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A Bridge Between Two Worlds: Yisroel Katzover
A Bridge Between Two Worlds
Yisroel Katzover Talks About His Adventures and Insights as Israel’s Longest-Serving Defense Correspondent
BY TZVI LEFF
Not many journalists manage to change history. Even fewer succeed in doing so while writing for an charedi newspaper largely unknown and unread outside of the insular community.
Yet that’s just what Yisroel Katzover did when he blew the whistle on a massive Shabbos-desecrating ceremony at the Israeli military’s Tel Nof Airbase. The year was 1976, and Katzover was a young military correspondent at the charedi Hamodia daily when he received a strange press release from the IDF Spokesperson’s Unit.
The communique was inviting him to cover a gala ceremony honoring the delivery of Israel’s first squadron of F-15 tactical aircraft from the United States. Marking the Israel Air Force’s transition from the old F-4 to the fourth generation fighter jets, the celebration was to be attended by Prime Minister Yitzchak Rabin, along with the entire Israeli government, the IDF General Staff, and dozens of foreign diplomats.
But upon checking his personal day planner, Katzover discovered something strange. The ceremony was slated to begin late Friday afternoon, making massive Shabbos desecration at an official government ceremony almost certain. This would be the first time the military openly violated the holy day of rest, as it had until then been extremely careful to respect traditional customs.
“I looked at the event on the invitation and saw that it would begin late on Friday afternoon. I immediately called up the IDF Spokesperson’s Unit and informed them that they made a mistake. This couldn’t possibly be correct,” recalls Katzover in an interview with The Jewish Home.
“They checked, came back and said that there wasn’t any mistake. This is the date,” Katzover continued. “I told the clerk, ‘But it’s Friday!’ but she replied simply that ‘it is what it is.’”
After receiving the less-than-satisfactory answers from the IDF spokesperson, Katzover decided to act. Openly flouting the military censor that had banned journalists from reporting on the event ahead of time for security reasons, he detailed the violation of Jewish law on Hamodia’s front page.
“I debated with myself and decided to go against the instructions – maybe it would in the end prevent Shabbos desecration from happening in the future,” Katzover explained.
The news that the Israeli government would break its longstanding custom of refraining from Shabbos desecration caused a bombshell. An outraged National Religious Party and Agudas Yisrael faction left the Rabin government in protest, leading the premier to call for early elections.
But when the polls closed three months later, the big winner was Menachem Begin and his Likud party. For the first time since the founding of the state, the right wing had ousted the ruling Mapai party from power in what is known until today as the “Revolution.” Katzover’s scoop had literally changed history; a grateful Begin awarded the young reporter his first official interview as premier
in a show of thanks.
Additionally, while the army censor refrained from pressing criminal charges against Katzover, his rebellious act determined that the IDF would never again dare openly violate Shabbos.
“The repercussions were enormous,” related the veteran journalist. “Until today, I’ll meet [with senior officers] at meetings and they’ll say that they can’t do certain things because it falls out on a Friday – it’ll wind up ending on Shabbos and that’ll topple the government again.”
Another consequence of Katzover’s history-making scoop was the shattering of his close relationship with Rabin. The two had grown close when Katzover covered the Six Day War while Rabin was IDF Chief of Staff and would frequently talk in the latter’s Tel Aviv apartment. More than once, Rabin asked the young religious journalist about Jewish ritual matters that affected his troops, admitting that he was never taught even the basic components of Jewish faith.
But that all changed after Katzover’s exposed the Shabbos-desecrating ceremony at Tel Nof Airbase. Furious that his friend had caused him to be ousted from the Prime Minister’s Residence in Jerusalem, Rabin viewed Katzover as ‘persona non grata’ and refused to speak to him for years.
For the next decade and a half, Rabin would refuse to answer Katzover’s questions at press conferences. When unable to dodge inquiries after becoming Defense Minister in 1984, Rabin’s face would turn bright red, a telltale sign of the intense rage he was feeling.
Rabin only forgave him 15 years later, after Katzover hitched a ride home to Jerusalem on the then-defense minister’s military helicopter following a briefing in the Gaza Strip. Furious at being trapped in the aircraft with his nemesis, Rabin turned demonstratively towards the wall immediately after liftoff.
“But as we were passing over Bet Shemesh, Rabin suddenly turned around to me, stretched out his hand and said, ‘Yisroel, what happened, happened. I understand that you were only doing your job, and I forgive you completely,” recalled Katzover. Someone not a party to this reunion was Rabin’s wife Leah, who refused to allow the journalist into their home until the prime minister’s death in 1995.
Katzover, 76, is Israel’s longest-serving defense correspondent. Covering the IDF for the past 55 years for the Hamodia and the Kol Yisrael radio station, the journalist known to millions of readers as “A. Pe’er” has reported on every military-related event for over five decades.
Born to Holocaust survivors in a Displaced Persons (DP) camp in Austria, Katzover immigrated to Israel at the age of three and grew up first attending religious institutions affiliated with the Satmar chassidic sect and then with Religious Zionism.
Katzover’s illustrious media career began almost by accident. In 1967, Katzover began working as the Jerusalem correspondent for a local charedi newspaper, reporting on mundane issues affecting the capital city and its residents.
But only a few months later, the Six Day War broke out. Freshly demobilized from his thre- year compulsory military service in the Nahal Brigade, Katzover’s breathtaking commentary on military matters such as the liberation of the Western Wall left readers spellbound.
Before long, Katzover was given a new gig: covering the military on behalf of the Hamodia, then and now one of the largest and most influential charedi media outlets. In doing so, he became the first and only journalist responsible for the defense beat for an charedi newspaper. Later, he would host a highly popular radio show on Kol Yisrael.
Katzover’s extensive experiences have now been chronicled in a new book. Written together with author Nachman Seltzer, “The Insider” was recently published by ArtScroll and is a gripping account of the veteran military correspondent’s 55 years of covering Israeli defense issues.
“The charedi community cares about and is interested in the IDF no less and probably even more than the average Israeli,” declares Katzover, highlighting that the charedi media covers military and defense issues in detail.
“A few years ago, a study was published that looked at which newspapers have the highest volume of defense coverage. Surprisingly, it turned out that they received the most extensive coverage in the charedi press, where such issues were written about more than anything else,” Katzover continues.
“Come to think of it, this shouldn’t come as a surprise,” he added. “A charedi paper doesn’t have gossip, there are no movie and cinema reviews, no sports and there aren’t any scandals or articles about things such as Chaim Walder. What else will they write about?”
He adds, “The community also really cares. They are absolutely interested in such issues. It has nothing to do with [the argu-
Receiving a dollar from the Rebbe
Shaking hands with Rabbi Moshe Sherer
With Hosni Mubarak
With Yitzchak Rabin ment over charedi drafting into the IDF]. This is a community that lives in Israel and is interested in this.”
Reporting on the military to a charedi audience brings with it special challenges. While consumers of the mainstream media commonly served in the IDF, the average charedi reader does not. Katzover says that he often has to break down the complex issues into simple and easy to understand vignettes, such as unscrambling the abbreviation-heavy army jargon that is completely unfamiliar to Hamodia’s readership.
“It’s a problem,” admits Katzover. “Often, when I write, I find myself needing to explain things. If there was a battalion-level exercise, I need to write what a battalion is – no one knows what that means. I adapt myself to the target audience.”
Katzover sports a black-knitted yarmulke, illustrating his strong presence in both charedi and general Israeli society. This dissonance between the two worlds is a theme thorough his life; starting out in hardline Satmar schools, Katzover later spent his formative years in Religious Zionist institutions and served three years as a combat soldier.
As such, Katzover’s unique background made him far more than just a run-of-themill journalist. His position as the only charedi media figure covering the IDF puts him in a unique role to serve as a bridge between the two communities, often serving as a liaison between senior military brass and religious luminaries such as Rav Ovadiah Yosef and chassidic rabbis.
“I understand my position,” Katzover says. “I’m in the middle – I’m the IDF’s representative in the charedi media and the charedi representative to the IDF.
“Often, the army calls me in to explain to them different matters concerning the charedi community. They want to understand more about it, and why the community opposes serving in the army.
“On the other hand, every two weeks, I’m by a different Rebbe who calls me in,” continues Katzover, noting that his expertise in military matters and his knowledge of the defense establishment has also made him a valued source of information for top charedi leaders.
“The chassidic rebbes used to ask top army officers to come in order to grant them military briefings on the security situation. I’m talking about generals,” Katzover says, revealing the covert relationship between the IDF’s top brass and the charedi leadership. While many rabbis outwardly oppose the military, they, in fact, maintain a flourishing relationship behind the scenes with top IDF personnel.
“I know that the standing order in the army is that if a chassidic leader asks, they send him prominent and high-ranking officers in order to clarify all kinds of issues,” says Katzover. Refusing to name particular examples, he says simply that “this includes almost anyone you can think of.”
But for rabbis uncomfortable with uniformed commanders, Katzover serves as their personal military analyst.
“I show up with maps, pictures, and explain things,” he relates. In one instance, the Vizhnitz grand rabbi decided to establish a new community in Beitar Illit in the West Bank after hearing from Katzover about the low probability of the town being handed to the Palestinians as part of a peace agreement.
Katzover’s role as an intermediary is not restricted to spiritual leaders with a favorable view of military service. Rav Shmuel Auerbach, who founded the “Jerusalem Faction” known for its large protests against the charedi draft, once personally requested that he schedule a meeting with a slew of IDF Generals.
“The five most well-known rabbis in the Jerusalem Faction wanted to meet with senior officers in order to explain why they so opposed the draft,” recounts Katzover. “I organized the sit-down with the commander of the IDF Manpower Corps.”
“They sat together for two hours,” he continues. “It doesn’t matter that the rabbis didn’t manage to convince him; you see that everyone is trying to utilize me from both sides.”
One person with whom Katzover was particularly close was Rabbi Ovadiah Yosef, a former Israel chief rabbi and arguably the most prominent leader for Sephardic Jewry at the time of his passing in 2014. Their relationship went back decades, beginning when the two co-hosted a radio show dedicated to halachic matters in the early 1970s.
Later, Katzover brokered a secret meeting between Chacham Yosef and Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak in Cairo. During the sit-down, the aged rabbi appealed to Mubarak to prevent the construction of a new highway being built on top of a Jewish graveyard in Egypt, a request to which the Arab strongman acceded to.
In his book, Katzover discloses how Rabbi Ovadiah Yosef personally halted a daring military mission aiming to free Gilad
Shalit, an IDF soldier held hostage in the Gaza Strip from 2006 until 2011. Israeli intelligence had managed to uncover Shalit’s whereabouts at one point, leading the government to debate sending in an elite special operations unit to attempt a rescue.
“Rav Ovadiah told me how senior IDF officers came to him for a secret meeting. Gilad Shalit was being held by Hamas and the army knows where he is,” Katzover says. “They came to ask him because there was a big argument raging within the army whether to do the operation or not.
“The top officers entered his study and presented him with all sorts of maps and plans,” Katzover continues. “But then, Rav Ovadiah banged on the table and asked, ‘Do you know the cost?’ They thought that he was asking about the monetary cost, but the rabbi said, ‘The cost in soldiers’ lives.’”
Upon hearing the army’s estimate of the high number of commandos liable to be killed during the raid along with the low probability of success, Rabbi Ovadiah Yosef categorically ruled it out. “‘In no way, shape, or form,’ he said,” recounts Katzover. “The officers accepted his position and decided to scrap the operation.”
Another story Katzover unveils for the first time in his book is the fate of his older brother, a personal family mystery that has haunted him throughout his life.
During World War II, before the birth of the younger Katzover, Nazi troops entered the Ukrainian town of Azerian in which the family lived. Rounding up all the Jews, they ordered them to dig a pit and then systematically executed them.
Katzover’s mother was shot in the jaw and survived after the SS guards mistakenly assumed she was already dead. Meanwhile, his father managed to escape together with Shlomo, the young brother that he never merited to meet.
When the Nazis began to hunt down hidden Jews, the elder Katzover handed Shlomo to a Ukrainian non-Jewish neighbor for safekeeping until the war ended. But to their shock, the woman vanished off the face of the Earth.
The Katzovers frantically tried to track down their missing child, at one point going to every single home in the village in a fruitless pursuit after their loved one. The locals had conflicting versions to what happened; some claimed that the Ukrainian woman and Shlomo were gunned down after Nazi officers discovered that the former was sheltering Jews, while others claimed that his brother was kidnapped.
The question of Shlomo’s fate has gripped Katzover throughout his life. Dedicating mammoth sums to solve the mystery, Katzover made dozens of trips to Ukraine in an effort to find out what happened to his missing brother.
“There is no corner I have not been to. I have wandered endlessly everywhere,” Katzover told Mispacha magazine in December. “I went into the house of the neighbor’s brother who took my brother and tried to find out if he knew what happened to him, if there was any hint that remained. I didn’t find a thing.”
At one point, Katzover hired a Ukrainian private intelligence firm that specialized in tracking down lost relatives. “I’ve already spent so much money on this, what’s a little more?” he shrugs.
After a year and a half, the investigators believed that they succeeded in solving the mystery. Shlomo, they told a spellbound Katzover, had been taken to a nearby city and worked as a water engineer in the Ural Mountains until his death a decade prior. The analysts estimated with 80% certainty that this man was his long-lost brother.
The private investigators approached the said engineer’s children and offered them considerable sums of money to take a DNA test that could end the traumatic family tragedy for good.
“If he is my brother, there are halachic opinions which hold that he can be taken out of his burial place and brought to a new grave in Israel. I would have brought his bones here,” said Katzover. “In those days, I was in a state of euphoria. I spoke with the Chevra Kadisha about how this could happen.”
But the night before the DNA test was supposed to take place, the Ukrainian investigators received a phone call. The surviving family members reneged on the agreement, refusing to have any more contact with Katzover or the intelligence firm. Their decision didn’t change despite heavy pressure the analysts put on them, including offering to purchase them a new car.
“And that’s it,” Katzover concludes.
“I have been left with no solution to this very day,” the journalist says. “I have pictures of him which the investigators were able to bring. I invested a lot in finding him – I viewed it as my life’s mission, and I failed. But I haven’t given up hope.
“A Jew must always believe that Hashem will help them.”
With Chacham Ovadiah Yosef
With Jordan’s King Hussein
Shmoozing with Benjamin Netanyahu on a flight
