A Life Shaped by War and Politics
Shahram Mofazazkar was born in Tehran, Iran, in November 1948. As a high-ranking military officer, who later became a senior politician and cabinet minister, he was frequently mentioned in newspaper headlines. It comes as no surprise that readers of this review have never heard of him by that name, but many have heard of Lt. Gen. Shaul Mofaz, who is a former IDF chief of general staff, former Israeli defense minister, and former head of the now-defunct political party Kadima, which was founded by Ariel Sharon in November 2005.
It was Sharon who invited Mofaz, who had participated in so many military battles, to enter the political arena. Mofaz was initially reluctant, but eventually, after consulting with his family, accepted Sharon’s offer and became the leader of the party and head of the opposition in the Knesset when he won a landslide victory in a leadership contest against former party leader Tzipi Livni in March 2012. It was not the first time that he had contested the party leadership. He had narrowly lost out to Livni in 2008 when prime minister Ehud Olmert stepped down following corruption charges.
A Legacy of Leadership and Influence
All together, Kadima had a 10-year run before it faded from the political limelight. Like so many other politicians whose names had once been household words, Mofaz was swept under the dust of history. Mofaz is an active participant in many historical events, but he had been an active participant in so many historical events that his family prevailed on him to write his autobiography.
Such a mission, whether self-imposed or prompted by others, is always a daunting task – especially for someone who had to fight as an officer in so many major battles and wars. Memory has a habit of playing tricks on us, and it is often difficult to distinguish fact from what we think we remember. In Mofaz’s case, that particular obstacle barely existed. He had long been in the habit of taking a yellow pad with him wherever he went and documenting events as closely as possible to real time.
The foundation for his memoir, My Israeli Journey, was already in place, and the notes were in chronological order, though the material extends back to the period when he was too young to write. Readers whose key interest is battlefront strategy and implementation will find this is a book to which they will want to refer over and over again, particularly because it is not written in textbook style but from a personal perspective, with details of conversations, battlefield conditions, attitudes toward the enemy, and more. But it also includes family details, political struggles, and Jewish tradition.
A Personal and Political Chronicle
Mofaz is not stingy about giving credit to people who directly or indirectly influenced his path to success. But the most important aspect of his memoir is that it is a gift to future generations of his family. Very often, when people not born in Israel talk to their children about the old country and its traditions, and relate fragments of their lives there and in the early years following their immigration to Israel, the children are not particularly interested. In many cases, it’s somewhat different with the children of IDF soldiers who are part of the permanent army. Their offspring may not be interested in hearing recollections about the distant past, but they are very interested in what their parents have done and are doing in their positions in the Israel Defense Forces.
Often, after a parent or grandparent dies, offspring become interested in their roots and regret not having asked. There will be no such regrets among Mofaz’s progeny. Even if the book disappears from a family bookcase, there will always be a copy in the National Library, thanks to a law which states that copies of all books published in Israel must be presented to the National Library.
Mofaz’s wife, Orit, has learned to make the Persian culinary delights that used to emanate from Mofaz’s mother’s kitchen, and now his grandchildren are enjoying them, and they are staples in the Mofaz household. In all probability, at least some of the grandchildren are familiar with the recipes.
A Window into History
Family aside, the abundance of photographs in the book serves to remind readers of people who made significant contributions to the security and advancement of the Jewish state. All these names will be familiar to students of Israeli history, especially as it is still customary for retired generals to become prominent politicians. Admittedly, Mofaz is also seen in most of these photographs – it is, after all, his memoir – but anyone perusing the book will also see what these famous individuals looked like.
Among them, sometimes in and out of military uniform, are Yitzhak Rabin, Ehud Barak, Ariel Sharon, Moshe Ya’alon, Moshe Arens, Eliezer Shkedi, Ido Nehushtan, Amnon Lipkin-Shahak, Shimon Peres, Ezer Weizman, Itzik Mordechai, and Gabi Ashkenazi. Throughout his career, Mofaz met with various world leaders and influential figures who are also included in the extensive collection of photographs. These include, among others, Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak, King Abdullah of Jordan, US president George W. Bush, and US secretaries of state Condoleezza Rice, Colin Powell, and Hilary Clinton.
There are also photographs taken in Tehran when Mofaz was an infant in a baby carriage, plus photos of the engagement and wedding of his parents, and his grandmother waving goodbye when the family left for Israel. The family, together with various relatives who had joined them, arrived in Tel Aviv on October 5, 1957.
A Journey of Identity and Belonging
Like most immigrant children, the young Mofaz was desperate to belong, to be accepted as if he were a Sabra – a native-born Israeli. He could not know at that tender age that he would go much further in life than many Sabra children. Several major organizations launch their international fundraising campaigns with the help of top-ranking IDF personnel who are either still serving or recently retired from the army. Mofaz was included in this esteemed list and toured the US on behalf of the Keren Hayesod – United Israel Appeal and the Friends of the IDF.
During that period, he was offered a lucrative job by William Cohen, who had been the US secretary of defense when Mofaz was chief of staff. Cohen headed a large law firm that was involved in consultancy and international trade, and he wanted to get into dealing with international defense industries. He offered Mofaz the opportunity to lead such transactions. Mofaz said that he would consider it, but he had just begun to think about it when he received a phone call in Miami from Dov Weisglass, who at the time was Ariel Sharon’s chief of staff and close adviser. “Arik wants you to be defense minister,” Weisglass told him.
Mofaz was somewhat taken by surprise and explained that he has commitments in the US and the UK. Weisglass insisted that he accept because there was a coalition crisis and urged him to return immediately. But Mofaz, with the support of his wife, replied that he would first honor his commitments and then return to Israel.
Originally written in Hebrew, Mofaz’s book was translated into English by Reuven Ben-Shalom. Not having read the Hebrew version, I cannot say whether the translation is good or bad, other than to state that it is an easy and interesting read, with an extraordinarily comprehensive index that allows the reader with a particular interest in a person or an event to instantly turn to that section of the book.
Though not intended as a reference book, it is probably one of the most accurate, non-academic records of the years in which Mofaz served in the IDF and in his post-army service to his country. Perhaps after the current war is over, Mofaz may visit the land of his birth and add another chapter to his book.
MY ISRAELI JOURNEY
By Shaul Mofaz
Gefen Publishing House
411 pages; NIS 140
