President Chaim Herzog on Friday initiated a new series of monthly “fireside chats,” which he plans to broadcast on Israel Radio. He is the first Israeli president to do so.
Herzog, an experienced radio commentator, opened his first broadcast in the series by referring to the “ongoing struggle of our right in our land, a continuing struggle which takes its toll every day.”
He spoke of the recent seizure of an Egged bus and the resultant deaths and injuries of civilians as another instance of “mad and indiscriminate terrorism.”
“We have not learned, nor shall we ever learn, to accept with indifference this loss of human lives and bereavements, though these will not deter us from continuing to march on our course,” he said.
During the Yom Kippur War in 1973, Herzog spoke almost nightly as a military commentator, discussing frankly the problems and achievements of the Israel Defense Force. His broadcasts did much to raise morale during those days.
In Friday’s program, Herzog reviewed highlights of recent months, recalling in particular his state visit to Canada.
“I was afforded a golden opportunity to introduce a dimension of balance to the distorted picture which is portrayed throughout the world,” he said.
He also spoke of the recently concluded 13th Maccabiah, highlighted by the appearance of a delegation from Soviet Lithuania, and of the Israeli delegation that flew to the Soviet Union to aid victims of a railway disaster.
Herzog sought to maintain an upbeat view of the current period of financial difficulties and high unemployment. Israeli scientific advances and “a healthy infrastructure,” said Herzog, “will get us out of the straits.”
He waxed eloquent on visits he had made to Moslem villages in Israel and the warm ### he received there.
“There is no need to elaborate on the significance of such meetings during days as difficult as these,” he said.
Herzog lamented the fact that the huge foreign press corps had not covered that event. He bewailed the fact that “none of them saw it necessary to present this side of the relationship between Jews and Arabs in Israel.”
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