Unknown virtues

This biography of Yitzhak Shamir is fairly balanced, despite being mostly written by his supporters.

By SHIMSHON ARAD
Yitzhak Shamir book 88 224 (photo credit: Courtesy)
Yitzhak Shamir book 88 224
(photo credit: Courtesy)
Yitzhak Shamir: As Solid as a Rock Edited by Yossi Ahimeir Yedioth Aharonoth 272 pages; NIS 148 It never occurred to me that while reading this new biography I would discover that former prime minister Yitzhak Shamir was a rather intriguing brand of politician. I refer to his personal behavior, not necessarily his ideology. In his formative years, he possessed distinctly radical ideas and problematic moral codes. Later on, the power of restraint and empathy slowly emerged, though not erasing his youthful fantasies. His admirers have felt for some time that of all the nation's prime ministers, he has been denied the respect and appreciation he deserved. They have been grumbling that no comprehensive biography has been published, nor did the historians and more serious journalists exhibit generosity in describing his performance as a leader during exceptionally rough times. This book is a kind of eclectic biography - a collection of descriptions and recollections by both devotees and critics, with the major part allocated to his fans. And yet the editors managed to keep the book fairly balanced. There is no question that some of the most forceful values in Shamir's personality were his complete honesty and simple lifestyle. Modesty, claimed John Kenneth Galbraith, is an "overrated value." We have seen how easily it can also become an instrument for grabbing prestige. But not in the case of Shamir. Both his adherents - men like Ehud Olmert (in his previous political incarnation) and Binyamin Netanyahu - and political opponent Ehud Barak underscore Shamir's personal integrity. He never used his office to enlarge his private bank account. Born in 1915 in a small town in Belarus, Yitzhak Shamir at 12 joined the more cautious and pacifist Zionist youth movement Gordonia, named after A.D. Gordon, the spiritual leader from Deganya. Those who knew him at the time say that following the 1929 Arab disturbances, he and quite a few other students moved to Betar, Ze'ev Jabotinsky's militant youth movement. This switch to the radical Right had a far-reaching effect on Shamir's thinking. Having graduated high school, he turned to law at Warsaw University. His friends at the university were of all shades, including communists and revolutionaries from whom, he later confessed, he "learned a lot." He was "fascinated" by Lenin's and Trotsky's life stories. What captivated him, however, were not their socialist ideals but their valiant adventures. As for stories of heroism, the Irish revolutionaries mesmerized him even more. In their compositions for the book, several prominent political associates have drawn attention to the seemingly conflicting views he was preaching. They have found that his militant nationalistic (perhaps chauvinistic) inclinations were checked by the other component of his personality - his determined conviction of the necessity of achieving and maintaining "nationalist unity." In his pre-state days, Shamir believed his militant ventures were justified by the supreme "national goals" which he and his extremist partners advocated. He felt that he and his small group of followers had the divine right in 1940 to try to establish contact with Fascist Italy and even with Nazi Germany, believing that these contacts would be helpful in attaining Jewish independence. The possibility that we would fight against Britain while the British were fighting Hitler was preposterous. Or take the failed attempt to kill the British high commissioner in Palestine and the lunatic assassination of Lord Moyne in Cairo in 1944. Shamir and his partners had not been elected by any Zionist organization to manage the policy of the Jewish people; they deluded themselves that they were carrying out a sacred task. In fact, they were opposed by the broadest possible alliance from Chaim Weizmann and David Ben-Gurion to Menachem Begin in resolutely opposing assassinations. The tragedy was that Shamir actually felt that he and his colleagues heard the call of God to execute someone who happened to be Churchill's close friend. We learned later that Churchill was engaged with Lord Moyne in planning to seek the establishment of a Jewish state after the war. Bearing this problematic record in mind, Shamir demonstrated clear signs of maturity and responsibility after 1948. He joined the Mossad in the 1950s under the supreme stewardship of prime minister Ben-Gurion. He spent 10 years in these surreptitious activities, which he definitely liked. After leaving the Mossad, he was involved in various business ventures, but his heart was somewhere else. Deciding to join Herut under Begin's leadership was more in line with his proclivities. It took some time before Shamir was elected to the Knesset, and when he was, he was not particularly excited by Begin's offer that he serve as Knesset Speaker. He was disappointed, but kept quiet. When Moshe Dayan resigned as foreign minister two years later, Shamir was happy to replace him. It was during this time - first as foreign minister and subsequently as prime minister succeeding Begin - that his qualities as a national leader began to appear. His cautious yet firm conduct during the Gulf War when Iraq fired missiles at Israel enhanced his standing as a prudent and responsible leader. It was not easy to repulse the arguments and pressure of defense minister Moshe Arens, backed by the chief of General Staff. Both urged Shamir to act militarily. Shamir listened, however, to US president George Bush rather than to Arens, gaining substantial credit domestically and internationally. Those were Shamir's good days, though they did not endure. Shamir's other great achievement was undoubtedly to organize and lead the aliya of hundreds of thousands of Soviet Jews. He was still sticking to his rigid posture on how to handle the conflict with the Palestinians, believing that his non-compromising stand would do the trick. It did not. His striving to sustain a national-unity government in the '80s will be remembered and hailed. The historians will not paint Shamir's era in black and white.