Painting while Iran burns

As Itzik Barzilai waits at home for the opening of an exhibition of his paintings, he seethes. He has been watching the dramatic events in Iran and knows he has something to offer, but no one is interesting in hearing it. Painting is important to him, but it is just a hobby - one he has more time for these days.

Until two weeks ago, he worked at a small unit in the Ministry of Defense that for decades monitored events in Iran, Lebanon and the Shi'ite diaspora. The unit, one might say, handled matters that walked the fine line between propaganda, psychological warfare and studying trends and public opinion in Iran.

With the minuscule budget available to it (around $1 million a year), the unit maintained ties with Iranian exiles, the American administration and journalists around the world. It also helped run Israel Radio's Persian-language broadcasts and operated a radio station that broadcast to southern Lebanon. Uri Lubrani, who has headed the station for years, will also soon be leaving his position.

Several Israeli agencies deal with Iran and its nuclear capabilities. When Ariel Sharon was prime minister, he put the Mossad in overall charge of Israel's efforts to thwart the Iranian nuclear program. The Mossad and Military intelligence are both responsible for gathering intelligence and locating Iran's nuclear sites, and both provide useful and important information. The Atomic Energy Commission is responsible for ties with the International Atomic Energy Agency and professional analysis of the progress of Iran's nuclear program. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs is responsible for diplomatic contacts and public relations. Lubrani and Barzilai's unit integrated into this setup and contributed unique insights to it.

Barzilai, who speaks Persian, served in the Mossad and operated, inter alia, in Iran during the shah's reign. Afterward, he headed three units in the Mossad, including Tevel (in charge of clandestine international ties). After retiring from the Mossad, he joined Lubrani.

The two are among the few in Israel who, even if they did not foresee what is now happening in Iran, can take credit for not having ruled out the possibility of it happening. In a November 2006 interview with Haaretz Magazine, Lubrani said regime change is possible should the masses take to the streets and protest against the current regime.

"In Iran today, there are sectors of the public from which leaders can emerge," he said then. "There are enough worthy candidates who are less dangerous [than incumbent President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad]. There are some who spent time in jail for opposing the regime. There are people in exile. There are even people within the army. Even former president [Hashemi] Rafsanjani, who is quite corrupt, could be a candidate. It is possible to negotiate with him."

But Defense Ministry Director General Pinhas Bukhris was not impressed with the assessments offered by Lubrani and Barzilai. He did not even bother to meet with them when he decided to dismiss them in order to save the cost of the unit's miserly budget. The timing of his decision, which was backed by Defense Minister Ehud Barak, deserves to be ranked as one of the most surprising in the history of Israel's government.

Iran is on fire. Dozens of Iranians in important positions, or with ties to those in such positions, are seeking an Israeli address where they can find someone to consult, someone to offer ideas. But the doors are closed to them. Lubrani refuses to be interviewed, and Barzilai is also unwilling to disclose what is on his mind, apart from one sentence: "It's numbness, idiocy, a failure to grasp the situation."

The person who is trying to serve as his mouthpiece is former minister Rafi Eitan, also an ex-Mossad man, who today serves as an adviser (on Holocaust survivors) to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Eitan, incidentally, is also a sculptor, and his works will be presented alongside Barzilai's paintings at an exhibition that opens in another 10 days in Herzliya.

"The unit is vital for Israel," Eitan told Haaretz. "I protested against its closure to the prime minister. I talked about it with [former] prime minister Ehud Olmert, and recently, with Netanyahu and the defense minister as well." And how did they respond? "I won't say. I only hope that Barak will cease being led by his clerks."

The scent of Korean garlic

Even though almost six decades have elapsed since then, Bernard Sperber remembers the aroma of garlic that wafted through the air at night during the Korean War. At that time, he was a young soldier in the United States Army's 45th infantry division and had been dispatched to the Korean peninsula. Among other missions, he took part in night patrols along the front.

"North Korean soldiers carried a bag of rice and herbs with them," he recalled this week. "When we smelled their scent, mostly the garlic, we knew they were nearby."

Sperber served four months in Korea, until the end of the war, and suffered shrapnel injuries. For his dedicated service, he was awarded two medals of distinction, a Purple Heart and a Bronze Star.

The Korean War was a cruel war that lasted over three years, and its results still resonate today - see, for example, the nuclear crisis on the Korean peninsula. It is also the war during which Israel changed its political orientation, from neutral or even sympathetic to the Soviet bloc to outright pro-West.

Today, 59 years after the war's outbreak, Sperber and 15 other veterans of the war will be awarded a special medal at the residence of South Korea's ambassador to Israel. Ambassador Ma Yang Sun succeeding in locating these veterans - only some of those who served in assorted armies (Australia, Britain, the U.S. and others) and now live in Israel - with the help of Jerusalem Post reporter Greer Fay Cashman.

Sperber, who immigrated to Israel from New York in 1970 and now lives in Jerusalem, also managed to do reserve duty in the Israel Defense Forces. "It's very nice to receive the medal," he said, "but reserve duty in the IDF was a more moving experience for me."