“Azariah! That’s quite enough of your buffoonery. Stop it at once.”

“Comrade Yolek! Comrade Srulik, Hava, Mr. Prime Minister, I’ll have to ask you please to stop trying to silence me, because with all due respect I’m afraid I’m the only person in this country who’s willing to tell the whole truth. I’ve already promised not to take more than a minute or two of your time, and I won’t. What do you all take me for? A chiseler? A cheat? You know they don’t come any more idealistic than me. And what are two minutes? No more time than it takes to skin a cat. To get to the point, Mr. Prime Minister, I have to warn you that you’ve been sold a bill of goods, so to speak. If you’d like, I’ll be happy to say a few words about the Syrians, and Nasser, and the Arabs in general, and the Russians too. You can either hear me out or not, sir, and afterwards, of course, you’re free to decide what the country should do about it.”

“The boy is a tragic case,” apologized Hava. “He’s a Holocaust survivor whom we’ve tried to take in here. Naturally, it hasn’t been easy, but we haven’t given up on him either.”

“Hava,” interrupted Yolek. “Please be so kind as to stay out of it. There’s no need to explain. Eshkol can manage without your help.”

The Prime Minister made a weary gesture but did not alter his engagingly warm smile.

“Never mind. Those shmendriks out there can wait in the car a little longer. They don’t own me yet. And the Upper Galilee is not about to run away. Let’s let the young troubadour finish his ballad, but he’ll have to stop calling me Your Excellency and to talk a language a man can understand. Don’t be afraid of me, young fellow. Feel free to speak your mind, but try beating about the bush a little less.”

“But the Galilee will run away, sir!” Azariah cried out. “The Galilee, and the Negev, and all the rest. There’s going to be a war. We’ll be taken by surprise, fallen upon as in a pogrom. They’re already sharpening their knives. That’s why Yonatan walked out of here with a gun in his hand. It can break out at any time.”

“Zaro,” said Rimona. “Don’t get worked up.”

“You keep out of this, Rimona. Can’t you see that it’s me against the whole world? Does the woman I love have to take their side too? I’ve warned Comrade Eshkol that there’s a war on the way and that even if we win, it will be the beginning of the end. I’ve said what I have to say. Now I’ll keep my mouth shut.”