Sarah is taking a short R & R but will be back with the Tack during January.

Have a good 2014!

When Menachem Begin was prime minister, there were no dull moments. Great milestone events swept past our incredulous eyes in swift succession and, breathless, we rarely stopped to take them all in, delve skeptically beneath the surface hoopla or even marvel at what we were witnessing. For the reporters among us, the dramatic march of history was often reduced to hectic daily chores that had to be done before deadline.

So it was on December 17, 1978 when the watching world expected the peace treaty between Israel and Egypt to be signed (in actuality it only happened in March, 1979).

On September 18, a breakthrough settlement was reached at Camp David in which Begin and Anwar Sadat had committed their two countries to negotiate and sign a full peace treaty within three months. The buzz was that it would all happen on the last prescribed date. That made the December 17 Likud central committee session an absolute no-miss event for the press. Continue reading →