Lost Begin recording to be auctioned
Speech from 1948 was recently discovered in J’lem
A recording of a long-lost broadcast by former prime minister Menachem Begin on May 15, 1948 the day after the establishment of the State of Israel will be up for sale next month at the Kedem Auction House in Jerusalem.
“We won’t buy peace from our enemies at the price of giving up our independence,” Begin broadcast live in the recording on the underground Irgun radio station. “Only one kind of ‘peace’ was bought at the price of this concession: the peace of the cemetery, the ‘peace’ of a new Treblinka.”
Begin, a polished orator, often deviated from his prepared text while speaking, according to the Kedem Auction House. Four years later, in 1952, he re-recorded the same speech, based on an earlier draft. The 1948 recording, lost for 70 years, was recently unearthed. The auction house did not identify the owner of the recording or explain how it was found.
“This historic speech, which has only just been unearthed, provides us with an extraordinary glimpse into the spirit of festivity that is mixed with preparations for the battle that surrounded the founding of the State,” said Meron Eren, CEO of Kedem Auction House. “It is a privilege for us to receive such an important piece of the history of the State of Israel. But it is also a duty, and we will do our best to share it as widely as possible.”
Begin refused a request from his longtime foe, then prime minister David Ben-Gurion, to review his speech before he gave it, according to his book The Revolt. The auction house said that “Begin was tense on the day of the speech. He apparently regretted having refused Ben-Gurion’s request, as this could have opened the way for broader agreements between the two, and he was angry at changes made to his earlier wording.”
The 1948 speech, made almost 30 years before he became prime minister, contains much of Begin’s signature rhetoric.
“The Hebrew government will preserve the independence that was bought by the blood of heroes, and will not surrender from submission to terror,” he said. “And our lives will be lit through brotherly love and a love for Israel... in our own country, justice will rule supreme, there will be no tyranny, and the officers will be servants of society. “
The item will go up for auction on November 13 in Jerusalem, and bidding is set to begin at $300,000.