Yitzhak Shamir Spied on Me
Image by getty images
I didn’t know Yitzhak Shamir, but he knew me – or at least tried to.
In January 1989, HaIr editor Meir Schnitzer and I appealed against a Chief Military Censor’s decision to the Israeli High Court, and won. The court gave permission to publish an article I wrote on an upcoming change in the leadership of the Mossad that was censored up until then.
Yitzhak Shamir, who at the time as Prime Minister had ministerial responsibility over the Mossad, was troubled by the court ruling, and his curiosity over the identity of the journalist who cracked the defensive wall of secrecy and darkness was aroused. He ordered the intelligence agency to write a report on the little-known journalist and present him with the findings. The Mossad’s security unit tackled the task and assembled a file on me.
This file must have been brief; how much information could they have gathered on a 23-year-old journalist working for a local Tel Aviv newspaper, with a less than exceptional high school and military record? And yet, since hearing about this incident, I’ve been curious what they have compiled in that file, which is most likely highly classified. Maybe one day I will read it, through the application of the Freedom of Information Law or courtesy of a local Wikileaks.
A few years later the roles reversed, and it was I who wanted to get to know Shamir. I was conducting research for a book I meant to write on the conduct of Israeli prime ministers from Shamir to Sharon. I was especially intrigued by him, the man with the bushy eyebrows. But his medical condition had already deteriorated, and I resigned myself to interviewing people in his close circle.
For more, go to Haaretz.com
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning journalism this Passover.
In this age of misinformation, our work is needed like never before. We report on the news that matters most to American Jews, driven by truth, not ideology.
At a time when newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall. That means for the first time in our 126-year history, Forward journalism is free to everyone, everywhere. With an ongoing war, rising antisemitism, and a flood of disinformation that may affect the upcoming election, we believe that free and open access to Jewish journalism is imperative.
Readers like you make it all possible. Right now, we’re in the middle of our Passover Pledge Drive and we need 500 people to step up and make a gift to sustain our trustworthy, independent journalism.
Make a gift of any size and become a Forward member today. You’ll support our mission to tell the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
Our Goal: 500 gifts during our Passover Pledge Drive!
