Ashdod, Israel
Former Israeli army chief of staff Rafael Eitan drowned in the Mediterranean Sea this week after falling off a breakwater at the port of Ashdod. Eitan, 75, was overseeing a port renewal project when he was swept into the sea. Eitan was the founder of Tzomet, an ultranationalist party that joined the ruling Likud Party in 1996. He was rigidly opposed to ceding any land to the Palestinians. “When we have settled the land,” Eitan once said, “all the Arabs will be able to do about it will be to scurry around like drugged cockroaches in a bottle.” The mastermind of the 1982 war to dislodge the PLO from Lebanon, Eitan was later reprimanded for failing to prevent Christian militias there from massacring Palestinian refugees.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
Join more than 350,000 subscribers and keep yourself informed with a selection of The Week’s most interesting, enlightening and entertaining stories - plus daily puzzles.
Join more than 350,000 subscribers and keep yourself informed with a selection of The Week’s most interesting, enlightening and entertaining stories - plus daily puzzles.