Epiphany at Beit Jala
by: Donald Neff
November - December
1995
The Link - Volume 28, Issue 5
Page 10
Ezer Weizman, the father of Israel's air force and an upright man, personally took the matter into his own hands. As defense minister, he appointed a commission to investigate the matter. It found the Beit Jala story true. When he was presented with the findings, Weizman did a thing that had never happened before. He publicly fired the military governor of the West Bank, Brigadier General David Hagoel, for abusing Palestinians. It had taken more than a month. But, needless to say, the ending was enormously satisfying, a forthright action that to this day gives me hope that Israel may still have a chance to become the nation it professes to be.
Shortly after Weizman set the record straight I left Israel. I was, quite frankly, worried about my personal well being under a Begin government and I was drained by Beit Jala and heart-broken and discouraged by the display of prejudice and unprofessional conduct of my colleagues covering the story, whom I had admired. Not only would they not have used the story if it had been up to them, but after Weizman's confirmation some of them confided to me that they had known in their hearts from the beginning that the story was true.
This amazing confession struck me as the worst example of bad journalism and ugly prejudice I could imagine. The experience left me highly skeptical about the wisdom of employing reporters in areas where they are partisans.
After three and a half years, my last act in Jerusalem was to throw a going away party for myself and a welcoming party for my successor. It was just as well that I cast it as a welcome party for him. Otherwise I'm not sure many Israeli guests would have attended. This was confirmed to me when Teddy Kollek, the mayor of Jerusalem with a reputation in America as a champion of Palestinian rights, arrived. He did not smile. "I am not here to see you," he declared, turned his back and sought out my successor.
On that graceful note, my tour in Israel ended—but not by any means my interest.
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