The death of letter-writing has ended a favorite past-time among politicians – engaging in wars of words via snail mail.
A letter I just catalogued written by David Ben-Gurion to one of his nemeses, Yohanan Bader – a Revisionist Zionist leader and Israeli politician – is a great relic from these wars of the past. Loosely translated, the letter reads:
Among your members in the Knesset are people from whom nothing is withheld and who, in their empty speech, are capable of achieving the most difficult assignments. They will bring peace to the world with their empty speech if power is placed in their hand – even though they daily preach war, hatred, and excommunication against countries that for some reason do not find favor in their eyes. They are capable of raining gold on the streets if only power were transferred into their hands. However, for some reason, the country is not so stupid and is not ready to empower them of its own accord.
Respectfully,
D. Ben-Gurion
Prime Minister and Defense Minister
