Uri Dan Had Opinions

Uri Dromi reviewed Uri Dan's last book on Ariel Sharon and wrote:-

On September 13, 1993, I stood beside Uri Dan on the White House lawn. As the director of Israel's Government Press Office under prime minister Yitzhak Rabin, I was in charge of the Israeli journalists who had traveled there to witness the historic ceremony of reconciliation between the Israeli and Palestinian peoples. A question hovered in the air: Would the two old enemies, Yitzhak Rabin and Yasser Arafat, shake hands?

The officials came out of the White House and walked toward the small, tense audience assembled on the lawn. And then Bill Clinton, with his trademark charm, turned the two men toward each other: an enthusiastic Arafat and a dour-faced Rabin who, gripped by a visceral sense of foreboding, wanted nothing more than to be somewhere else at that moment. Then, the inconceivable happened: They shook hands, and a roar of joy went up from the audience. Even cynical longtime journalists could not disguise their enthusiasm. Everyone joined the celebrations.

Everyone, that is, except Uri Dan. The veteran reporter, who died in December at age 71, stood beside me frowning and said to his colleagues in disgust: "What are you so happy about? Many funerals will come out of this wedding." We all looked at him with pity: Here was the professional spoilsport, unable to give credit for success to anyone except his master, Ariel Sharon.

Years passed and indeed, that wedding was followed by many funerals, many eulogies in both Hebrew and Arabic.