This Ongoing War: A Blog: 27-Jan-15: Blessed be the True Judge: David Landau

Tuesday, January 27, 2015

27-Jan-15: Blessed be the True Judge: David Landau

The late David Landau: Click here (not on the picture) to see his
interview on the ABC Lateline program, arguing robustly
why the Shalit Transaction was so seriously wrong

A former editor of Haaretz and of the Jerusalem Post, David Landau passed away today. His funeral will be tomorrow (Wednesday) here in Jerusalem. An obituary has just gone up [here] on the Haaretz site. It describes an impressive career and a life of impact.

The few conversations we had with him were short and conducted - mostly - when we were both speakers at the same conference in England a few years ago. To say that a broad swathe of his political viewpoints were unpalatable to us is understating things.

But when he spoke out on the subject of Israel doing deals with the terrorists, and in particular the Shalit Transaction which remains one of the most bitter moments in our lives, he demonstrated real courage (given what most people from the camp that he says he belonged to were saying about that tragically misconceived submission to Islamist extortion) and integrity for speaking up when he could have let the wave of overwhelming (and to us, incomprehensible) public support for it in Israel speak for itself.

He was interviewed by Ali Moore on Australia's ABC on October 18, 2011, the day that Israel released the first of two tranches of 1,027 convicted killers and assorted other terrorists. The entire interview (video above, text at this link) from the Lateline program runs 16 minutes.

The deep concerns he expressed 3+ years ago have proven to be well-founded. May the memory of David Landau be for a blessing.

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