17:37,725 (gentle music) 1187 01:17:43,273 --> 01:17:44,823 And Bruno Kreisky received her. 1188 01:17:47,008 --> 01:17:48,410 To the best of my recollection, 1189 01:17:48,410 --> 01:17:50,293 when she was ushered into the room, 1190 01:17:52,060 --> 01:17:54,110 he stood up but he didn't shake her hand. 1191 01:17:55,170 --> 01:17:59,210 Now when you receive a guest, an important guest, 1192 01:17:59,210 --> 01:18:03,453 you invite cup of tea, a cup of coffee, something, nothing. 1193 01:18:04,392 --> 01:18:09,392 And she began on a very reasonable note, 1194 01:18:09,606 --> 01:18:12,253 expressing disappointment. 1195 01:18:13,141 --> 01:18:15,300 - [Golda Meir] You and I have known each other 1196 01:18:15,300 --> 01:18:18,890 for a long time and I know that as a Jew, 1197 01:18:18,890 --> 01:18:21,610 you have never displayed any interest in a Jewish state. 1198 01:18:21,610 --> 01:18:24,040 - [Bruno Kreisky] That is correct, 1199 01:18:24,040 --> 01:18:26,020 I have never made any secret 1200 01:18:26,020 --> 01:18:28,945 of my belief that Zionism is not the solution 1201 01:18:28,945 --> 01:18:33,340 to whatever problems the Jewish people might face. 1202 01:18:33,340 --> 01:18:34,900 - [Golda Meir] Which is all the more reason 1203 01:18:34,900 --> 01:18:36,900 why we are grateful to your government 1204 01:18:36,900 --> 01:18:39,850 for all that it has done to enable thousands of Jews 1205 01:18:39,850 --> 01:18:43,780 to transit through Austria from the Soviet Union to Israel. 1206 01:18:43,780 --> 01:18:45,450 - [Bruno Kreisky] But the Chennault transit camp 1207 01:18:45,450 --> 01:18:47,850 has been a problem for us for a long time. 1208 01:18:47,850 --> 01:18:51,100 It has always been an obvious terrorist target. 1209 01:18:51,100 --> 01:18:54,070 - [Golda Meir] Herr Kreisky, if you close down Chennault, 1210 01:18:54,070 --> 01:18:55,690 it will never end. 1211 01:18:55,690 --> 01:18:59,330 Wherever Jews gather in Europe for transit to Israel, 1212 01:18:59,330 --> 01:19:02,120 they will be held to ransom by terrorist. 1213 01:19:02,120 --> 01:19:03,700 - [Bruno Kreisky] Mrs. Meir, 1214 01:19:03,700 --> 01:19:06,200 it is Austria's humanitarian duty 1215 01:19:06,200 --> 01:19:09,755 to aid refugees from whatever country they come from. 1216 01:19:09,755 --> 01:19:12,920 But not when it puts Austria at risk. 1217 01:19:12,920 --> 01:19:15,829 I shall never be responsible for any bloodshed 1218 01:19:15,829 --> 01:19:17,820 on the soil of Austria. 1219 01:19:17,820 --> 01:19:19,010 - [Golda Meir] You have opened the door 1220 01:19:19,010 --> 01:19:20,970 to terrorism, herr chancellor. 1221 01:19:20,970 --> 01:19:23,765 You have brought renewed shame on Austria. 1222 01:19:23,765 --> 01:19:26,580 I have just come from the council of Europe. 1223 01:19:26,580 --> 01:19:29,820 They condemn your act almost to a man. 1224 01:19:29,820 --> 01:19:33,220 Only the Arab world proclaims you their hero. 1225 01:19:33,220 --> 01:19:34,650 - [Bruno Kreisky] Well, there is nothing 1226 01:19:34,650 --> 01:19:36,340 I can do about that. 1227 01:19:36,340 --> 01:19:39,610 You and I belong to two different worlds. 1228 01:19:39,610 --> 01:19:41,890 - [Golda Meir] Indeed, we do, Mr. Kreisky. 1229 01:19:41,890 --> 01:19:46,803 You and I belong to two very, very different worlds. 1230 01:19:49,370 --> 01:19:50,720 - [Yehuda] Then she got up. 1231 01:19:51,672 --> 01:19:53,177 And he said to her, 1232 01:19:53,177 --> 01:19:56,577 "Well, the press is waiting in the next room. 1233 01:19:56,577 --> 01:19:59,987 "They expect us to give a joint press conference. 1234 01:19:59,987 --> 01:20:01,990 "So would you like to follow me?" 1235 01:20:01,990 --> 01:20:04,807 She said, "No, I don't want to stand with you 1236 01:20:04,807 --> 01:20:07,747 "in a press conference, I'm going home." 1237 01:20:09,073 --> 01:20:11,823 (dramatic music) 1238 01:20:18,683 --> 01:20:21,053 We flew back home that night. 1239 01:20:22,240 --> 01:20:25,345 We arrived in the early hours of the morning 1240 01:20:25,345 --> 01:20:27,563 and there was the Israel media, 1241 01:20:27,563 --> 01:20:30,520 a pack of them waiting for us, 1242 01:20:30,520 --> 01:20:35,520 asking what actually happened and she said. 1243 01:20:35,620 --> 01:20:37,410 - [Golda Meir] I can sum it all up 1244 01:20:37,410 --> 01:20:40,773 by telling you he didn't even offer me a glass of water. 1245 01:20:41,910 --> 01:20:46,910 - Then she huddled with her defense minister, Moshe Dayan. 1246 01:20:47,960 --> 01:20:51,148 And then she heard for the first time 1247 01:20:51,148 --> 01:20:55,653 that the Egyptians and the Syrians were mobilizing. 1248 01:20:56,966 --> 01:20:59,716 (dramatic music) 1249 01:21:29,440 --> 01:21:32,247 Part of the agreement was that the area 1250 01:21:32,247 --> 01:21:35,749 on both sides adjacent to the canal 1251 01:21:35,749 --> 01:21:39,220 would be a separate zone 1252 01:21:39,220 --> 01:21:42,023 in which no weaponry would be allowed. 1253 01:21:43,343 --> 01:21:45,977 The ink had not yet dried 1254 01:21:45,977 --> 01:21:50,547 when the Egyptians with the Soviet advisors 1255 01:21:50,547 --> 01:21:55,547 pushed forward a vast number of their SAM missiles 1256 01:21:56,570 --> 01:22:00,270 into this zone of their side of the canal. 1257 01:22:00,270 --> 01:22:04,430 Which meant that they now had control of the skies 1258 01:22:04,430 --> 01:22:09,125 for about 10 miles on our side of the canal. 1259 01:22:09,125 --> 01:22:11,807 And this is precisely what they wanted. 1260 01:22:13,569 --> 01:22:17,628 That is to create a strategic situation whereby 1261 01:22:17,628 --> 01:22:22,628 if at any time they wanted to cross the canal 1262 01:22:23,290 --> 01:22:25,859 and then the fence against us, 1263 01:22:25,859 --> 01:22:30,859 they would have cleared the skies of Israeli aircraft. 1264 01:22:33,280 --> 01:22:35,803 This is what happened on Yom Kippur. 1265 01:22:37,529 --> 01:22:42,529 And our military intelligence has got it all wrong. 1266 01:22:45,573 --> 01:22:47,200 (audience applauding) 1267 01:22:47,200 --> 01:22:50,510 Abu Basir, the acknowledged the leader 1268 01:22:50,510 --> 01:22:52,823 of the Arab world dies. 1269 01:22:54,760 --> 01:22:59,633 And his successor is Anwar el-Sadat. 1270 01:23:01,675 --> 01:23:05,453 He was not on our intelligence radar screen. 1271 01:23:06,480 --> 01:23:09,690 Suddenly, we began to see on our television 1272 01:23:09,690 --> 01:23:14,690 this tall, gaunt, seemingly humanless man 1273 01:23:14,981 --> 01:23:19,390 who had a pension for extravagant uniforms. 1274 01:23:19,390 --> 01:23:24,080 Part of the failure of our military intelligence 1275 01:23:24,080 --> 01:23:27,820 was this perception that we had of the man 1276 01:23:27,820 --> 01:23:29,995 and this perception was reinforced 1277 01:23:29,995 --> 01:23:34,597 by year after year he was threatening 1278 01:23:34,597 --> 01:23:38,173 to crush the Zionist enemy. 1279 01:23:39,885 --> 01:23:44,885 And I recall conversations among us senior folk 1280 01:23:45,319 --> 01:23:47,550 almost laughing at him 1281 01:23:47,550 --> 01:23:50,081 because every year passed, nothing happened. 1282 01:23:50,081 --> 01:23:52,664 (upbeat music) 1283 01:23:53,688 --> 01:23:58,688 But all the time, clearly he was building up his forces. 1284 01:24:03,970 --> 01:24:07,990 We didn't have great respect for the Egyptian forces. 1285 01:24:07,990 --> 01:24:10,920 Didn't have great respect for the Syrian forces. 1286 01:24:10,920 --> 01:24:13,860 But then, we were still in the euphoria 1287 01:24:13,860 --> 01:24:16,373 of the victory of the Six Day War. 1288 01:24:17,540 --> 01:24:21,140 This conceit expressed itself in arming 1289 01:24:21,140 --> 01:24:23,760 both the Egyptian and the Syrian line 1290 01:24:23,760 --> 01:24:26,620 with a nominal number of young soldiers 1291 01:24:26,620 --> 01:24:28,820 in the regular army. 1292 01:24:28,820 --> 01:24:33,783 We had hardly any reserves, we were cocky. 1293 01:24:35,440 --> 01:24:38,440 (suspenseful music) 1294 01:24:44,790 --> 01:24:47,920 Instantly, around the country, 1295 01:24:47,920 --> 01:24:51,530 the mid morning prayers of Yom Kippur 1296 01:24:51,530 --> 01:24:54,100 reached a certain climax. 1297 01:24:54,100 --> 01:24:58,520 The recitation of that dirge, 1298 01:24:58,520 --> 01:25:01,453 who shall live and who shall die. 1299 01:25:02,689 --> 01:25:07,510 And in the midst of that in the synagogue where I was at 1300 01:25:07,510 --> 01:25:12,230 the chief warden mounts the podium and bangs his hand 1301 01:25:12,230 --> 01:25:13,907 and makes an announcement. 1302 01:25:13,907 --> 01:25:18,358 "Will all those who are members of the military reserves 1303 01:25:18,358 --> 01:25:23,358 "please leave immediately and directly to your units. 1304 01:25:24,207 --> 01:25:27,047 "Take with you your uniforms and your weapons." 1305 01:25:28,006 --> 01:25:29,750 (alarm sounding) 1306 01:25:29,750 --> 01:25:33,760 And the siren went and there were military chiefs 1307 01:25:33,760 --> 01:25:36,353 and command cars back and forth. 1308 01:25:40,493 --> 01:25:44,422 When I say that we were taken by surprise, 1309 01:25:44,422 --> 01:25:47,410 I can verily say to this day 1310 01:25:48,278 --> 01:25:53,278 that the nightmare of every defense minister of Israel 1311 01:25:53,680 --> 01:25:55,970 and every chief of staff of Israel 1312 01:25:56,881 --> 01:26:00,243 is a recollection of the Yom Kippur move, 1313 01:26:01,363 --> 01:26:03,733 taken by surprise. 1314 01:26:04,567 --> 01:26:07,567 (suspenseful music) 1315 01:26:11,071 --> 01:26:15,154 (speaking in a foreign language) 1316 01:26:42,927 --> 01:26:45,600 The carnage of those initial few days 1317 01:26:45,600 --> 01:26:47,680 as a couple hundred tanks 1318 01:26:47,680 --> 01:26:52,463 were facing a couple of thousand enemy tanks on both fronts, 1319 01:26:52,463 --> 01:26:55,576 the Egyptians across the canal in force, 1320 01:26:55,576 --> 01:27:00,576 the Syrians had occupied much of the Golan Heights 1321 01:27:01,330 --> 01:27:04,850 and now were beginning to descend from the Golan Heights 1322 01:27:04,850 --> 01:27:08,811 into the road leading to Jaifa. 1323 01:27:08,811 --> 01:27:12,894 (speaking in a foreign language) 1324 01:27:25,569 --> 01:27:29,397 This was the most perilous moment in the history of Israel. 1325 01:27:31,030 --> 01:27:33,264 When Golda Meir prime minister 1326 01:27:33,264 --> 01:27:36,084 and Moshe Dayan defense minister, 1327 01:27:36,084 --> 01:27:40,293 they viewed the scene, there was fear if not despair. 1328 01:27:43,470 --> 01:27:48,470 We now enter the seventh, eighth day of the war 1329 01:27:48,510 --> 01:27:52,280 as Succoth, the Festival of Tabernacles. 1330 01:27:52,280 --> 01:27:54,853 Massive armored battles were taking place in Sinai. 1331 01:27:56,160 --> 01:27:59,270 The Syrian front was beginning to galvanize. 1332 01:27:59,270 --> 01:28:02,920 Syrian soldiers began to throw away 1333 01:28:02,920 --> 01:28:05,980 their equipment, their uniforms, 1334 01:28:05,980 --> 01:28:09,323 and we were now well on the road to Damascus. 1335 01:28:16,800 --> 01:28:19,900 It was at this point that Golda Meir 1336 01:28:19,900 --> 01:28:22,223 said she wanted to visit the Syrian front. 1337 01:28:28,460 --> 01:28:33,460 There we looked out on what had been the battlefield 1338 01:28:34,040 --> 01:28:36,660 of a couple of days earlier by troops 1339 01:28:36,660 --> 01:28:39,340 who had finally stopped the Syrian troops, 1340 01:28:39,340 --> 01:28:43,100 the carnage, the stench of death, 1341 01:28:43,100 --> 01:28:46,170 the whole deal a terrible, terrible battle 1342 01:28:47,030 --> 01:28:49,600 was there in front of us in a valley 1343 01:28:49,600 --> 01:28:53,573 that came to be dubbed the Veil of Tears. 1344 01:28:56,030 --> 01:28:57,923 The bodies were still lying there. 1345 01:28:58,777 --> 01:29:02,423 That's what Golda wanted to see with her own eyes. 1346 01:29:03,781 --> 01:29:07,270 And there, there was a soilistic scene 1347 01:29:07,270 --> 01:29:12,270 of this old woman who knew absolutely nothing about warfare 1348 01:29:14,460 --> 01:29:16,393 suddenly becoming a war leader. 1349 01:29:17,680 --> 01:29:22,577 As she observed the scene, her face became terribly cracky. 1350 01:29:25,519 --> 01:29:28,283 And then she turned and she saw an amazing sight. 1351 01:29:29,486 --> 01:29:33,840 It was the Festival of Succoth. 1352 01:29:37,430 --> 01:29:41,100 About 30 yards away was a troop carrier 1353 01:29:41,100 --> 01:29:43,300 with a hatch of palm leaves. 1354 01:29:43,300 --> 01:29:46,143 In other words, it was a mobile Succoth. 1355 01:29:47,370 --> 01:29:52,110 And standing in that strange Succoth, 1356 01:29:52,110 --> 01:29:56,990 about a dozen men wearing trechols, praying 1357 01:29:56,990 --> 01:29:58,750 their backs to her. 1358 01:29:58,750 --> 01:30:03,030 And she said, "Today, I want to speak to those men." 1359 01:30:03,030 --> 01:30:06,300 So we approached, they didn't see her, 1360 01:30:06,300 --> 01:30:08,590 and she just stood there watching. 1361 01:30:08,590 --> 01:30:12,083 Suddenly they stand up and they freeze. 1362 01:30:12,960 --> 01:30:15,286 And she greets them. 1363 01:30:15,286 --> 01:30:16,611 (speaking in a foreign language) 1364 01:30:16,611 --> 01:30:19,503 And she starts asking who they are. 1365 01:30:20,990 --> 01:30:24,608 They were reservists, so she found herself speaking 1366 01:30:24,608 --> 01:30:27,510 to an accountant, to a few lawyers, 1367 01:30:27,510 --> 01:30:30,158 to a few falafel vendors. 1368 01:30:30,158 --> 01:30:35,158 Ours was a citizen army and she asked them about the battle, 1369 01:30:35,977 --> 01:30:38,280 about the casualties. 1370 01:30:38,280 --> 01:30:39,610 - [Golda Meir] Now is there anyone 1371 01:30:39,610 --> 01:30:41,940 who would like to ask me something? 1372 01:30:41,940 --> 01:30:43,540 - [Soldier] I have a question. 1373 01:30:43,540 --> 01:30:46,777 My father was killed in the war of '48 and we won. 1374 01:30:46,777 --> 01:30:51,066 My uncle was killed in the war of '56 and we won. 1375 01:30:51,066 --> 01:30:55,783 My brother lost an arm in the '67 war and we won. 1376 01:30:57,596 --> 01:31:01,030 Last week, I lost my best friend up here 1377 01:31:01,030 --> 01:31:02,893 and we're going to win. 1378 01:31:02,893 --> 01:31:06,223 But is all the sacrifice worthwhile, Golda? 1379 01:31:07,570 --> 01:31:10,763 What's the use of our sacrifice if we can't win the peace? 1380 01:31:12,530 --> 01:31:14,184 - [Golda Meir] I weep for your loss 1381 01:31:14,184 --> 01:31:16,853 just as I grieve for all our dead. 1382 01:31:17,820 --> 01:31:22,523 And I must tell you, were our sacrifices for ourselves alone 1383 01:31:22,523 --> 01:31:25,245 then perhaps you would be right. 1384 01:31:25,245 --> 01:31:28,290 But if our sacrifices are for the sake 1385 01:31:28,290 --> 01:31:30,298 of the whole Jewish people, 1386 01:31:30,298 --> 01:31:33,058 then I believe with all my heart 1387 01:31:33,058 --> 01:31:36,676 that any price is worthwhile. 1388 01:31:36,676 --> 01:31:38,473 Let me tell you a story. 1389 01:31:39,639 --> 01:31:44,020 In 1948, I arrived in Moscow 1390 01:31:44,020 --> 01:31:47,408 as Israel's first ambassador to the Soviet Union. 1391 01:31:47,408 --> 01:31:50,053 The state of Israel was brand new. 1392 01:31:51,080 --> 01:31:53,294 Stalinism was at its height. 1393 01:31:53,294 --> 01:31:56,505 Stalin had proclaimed war against Judaism. 1394 01:31:56,505 --> 01:31:59,173 He declared Zionism a crime. 1395 01:32:00,131 --> 01:32:03,255 The first Sabbath after I presented my credentials, 1396 01:32:03,255 --> 01:32:05,440 my embassy staff joined me 1397 01:32:05,440 --> 01:32:07,590 for services at the Moscow Great Synagogue. 1398 01:32:09,390 --> 01:32:14,390 It was practically empty but the news of our arrival 1399 01:32:14,610 --> 01:32:18,553 in Moscow spread quickly so that when we went a second time, 1400 01:32:18,553 --> 01:32:23,339 close to 50,000 people were waiting for us, 1401 01:32:23,339 --> 01:32:26,456 old people and teenagers, 1402 01:32:26,456 --> 01:32:30,252 even men in officer uniforms of the red army. 1403 01:32:30,252 --> 01:32:34,609 Despite all of the official threats to stay away from us, 1404 01:32:34,609 --> 01:32:38,863 Jews had come to demonstrate their kinship with us. 1405 01:32:39,780 --> 01:32:43,110 Inside the synagogue, people surged around me, 1406 01:32:43,110 --> 01:32:45,617 stretching out their hands, crying. 1407 01:32:45,617 --> 01:32:47,206 (speaking in a foreign language) 1408 01:32:47,206 --> 01:32:48,636 Welcome, Golda. 1409 01:32:48,636 --> 01:32:51,198 (speaking in a foreign language) 1410 01:32:51,198 --> 01:32:53,880 Golda, a long life to you. 1411 01:32:53,880 --> 01:32:58,784 And all I could say over and over again was. 1412 01:32:58,784 --> 01:33:02,656 (speaking in a foreign language) 1413 01:33:02,656 --> 01:33:04,870 I thank you for remaining Jews. 1414 01:33:04,870 --> 01:33:07,654 And some cried back to me. 1415 01:33:07,654 --> 01:33:10,592 (speaking in a foreign language) 1416 01:33:10,592 --> 01:33:13,869 We thank the state of Israel. 1417 01:33:13,869 --> 01:33:16,890 And that is when I knew for sure 1418 01:33:16,890 --> 01:33:20,323 that our sacrifices are not in vain. 1419 01:33:30,330 --> 01:33:31,970 - After they returned 1420 01:33:31,970 --> 01:33:35,620 to the military headquarters in Tel Aviv, 1421 01:33:35,620 --> 01:33:39,610 Moshe Dayan said to Golda words to the effect 1422 01:33:39,610 --> 01:33:42,185 that we can't go on like this. 1423 01:33:42,185 --> 01:33:44,910 - [Moshe Dayan] What we saw from the Golan Heights 1424 01:33:44,910 --> 01:33:48,055 confirms my fears that still these are going to continue 1425 01:33:48,055 --> 01:33:52,015 for an extended period and the attrition is enormous. 1426 01:33:52,015 --> 01:33:55,000 Unless our stores are speedily replenished, 1427 01:33:55,000 --> 01:33:59,028 we won't be left with sufficient arms to defend ourselves. 1428 01:33:59,028 --> 01:34:00,360 - [Golda Meir] Are you saying 1429 01:34:00,360 --> 01:34:02,570 that we'll ultimately have to surrender to the Syrians 1430 01:34:02,570 --> 01:34:04,856 and the Egyptians for lack of arms? 1431 01:34:04,856 --> 01:34:07,650 - [Moshe Dayan] What I'm saying is that if our stores 1432 01:34:07,650 --> 01:34:10,720 are not replenished at a much faster rate, 1433 01:34:10,720 --> 01:34:13,380 we may well have to pull back to shore 1434 01:34:13,380 --> 01:34:17,890 for more defensible lines, particularly in Sinai. 1435 01:34:17,890 --> 01:34:20,570 - [Golda Meir] Moshe, one way or another, 1436 01:34:20,570 --> 01:34:22,661 I will get you your weapons. 1437 01:34:22,661 --> 01:34:25,377 Your job is to bring us to victory. 1438 01:34:25,377 --> 01:34:28,523 Mine is to give you the means to do so. 1439 01:34:31,502 --> 01:34:34,810 - And Golda said, I have no choice. 1440 01:34:36,280 --> 01:34:39,787 But we have to persuade Kissinger who is secretary of state 1441 01:34:39,787 --> 01:34:41,160 and Nixon who is president 1442 01:34:41,160 --> 01:34:45,120 that they must replenish equipment immediately 1443 01:34:45,120 --> 01:34:47,550 and if necessary, I'll go myself. 1444 01:34:47,550 --> 01:34:50,170 And then she said, get me Simcha, which is Simcha Dinitz, 1445 01:34:50,170 --> 01:34:52,653 who is now our ambassador in Washington. 1446 01:34:52,653 --> 01:34:56,010 And it was in the middle of the night in Washington 1447 01:34:56,010 --> 01:34:57,590 and Golda said to him, Simcha, 1448 01:34:57,590 --> 01:34:59,230 you've got to wake up Kissinger now 1449 01:34:59,230 --> 01:35:01,891 and tell him that to persuade the president 1450 01:35:01,891 --> 01:35:06,891 to replenish aircraft, tanks, cannon, whatever. 1451 01:35:07,920 --> 01:35:09,890 And Dinitz woke up Kissinger. 1452 01:35:09,890 --> 01:35:13,073 And there began an extraordinary exchange 1453 01:35:13,073 --> 01:35:15,790 between Kissinger and Richard Nixon 1454 01:35:15,790 --> 01:35:18,600 was sitting in Key Biscayne, Florida 1455 01:35:18,600 --> 01:35:20,452 trying to escape Washington 1456 01:35:20,452 --> 01:35:22,777 because of the Watergate scandal. 1457 01:35:22,777 --> 01:35:26,780 And we have the record of the telephone exchanges 1458 01:35:26,780 --> 01:35:29,172 in which you hear Nixon's voice. 1459 01:35:29,172 --> 01:35:32,610 And you know that man's been drinking. 1460 01:35:32,610 --> 01:35:34,440 His language is slurred. 1461 01:35:34,440 --> 01:35:37,283 But nevertheless, his mind remained sharp. 1462 01:35:38,169 --> 01:35:43,169 They came to a decision, Nixon was the very first 1463 01:35:43,639 --> 01:35:47,430 to articulate it, that it's simply not a matter 1464 01:35:47,430 --> 01:35:49,170 between Israel and the Arabs. 1465 01:35:49,170 --> 01:35:53,097 It's a matter between the United States and the Soviet Union 1466 01:35:53,097 --> 01:35:56,750 and therefore we can't let Israel go under. 1467 01:35:56,750 --> 01:36:01,330 And therefore, very quickly, the idea began to gel 1468 01:36:01,330 --> 01:36:04,931 and the decision was made to mount a massive airlift 1469 01:36:04,931 --> 01:36:07,263 of equipment to Israel. 1470 01:36:08,115 --> 01:36:12,600 It was Nixon who said, "Use our Galaxies." 1471 01:36:12,600 --> 01:36:14,630 And they began landing at Ben-Gurion airport 1472 01:36:14,630 --> 01:36:17,630 in the course of an hour, nonstop. 1473 01:36:17,630 --> 01:36:22,017 The Galaxy is the largest cargo aircraft in the world. 1474 01:36:22,017 --> 01:36:24,060 You can put tanks in there, 1475 01:36:24,060 --> 01:36:26,893 you can put fighter aircraft in there. 1476 01:36:26,893 --> 01:36:29,117 And the president at one point says, 1477 01:36:29,117 --> 01:36:31,817 "What the hell, if we're sending five, let's send 50." 1478 01:36:33,301 --> 01:36:34,401 And then more than 50. 1479 01:36:40,880 --> 01:36:44,433 Without a refusal, truly, 1480 01:36:45,560 --> 01:36:48,770 and not a single European government 1481 01:36:48,770 --> 01:36:53,517 would give them permission to refuel on their territory. 1482 01:36:53,517 --> 01:36:56,350 Not a single woman of her perils 1483 01:36:56,350 --> 01:36:59,737 in the socialist international 1484 01:36:59,737 --> 01:37:03,530 would agree to any of these American planes 1485 01:37:03,530 --> 01:37:07,757 landing on their territory for refueling purposes. 1486 01:37:07,757 --> 01:37:12,000 So eventually, they refueled in the Azores, 1487 01:37:12,000 --> 01:37:13,440 which really belongs to Portugal 1488 01:37:13,440 --> 01:37:15,343 but there was an American base there. 1489 01:37:19,400 --> 01:37:23,739 She considered herself and the Labor Zionist Movement 1490 01:37:23,739 --> 01:37:27,500 to be part of this grand fraternity 1491 01:37:27,500 --> 01:37:31,810 of international socialism, not communism, God forbid. 1492 01:37:31,810 --> 01:37:33,833 But social democrats. 1493 01:37:34,809 --> 01:37:39,809 She was perplexed to the extent that 1494 01:37:40,220 --> 01:37:45,220 her most fervent beliefs had been shaken, if not shattered. 1495 01:37:47,250 --> 01:37:52,163 And that apparently was a breaking point. 1496 01:37:53,459 --> 01:37:56,620 She picked up the phone 1497 01:37:56,620 --> 01:37:59,050 to the chairman of the socialist international, 1498 01:37:59,050 --> 01:38:01,263 Willy Brandt, the chancellor of Germany 1499 01:38:01,263 --> 01:38:03,977 and she said to him, "Willy, I would like you 1500 01:38:03,977 --> 01:38:06,647 "to convene an urgent meeting," which he did 1501 01:38:06,647 --> 01:38:08,473 and it was held in London. 1502 01:38:09,509 --> 01:38:14,509 Golda made a speech, which in a few sentence paraphrase, 1503 01:38:19,015 --> 01:38:24,015 friends, we're at the stage of utter desperation. 1504 01:38:26,630 --> 01:38:30,430 What would have happened if President Nixon had said, 1505 01:38:30,430 --> 01:38:34,540 I'm sorry, but I have nowhere to land the planes to refuel 1506 01:38:34,540 --> 01:38:36,103 therefore we can't help you. 1507 01:38:37,770 --> 01:38:41,887 And that question lay hovering in the air in the hall 1508 01:38:43,049 --> 01:38:46,137 and the chairman, chancellor Brandt said, 1509 01:38:46,137 --> 01:38:48,847 "Is there anybody who would like to respond?" 1510 01:38:51,570 --> 01:38:52,573 Silence. 1511 01:38:54,990 --> 01:38:59,990 And Golda looked straight ahead and a voice behind her 1512 01:39:00,447 --> 01:39:04,575 whispered into her ear, "Not one of them 1513 01:39:04,575 --> 01:39:09,575 "will say a thing because they're all choking on Arab oil." 1514 01:39:11,089 --> 01:39:14,089 (suspenseful music) 1515 01:39:44,892 --> 01:39:47,725 - I'm here to discuss with friends 1516 01:39:49,792 --> 01:39:53,103 the impact of recent events. 1517 01:39:54,290 --> 01:39:59,290 And the possibilities for joined efforts towards peace. 1518 01:40:01,040 --> 01:40:02,963 - And Kissinger began a shuttle. 1519 01:40:04,010 --> 01:40:07,500 Beginning between Jerusalem, this was his first shuttle 1520 01:40:07,500 --> 01:40:11,040 to bring about separation forces 1521 01:40:11,040 --> 01:40:14,500 between Israel along the Suez Canal area. 1522 01:40:14,500 --> 01:40:18,000 And then Damascus, Jerusalem, Jerusalem, Damascus 1523 01:40:18,000 --> 01:40:19,797 and back again to bring about 1524 01:40:19,797 --> 01:40:24,183 a separation forces along the Golan Heights. 1525 01:40:25,130 --> 01:40:29,860 - This is a beginning for a real and lasting peace 1526 01:40:30,732 --> 01:40:34,710 with all our neighbors and all our borders. 1527 01:40:34,710 --> 01:40:37,709 And this is a day that we hope 1528 01:40:37,709 --> 01:40:42,709 that Syrian mothers, Israeli mothers, 1529 01:40:42,943 --> 01:40:46,877 Syrian young wives, Israeli young wives, 1530 01:40:46,877 --> 01:40:49,341 children on both sides of the border 1531 01:40:49,341 --> 01:40:54,341 can go to sleep at night without terror, 1532 01:40:54,983 --> 01:40:58,550 dreams of who knows. 1533 01:40:58,550 --> 01:41:01,210 If their dear one is alive today, 1534 01:41:01,210 --> 01:41:05,579 will he be alive again on the next day. 1535 01:41:05,579 --> 01:41:09,192 Mr. Secretary, this is really 1536 01:41:09,192 --> 01:41:13,523 to a very great extent your day. 1537 01:41:17,064 --> 01:41:21,464 - And very central to the shuttle back and forth 1538 01:41:21,464 --> 01:41:23,823 was a prisoner exchange. 1539 01:41:34,010 --> 01:41:37,725 And when he, Kissinger came back 1540 01:41:37,725 --> 01:41:40,390 to report to Golda that he has completed 1541 01:41:40,390 --> 01:41:42,840 the agreement on prisoner exchange, 1542 01:41:42,840 --> 01:41:45,513 Golda showed Kissinger, a token, 1543 01:41:47,050 --> 01:41:49,990 a very small, kosher blue and white. 1544 01:41:49,990 --> 01:41:52,910 Israeli prisoners of war in the Egyptian jail. 1545 01:41:52,910 --> 01:41:55,889 This was a gift that they had sent her. 1546 01:41:55,889 --> 01:42:00,620 There were moments, moments, no more 1547 01:42:01,798 --> 01:42:03,910 at this stage of the game 1548 01:42:05,800 --> 01:42:09,740 where Jew was speaking to Jew. 1549 01:42:09,740 --> 01:42:13,040 Kissinger and Golda, that was one such moment. 1550 01:42:13,040 --> 01:42:15,593 Kissinger knew exactly what the tollage was. 1551 01:42:16,430 --> 01:42:21,430 And he fully appreciated the depth, 1552 01:42:22,480 --> 01:42:27,480 the Jewish depth of that little item 1553 01:42:29,208 --> 01:42:34,050 which was a message from our prisoners of war 1554 01:42:34,050 --> 01:42:38,463 in Egypt to Golda, we are strong, we're okay. 1555 01:42:40,300 --> 01:42:44,370 And I was there when the very first contact 1556 01:42:44,370 --> 01:42:46,600 was made in kilometer 101 1557 01:42:47,770 --> 01:42:51,920 between the head of the Israeli military intelligence 1558 01:42:51,920 --> 01:42:54,930 and the head of the Egyptian military intelligence 1559 01:42:54,930 --> 01:42:57,900 under the United Nations offices. 1560 01:42:57,900 --> 01:43:00,800 The two principals facing each other 1561 01:43:00,800 --> 01:43:03,200 and they shake each other's hand. 1562 01:43:03,200 --> 01:43:05,880 And that handshake was beginning 1563 01:43:05,880 --> 01:43:10,880 of what matured into an actual peace process. 1564 01:43:14,630 --> 01:43:18,020 After the 101 Agreement was signed, 1565 01:43:18,020 --> 01:43:20,740 Nahum Goldmann soon after the Kinesset 1566 01:43:20,740 --> 01:43:22,150 and his leader in opposition 1567 01:43:23,340 --> 01:43:25,270 castigated prime minister Golda Meir. 1568 01:43:25,270 --> 01:43:26,600 - [Henry Kissinger] The question 1569 01:43:27,573 --> 01:43:28,730 every household in Israel is asking 1570 01:43:28,730 --> 01:43:31,910 is why was it that between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur 1571 01:43:31,910 --> 01:43:34,030 you did not mobilize the reserves 1572 01:43:34,030 --> 01:43:36,050 and move our army forward? 1573 01:43:36,050 --> 01:43:38,940 What prevented you, madame prime minister, 1574 01:43:38,940 --> 01:43:42,570 from taking this most elementary of precautionary measures? 1575 01:43:42,570 --> 01:43:45,510 Why don't you just come out and openly admit to the nation 1576 01:43:45,510 --> 01:43:47,200 that you made a mistake? 1577 01:43:47,200 --> 01:43:48,660 - [Yehuda] Golda pretended 1578 01:43:48,660 --> 01:43:50,830 that she was immersed in her papers 1579 01:43:50,830 --> 01:43:53,350 sitting at the government bench 1580 01:43:53,350 --> 01:43:56,360 whilst Rabin was speaking, but every now and again 1581 01:43:56,360 --> 01:44:01,170 she would look up with utter contempt. 1582 01:44:01,170 --> 01:44:02,800 - [Yitzhak Rabin] Mrs. Meir, you know full well 1583 01:44:02,800 --> 01:44:05,450 that a government which fails in a matter so fateful 1584 01:44:05,450 --> 01:44:06,920 to the life of a nation 1585 01:44:06,920 --> 01:44:10,580 inevitably loses the trust of the people. 1586 01:44:10,580 --> 01:44:14,590 So I ask you, by what moral authority do you stay in office 1587 01:44:14,590 --> 01:44:17,220 have to be responsible for such a misfortune? 1588 01:44:17,220 --> 01:44:20,320 I am compelled to say to you not as a politician, 1589 01:44:20,320 --> 01:44:23,860 not as a party member, but as a father and a grandfather 1590 01:44:23,860 --> 01:44:26,090 that I cannot depend on your government 1591 01:44:26,090 --> 01:44:29,520 to ensure the future of my children and grandchildren. 1592 01:44:29,520 --> 01:44:33,250 So with all the respect and the regard I hold for you, 1593 01:44:33,250 --> 01:44:37,090 I have to say to you, please go now, right now. 1594 01:44:37,090 --> 01:44:40,269 Go to the president and hand him your resignation. 1595 01:44:40,269 --> 01:44:43,923 - Rabin, he was speaking for lots of people, 1596 01:44:45,093 --> 01:44:47,050 for lots of people in Israel. 1597 01:44:47,050 --> 01:44:49,618 Shortly after that came new elections. 1598 01:44:49,618 --> 01:44:53,270 And Golda won the election, 1599 01:44:53,270 --> 01:44:56,483 albeit by a much smaller majority than before. 1600 01:44:58,612 --> 01:45:03,612 But gradually, the release of soldiers began 1601 01:45:04,339 --> 01:45:08,080 and the more soldiers that were coming home 1602 01:45:09,975 --> 01:45:14,975 to their normal jobs, the more the whispering began. 1603 01:45:17,099 --> 01:45:19,826 The whispering became a grumbling 1604 01:45:19,826 --> 01:45:24,826 and the grumbling became accusations. 1605 01:45:26,550 --> 01:45:30,550 Now one man mounted a demonstration 1606 01:45:30,550 --> 01:45:32,550 in front of the prime minister's office. 1607 01:45:33,940 --> 01:45:38,270 He just stood there, he was a reservist. 1608 01:45:38,270 --> 01:45:43,270 And then another reservist stood next to him 1609 01:45:43,962 --> 01:45:45,307 and then another and then another 1610 01:45:46,157 --> 01:45:49,213 until the one became 20, then 50, 1611 01:45:49,213 --> 01:45:52,389 then hundreds just standing there demonstrating 1612 01:45:52,389 --> 01:45:56,730 against Golda Meir in front of the prime minister's office. 1613 01:45:56,730 --> 01:46:00,360 And these demonstrators spread to other cities as well. 1614 01:46:00,360 --> 01:46:04,530 Eventually an inquiry commission was established. 1615 01:46:04,530 --> 01:46:06,592 It was called the Agranat commission 1616 01:46:06,592 --> 01:46:09,020 with chief justice Agranat, 1617 01:46:09,020 --> 01:46:12,800 who was the president of our supreme court. 1618 01:46:12,800 --> 01:46:14,670 And since its mandate, 1619 01:46:14,670 --> 01:46:18,839 which had been established by the government 1620 01:46:18,839 --> 01:46:22,774 related only to the military aspects of the war, 1621 01:46:22,774 --> 01:46:27,774 the political edge, the Golda Meirs, the Dayans and company, 1622 01:46:32,158 --> 01:46:35,280 they remained untouched. 1623 01:46:35,280 --> 01:46:40,260 And this created a surge of anger among our people 1624 01:46:41,110 --> 01:46:46,110 which reached such a pitch, such a crescendo. 1625 01:46:47,051 --> 01:46:49,792 There were such demonstrations. 1626 01:46:49,792 --> 01:46:54,792 Golda resigned, and with her resignation, 1627 01:46:55,310 --> 01:46:56,953 the whole government resigned. 1628 01:47:08,590 --> 01:47:11,360 Seeing in retrospect, yes, 1629 01:47:11,360 --> 01:47:14,830 Yom Kippur began as utter disaster 1630 01:47:14,830 --> 01:47:19,830 and ended with destroying virtually the enemy forces. 1631 01:47:22,283 --> 01:47:25,340 Now if you look at Golda through the prism 1632 01:47:25,340 --> 01:47:29,110 as another war began and how it ended 1633 01:47:29,110 --> 01:47:33,843 and what political processes that then transpired, 1634 01:47:34,930 --> 01:47:39,403 the consequence of the war put her script 1635 01:47:39,403 --> 01:47:42,760 into proper proportion within the totality 1636 01:47:42,760 --> 01:47:45,312 of that period of history, 1637 01:47:45,312 --> 01:47:50,312 then I have to say that Golda, yes, looms larger, 1638 01:47:51,110 --> 01:47:55,193 the pantheon of Israel's great prime ministers. 1639 01:48:01,280 --> 01:48:04,803 Golda, she set out of office with enormous dignity. 1640 01:48:06,921 --> 01:48:10,260 She didn't just go in to retirement, that was not Golda. 1641 01:48:10,260 --> 01:48:15,080 She took up the cordials of one of the greatest 1642 01:48:15,080 --> 01:48:19,720 humanitarian movements of contemporary Jewish history, 1643 01:48:19,720 --> 01:48:22,627 namely the struggle for the freedom 1644 01:48:22,627 --> 01:48:26,380 of Jews in the Soviet Union that want to leave 1645 01:48:26,380 --> 01:48:29,040 and they wanted to leave in their masses, 1646 01:48:29,040 --> 01:48:31,240 the Let My People Go movement. 1647 01:48:31,240 --> 01:48:32,560 I believe the last occasion 1648 01:48:32,560 --> 01:48:35,150 when the whole of the Jewish people 1649 01:48:35,150 --> 01:48:39,142 came together in utter consensus and support 1650 01:48:39,142 --> 01:48:43,780 of another Jewish community that was locked 1651 01:48:43,780 --> 01:48:45,773 behind the iron wall. 1652 01:48:47,815 --> 01:48:50,760 And one of the reasons were because 1653 01:48:50,760 --> 01:48:53,180 they were inspired by Golda Meir. 1654 01:48:53,180 --> 01:48:58,180 - [Golda Meir] Today, no one hears these two words together, 1655 01:48:58,200 --> 01:49:02,070 Jewish refugee, there's no Jew in the world 1656 01:49:02,070 --> 01:49:04,400 that needs to be a refugee. 1657 01:49:04,400 --> 01:49:05,960 There's no Jew in the world 1658 01:49:05,960 --> 01:49:08,323 that needs to feel that he is homeless. 1659 01:49:09,400 --> 01:49:11,570 With tens of thousands of Jews 1660 01:49:11,570 --> 01:49:13,050 in a year and a half from Russia 1661 01:49:13,050 --> 01:49:15,433 be out and going anywhere else? 1662 01:49:16,630 --> 01:49:19,450 What gives a strength to these young men and women? 1663 01:49:19,450 --> 01:49:21,890 What is it that gives these young people 1664 01:49:21,890 --> 01:49:26,397 the courage, the audacity to struggle for their right? 1665 01:49:26,397 --> 01:49:30,113 And their right, they say in one single sentence, 1666 01:49:31,135 --> 01:49:35,830 we are Jews, there is a Jewish state. 1667 01:49:35,830 --> 01:49:40,790 We want to be part of our people and part of our country. 1668 01:49:40,790 --> 01:49:43,183 It is as simple as all that. 1669 01:49:45,811 --> 01:49:48,327 - [Yehuda] What is her legacy? 1670 01:49:48,327 --> 01:49:53,053 Her legacy is what she articulated to these soldiers 1671 01:49:54,410 --> 01:49:58,290 looking at the Veil of Tears, that for the Jewish people, 1672 01:49:58,290 --> 01:50:00,490 any sacrifice is worthwhile. 1673 01:50:04,260 --> 01:50:06,889 - [Golda Meir] If a Jew dares to dream a dream, 1674 01:50:06,889 --> 01:50:09,603 believe him that this may come true. 1675 01:50:10,690 --> 01:50:13,784 For 2,000 years, our people, 1676 01:50:13,784 --> 01:50:16,715 the classic refugees of the world, 1677 01:50:16,715 --> 01:50:19,860 those who are always candidates to be massacred, 1678 01:50:19,860 --> 01:50:22,379 to be discriminated against, 1679 01:50:22,379 --> 01:50:26,750 to be second and third and 10th class citizens 1680 01:50:26,750 --> 01:50:29,055 in all parts of the world, 1681 01:50:29,055 --> 01:50:34,055 despite that, our people for 2,000 years in exile 1682 01:50:34,386 --> 01:50:38,493 had the courage to dream a big dream. 1683 01:50:39,950 --> 01:50:42,710 One day, we will come back to the land 1684 01:50:42,710 --> 01:50:44,673 from which we were driven twice before. 1685 01:50:45,650 --> 01:50:49,307 We will there established again our sovereignty. 1686 01:50:49,307 --> 01:50:52,870 We will work, we will work with our hands 1687 01:50:52,870 --> 01:50:55,530 to create everything in that country. 1688 01:50:55,530 --> 01:50:57,540 We will live at peace with our neighbors 1689 01:50:57,540 --> 01:51:01,452 and at peace with the entire world. 1690 01:51:01,452 --> 01:51:04,285 (dramatic music)