The Last and Oldest Interviewee
One dark night about a month ago, some military vehicles drew up outside the home of Maj. Gen. (Ret.) Yitzhak Pundak in Poleg, a community some 30 km. north of Tel Aviv. His escorts handled him with the utmost delicacy. Soon after that night, Pundak turned 104.
The convoy had been sent to pick up Pundak at the behest of the Chief of the General Staff, Lt. Gen. Gadi Eizenkott, who had summoned the entire supreme command of the Israel Defense Forces to the
area for a re-enactment of one of the battles of the 1948 War of Independence. Pundak had commanded the IDF force that night. He was a hero of several of important battles of that war.
It was an emotional moment. A man who was born when the First World War was still over the horizon giving rare, first-hand information, with clarity and in detail, about a war which changed the face of the Middle East, to the officers of the General Staff, who were born a generation after the War of Independence.
Pundak with David Ben Gurion
A week after that occasion, I visited Yitzhak Pundak at his home to interview him, the last interview of the some 1,000 that I conducted for my forthcoming book, Rise and Kill First.
I wanted to hear from him about events in the early 1970s, when he was military governor of the Gaza Strip, responsible for civilian affairs, and there was an explosive confrontation between him and one of the strongest men in the country, the head of the IDF’s Southern Command, Maj. General Ariel Sharon.
Sharon had begun introducing more and more military units into the Gaza Strip to assist the Shin Bet in hunting down and arresting or killing terrorists. Not everyone agreed with Sharon’s aggressive approach. Pundak maintained that the way to curb Palestinian terror was to improve the quality of life for the territory’s inhabitants, and allow them to manage civilian and municipal affairs on their own, with a minimal military presence in inhabited areas. “Saber-rattling and killing couldn’t take us anywhere but to an Intifada (popular uprising),” Pundak told me.
He and Sharon clashed about everything, and the Minister of Defense, Moshe Dayan, had been compelled to intervene time and again to calm down the storms at the highest level of the military. At the center of the clash was the role played by a top-secret unit of undercover soldiers camouflaged as terrorists, “Chameleon” (zikit in Hebrew) commanded by Meir Dagan; Sharon ran the unit under his direct and personal control in the heart of the Gaza Strip.
Without giving up a spoiler for when you read the book, which includes details from Pundak, Sharon, Dagan and others involved, I will reveal only what occurred at the height of the confrontations between the two men. Pundak had discovered an operational order that he absolutely and totally objected to and Sharon refused to rescind it. Pundak blurted out at Sharon:“You are a liar, a crook and a knave.”
Sharon rose and raised his hand as if to slap Pundak, but thought the better of it and sat down. Pundak says he saluted, declared, “Now I know you’re are also a coward,” and left the room.
Pundak’s account, despite his age, is trenchant and precise. It makes one wonder if things could not have been done differently, if Pundak’s way had triumphed, and not Sharon’s, would we today be facing a different Gaza, and not a Gaza controlled (by virtue of genuine elections) by a murderous jihadist movement.
Either way, Pundak’s story is unique and interesting. I had the honor of recording it, and thereafter, wrap up the information-gathering part of my book.
רונן שלום אני קורא את כל ספריך ותוהה מתי הספר ימכר בארץ?
שלום שמואל .
הספר RISE AND KILL FIRST נמכר בארץ ברשת חנויות סטימצקי
הספר כרגע נמכר רק באנגלית.
הספר בעברית ייצא בעוד מספר חודשים – ממליץ לעקוב אחר הפרסומים .
תודה רבה
Thank you, Ronen Bergman, for your astute scholarship, research and meticulous attention to detail and truth. You have done a great service for Israel and for all of us. Let us hope that we can find a reasonable partner for discourse and put an end to the enmities that have cost so much to them and to us. Continue to write, research and keep us responsible. Thank you.
Thank you very much. Thank you for your interest, support and good words
Hello –
Is the Hebrew version a straight English-Hebrew translation? or is the content different as well? I am am Israeli who lives in the US, which edition would be more appropriate for me?
Thanks
The Hebrew version will include additional details and documents that are not in the English version.
I just finished the first few chapters in your book “Rise and kill first” and those chapters brought up a lot of memories as I lived in Israel as a boy in the 1950’S.
I remember the atmosphere at the time and all the retaliatory raids which took place. I remember the fedayeen. My viewpoint and perception of the arabs was forged at that time. They just changed their names from fedayeen to fatah etc. but kept on doing the same thing.
I remember the Sinai Campaign vivedly as we were under our house in Haifa when an Egyptian destroyer tried to shell the city. The destroyer’s name is still engraved in my mind.
Travelling to a kibbutz near Kiriat Shemona where my uncle was one of the founders was an adventure as you did not know if some arabs from Lebanon would try to attack the bus.
I’ve gone back many times to visit family and even my daughter who lived there for about seven years and every time a go back I feel more and more proud because I remember the 1950’s and I see the progress.
All these current people munching on sushi and sipping esspresso don’t have a clue what used to be or who they are really dealing with.
I enjoyed so far what I’ve read.
Yechiel
I was glad to hear! Thank you very much for sharing, support and interest
Dear Ronan, thank you for this great book. Please forgive me if my question sounds like coming from an ignorant person not informed about the situation…In your book you say all the time: Israelis and Jews. For example: they murdered Israelis and Jews. Why is it like that? Is a Jew in Israel not an Israeli? I am neither Jewish or Israeli myself, this is why I am asking.
Cheers,
George
Dear George
All the Jews who live in Israel are Israelis,
There are Israelis who are not Jewish.
And there are Jews who live abroad – who are Jews but not Israelis.
Hope it help’s.
Best
Hi Ronen, Big fan of yours after I accidentally saw your interview promoting your book. Firstly , I share your bday, secondly, I love your book.. I hope they make a documentary of it..