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Summer11b_Layout 1 5/27/11 12:27 PM Page 16 By Michael Freund Up Close with Yehuda Avner itting in his private office in Jerusalem, Yehuda SAvner still carries himself like a polished diplo- mat. The former ambassador and advisor to Israeli prime ministers is an energetic eighty-two year old, who has retained the gracious manner and self-deprecating humor that undoubtedly served Photos from The Prime Ministers, reprinted with permission from The Toby Press. him well throughout his years of service to the Jewish people. Photo: Jono David Working alongside towering figures such as Menachem Begin and Golda Meir, the religiously observant Avner was intimately involved in Is- rael’s statecraft for three decades, taking part in policy meetings and sitting in on talks with heads of state. He took assiduous and de- tailed notes throughout, in the process compiling a treasure trove of material on the contours and Jewish Action: Who is the most admirable course of decision-making in the political figure you have known and why? Jewish State. The result is The Prime Ministers, an Intimate Yehuda Avner: I would say that from the point Narrative of Israeli Leadership of view of affection, admiration and emotional (Toby Press, 2010), Avner’s lucid attachment, my answer without a doubt has to and crisply written account of be Menachem Begin. I joined the Israel Foreign many of modern Israel’s struggles Service in the late 1950s, and was soon sec- and triumphs. onded from the Foreign Ministry to the Prime Unlike almost any book pub- Minister’s Bureau where I worked for a whole lished before it, Avner’s volume pro- galaxy of Labor, socialist, secular, agnostic vides the reader with an authentic prime ministers—Levi Eshkol, Golda Meir, and feeling of being a “fly on the wall” as Yitzhak Rabin. When Menachem Begin ulti- Israel’s leaders wage war and seek mately entered office in 1977, I, being an observant Jew, was ec- peace. It is rife with anecdotes that prompt laugh- static to find myself working for a leader who, in my eyes, ter and occasionally move one to tears, while offer- seemed to represent the quintessential Jew. ing extensive insight into Israel’s history and diplomacy. In an interview with journalist Michael Freund, Ambassador Avner shared some recollec- Michael Freund served as deputy director of communications under Israeli tions from his illustrious career. Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu during his previous term of office. He is the founder and chairman of Shavei Israel, a Jerusalem-based group that assists “lost Jews” seeking to return to the Jewish people. 16 I JEWISH ACTION Summer 5771/2011 Summer11b_Layout 1 5/27/11 12:28 PM Page 17 Begin came from a totally religious background, from Shabbat, which wasn’t very often, I would do so with my Brisk. He was a real “Yid.” While not perhaps totally obser- left hand. Or if I had to be driven somewhere to attend a vant in his private life, one reason being that his wife, Aliza, meeting that had life and death implications, I used to sit on was hardly religious, in public life he was strictly obser- the car floor. This certainly ensured I would not forget it vant—Shabbat, kashrut, everything. Among his many guises was Shabbat. Indeed, there were times when doing some- as commander of the Irgun when the British were hunting thing toch shinui, in a manner so very different from the him with a price on his head, he invariably assumed the role norm, reinforced my awareness of the sanctity of the day. of a yeshivah bachur or rabbi. JA: Were there times when your adherence to religious JA: As an observant Jew, you must have faced situations principles got you into hot water? in which there was a conflict between your religious obli- gations and the demands of your job. How did you deal YA: Yes there were. I recall an occasion in 1975 when US with this? Secretary of State Henry Kissinger was engaged in shuttle diplomacy, negotiating with Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin YA: Occasionally and Egyptian Presi- I did find myself dent Anwar Sadat in in conflict on mat- an attempt to bring ters between reli- about an interim gious conscience agreement in Sinai. and the duties I The negotiations had to perform. In broke down because such situations I Rabin was not satis- consulted with fied with proposals the late Chief which impinged on Rabbi Shlomo Israel’s security. Goren who was Kissinger went off in chief chaplain to a huff, readying to the IDF when I place the failure of first entered the his mission on Israel. Foreign Ministry, This showdown oc- and was familiar curred just before from his own Shabbat and Rabin army experience asked me to immedi- with tasks a diplo- ately prepare our mat is often re- Yehuda Avner consulting with Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin, 1977. case for worldwide quired to do, such as broadcast before decoding urgent ca- Kissinger had a bles on Shabbat and so forth. He espoused what is known as chance to brief the pressmen accompanying him on his the famous Clausewitz Law, which states that war is an ex- flight back to Washington. A battle for public opinion was tension of diplomacy by other means. In other words, suc- on, not least to win over Congress and the American public cessful diplomacy can prevent war and, therefore, falls into at large to accept our version of things, and I was the only the category of pikuach nefesh, saving lives. This being so, one on the premier’s staff who was not only familiar with when potentially threatening circumstances required me to all the facts but also had the language competence to break Shabbat, Rabbi Goren ruled that I was obligated to do promptly make our case. But I told Rabin that Shabbat was so even in situations in which there appeared to be no im- upon us, and what he was asking me to do was not a matter mediate and present danger. of vital policy but of hasbarah (public diplomacy or advo- cacy), and for that I was not willing to violate Shabbat. Well, JA: Did Rabbi Goren impose certain restrictions on how do I remember the look of contempt on his face as I left. to go about violating Shabbat even in cases where it was The next day, Shabbat afternoon, after davening Min- deemed necessary? chah at the Gra shul in the neighborhood of Shaarei Chessed, I happened upon Rabbi Shlomo Zalman Auer- YA: Yes, he certainly did. Rabbi Goren was emphatic that bach. He knew what I was engaged in, and he asked me in one must uphold the principle of shinui, of doing whatever Yiddish what was new. I told him what had happened, and one was doing with a difference, so as to remind one that it he said to me in Hebrew, “Are you sure you had all the in- is Shabbat. So, for example, if I had to write something on formation to make the right decision?” I took this to mean Summer 5771/2011 JEWISH ACTION I 17 Summer11b_Layout 1 5/27/11 12:28 PM Page 18 that I might not have made the right When Begin entered office in 1977, JA: So will we ever have decision after all, and immediately he made it obligatory that all official another Begin? started to walk back to the prime min- functions be kosher, and his hosts, in ister’s office. When I got there it was whatever country we visited, were YA: God-forbid the new generation of already Motzaei Shabbat. Rabin was in happy to oblige. leaders will have to go through the the midst of an kinds of trials and tribu- emergency Cab- lations that confronted inet session, and the previous ones. The as I walked in, previous ones were revo- he spat at me, lutionaries—the pioneers “Now you come? who, against all odds, lit- It’s too late,” and erally changed the he showed me course of Jewish history the briefing that by establishing the Jew- Kissinger had ish State. In the process, given the jour- a man like Menachem nalists accompa- Begin spent much of the nying him on his earlier years of his life flight back to constantly on the brink Washington, in of life and death. He had which he placed no Israeli army to de- all the blame for fend him or come to his the crisis on Is- rescue. So the Begin we rael’s shoulders. came to know as prime This had the minister was a product most serious con- of the Begin we knew as sequences. Presi- Yehuda Avner, Prime Minister Menachem Begin, and UN Secretary-General Kurt a hunted outlaw, the dent Gerald Ford Waldheim discuss Lebanese border tensions, July 22, 1977. Begin of the Gulag, the declared a re- Begin forever haunted assessment of the by the Holocaust. So no, whole Israeli-US relationship, begin- JA: Reading your book, regardless of I don’t think we shall have another ning with a partial arms embargo. To the political ideology of the prime Begin. But always we shall have prime this day I do not know if I did the right ministers involved, each one comes ministers leading an abnormal nation thing, and whether following Rabin’s across as someone infused with ide- in an abnormal land, for that is the na- instructions would have made a differ- alism and dedication to the country. ture of our country and people, as fore- ence or not.