On Tuesday, former Mossad agent Rafi Eitan turned conventional wisdom on its head. He revealed that then-Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion did not issue orders to capture the architect of the Final Solution, Adolf Eichmann. Eitan said the late prime minister tasked the intelligence agency with capturing a high-level Nazi and have him stand trial in Israel. Ben-Gurion hoped such a trial would drive home the horrors of the Holocaust, hoping ignorant Israelis would be able to fully appreciate the scope of this tragedy. There is no reason to second-guess Eitan's version of events. That said, I still believe Israel was more concerned with Eichmann than with the doctor-turned-Satan Josef Mengele or Martin Bormann or any other perpetrator. Eichmann was a household name in Israel because of Rudolf Kastner, who was accused of helping the Nazis toward the end of the war. This led to a libel suit, which shed light on the prominent role Eichmann had in assembling the systematic killing machine. Journalist Shabtai Teveth once published a satirical column featuring two children in Tel Aviv having a bitter fight, with one calling the other "Hitler" and the other responding by calling his adversary "Eichmann." This attests to Eichmann's name recognition. Ultimately, the second child won the "argument." Eichmann was mentioned in Israeli discourse much more than Hitler, at the time, because of the growing interest generated by the Kastner affair. Therefore, it would make sense that Israel's spy agency would train its eyes on Eichmann and intensify its search. Regardless of what the official directive was, it had a strategic component to it, which helped build the nation's character. The fledgling state --- only 15 years had passed since the end of World War II -- was still plagued by the hubris of native-born Israelis (sabras) who looked down on Diaspora Jews. In shaping their identity, Israelis by and large preferred to focus on archaeology, the revived Hebrew vernacular, and their ancient homeland, and perhaps this approach had some merit to it. But Eichmann's trial, which would have never taken place without Ben-Gurion's directive, helped cement two dramatic trends. First, the witness testimony generated empathy with the victims of the Holocaust and built another layer of identity among sabras, giving them a more solid footing that complemented their Canaanite features. The testimonials served as the inspiration for various pieces of legislation aimed at safeguarding Israel's character as the nation-state of the Jewish people. Second, the Eichmann trial empowered Israel to take a more assertive national security posture. As it happened, the trial coincided with Ben-Gurion's efforts to actively explore the nuclear option. He believed this would help create the "safe haven " Theodor Herzl envisioned when he wrote about Zionism. This is no small feat, and it has been kept up for the past 55 years, albeit with occasional outbursts of suspicion and anxiety toward those who are not like us. Did the Mossad agents know their operation would help unify the Jewish people? There is no way of knowing. The fact that many Israelis will have tears in their eyes during Holocaust Remembrance Day events will serve as proof of this unity.
