New York Magazine: Meet the Billionaire Film Mogul and Former Israeli Spy Who Paid for The Revenant

New York Magazine knows a good story when they see one. Arnon Milchan's career and the book Confidential prove to be "worthy of an epic".  

Arnon Milchan Produces World's Top Hits 'Gone Girl' & 'Birdman'... Honored at The Israeli Film Festival...

As usual, Arnon Milchan's accomplishments come in waves... and once again he sits at the top of the cinematic world, however temporarily. With two tremendous, high-quality productions; Gone Girl and Birdman, Milchan's New Regency has moved firmly in the direction of Milchan's roots as an artsy risk-taker. Gone Girl has already passed $300,000,000 in world wide box office sales, making it currently the top grossing film in the world.

Mr. Milchan will also receive the 2014 Israel Film Festival Visionary Award in Los Angeles on October 23rd.

The New York Times Rejects Repeated Reqeusts for an Article on Israel's Channel 2 Milchan Report... Says Uvda's Report is "Nothing New" and Based Entierly on The Book 'Confidential'.

By Eric Wilder - Hollywood

I'm not a journalist, but I play one on TV...
I use other peoples material and pretend like its mine 

 

 

 

ILANA DAYAN'S ATTEMPTED HIJACKING OF 'CONFIDNTIAL'  

 

Based entirely on the book indeed: After watching the program, there is simply no question that the New York Times had it right and that book 'Confidential' served as the entire script for the Uvda show, in some cases almost word for word.

Her show would not have been even remotely possible without the book which served as her inspiration, her road map, her script and even her dialogue. Ilana Dayan gave a very quick "thanks to Joe Gelman and Meir Doron, the authors of the book" at the end of the show as the credits rolled... almost as an afterthought.

The authors are surly thankful for the "thanks", but fairness would dictate something a little more substantial than a legal ass-covering.  

'Uvda' is Israel Channel 2's leading investigative reporting program, anchored by Ilana Dayan. A year ago, Channel 2 approached the authors of 'Confidential' for help in putting together an investigative program based on the groundbreaking reporting in the book. The authors agreed and co-author Meir Doron was interviewed extensively for background information.

The report aired on Monday, November 25.

As it turned out, a funny thing happened on the way to the airing of that program. Suddenly, Ilana Dayan and her staff began to describe their report as "exclusive discoveries",  "for the first time", "until now only rumors"... etc... forgetting their source.

It should be noted that Mr. Milchan has never denied a single assertion in the book 'Confidential' despite every opportunity to do so, and had interviewed in person for tens of hours for the book. The Uvda program was merely Mr. Milchan's way of coming out and publically saying: THE BOOK IS ACCURATE.

In a desperate and obvious ploy to cover and deflect from her utter dependence on the book, Ilan Dayan then used a source, NBC's Robert Windrem, who was referred to her by anti-nuclear gadfly, Avner Cohen; both of whom are hard-left ideologues with a substantial history of an anti-Israel agenda. Windrem's contribution was based on and limited to his understanding of Milchan's activities in South Africa, written about extensively by the authors of Confidential. 

With authors research in hand, Uvda's producers then made every effort to promote the show as original material and exclusive findings when it was not. Fortunately, aside from their own website (and the wildly unprofessional right-wing publication "Yisrael Hayom" in Israel), prior to the show, no serious publication agreed to cover the issue without crediting the book. 

Examples:
Haaretz, New York Daily News, UK Daily Mail, UK Independent, Hollywood Reporter, The Times of India, The Voice of Russia, The Hong Kong Daily Apple.... etc....

Even following the airing of the show, as the story went viral around the world, most publications had the decency to at least reference the book that made the story possible.

Examples: Fox News, NBC, CBS, The UK Daily Mail, The UK Guardian... etc... some even placing pictures of the book's front cover in their stories. A level of professional courtesy not displayed by Uvda.

But the New York Times, to their credit, went even further:

They refused to publish any report on the 'Uvda' story as a matter of journalistic principle. After being "badgered" by 'Ilana Dayan's producers to do a story, the New York Times responded that there is nothing in the Uvda story worthy of reporting on that has not already been revealed in the book 'Confidential' two years earlier, which the New York Times covered extensively.

Arguably, other than the many elements left out of the Uvda story that are in the book, the ONLY semi-meaningful elements in the 'Uvda' story that differ from 'Confidential' involve:

1) Mr. Milchan implicating former director Sidney Pollock in his espionage activities. Of course, Sidney Pollock is conveniently dead and is not in a position of confirm or deny Mr. Milchan's words. Out of respect to Mr. Pollack and his family, and out of journalistic integrity because it could not be reasonably confirmed, the authors of Confidential left that claim out of their book, refusing to take Mr. Milchan's sole word on that matter at face value.

2) The other element that 'Uvda' claims as 'groundbreaking' is Mr. Milchan's amazingly blatant assertion that he USED actor Richard Dreyfuss to lure one of the fathers of the hydrogen bomb, Author Biehl, to a meeting with Israeli intelligence. That story was mentioned in the book 'Confidential' on pages 137 and 138. The book gave both Mr. Milchan and Mr. Biehl's versions of the story and let the reader decide who was telling the truth, without directly and unfairly involving/implicating Mr. Richard Dreyfuss, who was an unwitting partner to the affair. 'Uvda' simply repeated that story but greatly highlighted the involvement of the Academy Award winning actor to increase the sex appeal of the story at Mr. Dryefuss expense. One wonders how Mr. Dryefuss feels about that? And it is surprising that Ilan Dayan did not seek a reaction from Mr. Dreyfuss, if only as a matter journalistic integrity.

But Ilana Dayan's cynical hijacking did not end there. In promoting the show, Uvda published material almost word for word from the Hebrew version of 'Confidential', and from an article in the respected news website Tablet Magazine, and even used an almost identical graphic for their story that was published in Tablet Magazine... and again claimed the revelations to be "for the first time"... "exclusive"... etc.... Below are posts of the two almost identical stories. I would challenge those who are fluent in English and Hebrew to find the "exclusivity" in the Uvda article:

The 2011 Tablet Magazine article here, and graphic below:

The 2013 Uvda article on Mako here, and graphic below:

          In the end, Uvda and Ilana Dayan do have one achievement that cannot be denied or taken away; they successfully got Mr. Arnon Milchan on camera to publicly admit to the very serious clandestine activity that was revealed in the book 'Confidential', which he had not denied since the publication of the book in the first place. That alone is an impressive achievement on her part. Thus, one wonders why Ilana Dayan felt the need to embellish and claim "exclusive"... "for the first time" credit on the actual substance of journalistic discoveries that she had absolutely nothing to do with.

One of Israel's leading media critics, Dvorit Shargal put it best in her stinging report on the matter in her website Velvet Underground: "'Uvda' did not reveal Milchan's Secret Life" ... Confidential did that!

The Aftermath:
Perhaps one of the most appalling aspects of this journalistic malfeasance, were the efforts by Israel's channel 2 to block international media outlets from using their footage in reporting on the story. When NBC News' Andrea Mitchell called to seek approval to use Uvda footage on a story for NBC Nightly News' broadcast nationally in the US, Israel's channel 2 resisted giving authorization. In the end, NBC used the material after a legal determination that it fell under the "fair usage" rule for news.

So what we have here is Israel's channel 2 using other peoples material without extending due credit, and then throwing up roadblocks to those, like NBC News, who would use their material legitimately.

I believe the word for that is Chatzpah.

Ha'aretz: Hollywood is Always on the Lookout for Blockbuster Stories, and This Coming Monday it will get the Juicy Details

Although this is the first time that Milchan has spoken about the subject since the publication of 'Confidential'....

This isn’t the first time Milchan's role in Israeli arms dealings and intelligence has surfaced: Just two years ago authors Meir Doron and Joseph Gelman published a book titled “Confidential: The Life of Secret Agent Turned Hollywood Tycoon Arnon Milchan" – which alleged that Milchan was an operative for Israel's Bureau of Scientific Relations. The bureau, headed by spy-masters Benjamin Blumberg and Rafi Eitan, gathered information for secret defense-related programs, including Israel's alleged nuclear program. The bureau was closed after Jonathan Pollard was arrested for spying on behalf of Israel in 1986.

The "Uvda" report does, however, contain some shocking new details about Milchan's work, including claims that other Hollywood bigwigs like the legendary, late director Sydney Pollack and at least one other Academy Award-winning actor, both figured into his work for Israel.

Based on The Book 'Confidential', Israel's Channel 2 Delivers an Explosive Investigative Report on the Life of Arnon Milchan in Prime Time

Israel's Channel Two will premier its top investigative show with an explosive report based on the book 'Confidential'. The show, Uvda meaning 'fact' in Hebrew, will be aired on Monday, November 25 at 9:00 PM. Below is the lead promo that will be aired in heavy rotation until show time. Uvda is Israel's number-one rated investigative journalism show:

Post by ‎עובדה‎.

Nationally Syndicated Columnist, Cal Thomas, Mentions 'Confidential' in his new Column about Jonathan Pollard - In 550 US Publications

Pollard supporters are circulating a classified memo written by then-Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, which they say instructs the U.S. Embassy in Tel Aviv to “spy” on Israel. The document was released by WikiLeaks and published in the Guardian in 2010 and is included in the book, “The Life of Secret Agent Turned Hollywood Tycoon Arnon Milchan,” by Meir Doron and Joseph Gelman. If the same standard were applied to Rice as has been applied to Pollard, Rice might be in an Israeli prison.

Read the entire article here. Cal Thomas is a nationally syndicated columnist who's articles are featured in over 550 newspapers across North America.

FBI Files: Smyth Claimed in 2002 FBI Debrief That He Sent Nuclear Triggers to Netanyahu, Who He [Smyth] Says Worked for Milchan at the Time (Early 80's/Late 70's). Allegation The Authors Could Not Confirm One Way Or The Other:

Just released, heavily censored FBI files describe (among other things), meetings between convicted spy Richard Kelly Smyth and a young Benjamin Netanyahu (now Prime minister), who Smyth said in the 2002 FBI debrief worked for Arnon Milchan’s Heli-Trading Ltd, where the Krytrons (nuclear triggers) were sent. The files were released as a result of a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) to an organization hostile to Israel which requested them:

http://www.irmep.org/ila/krytons/06272012_milco_mdr.pdf

Of course, Iran’s Press TV immediately jumped on this, predictably accusing Netanyahu of “nuclear smuggling” in his younger years. The Iranians reference Confidential: The Life Of Secret Agent Turned Hollywood Tycoon Arnon Milchan.  

Important Notes:
The authors of Confidential were aware of Smyth's insistence on Netanyahu’s involvement in the nuclear triggers smuggling case and quote Smyth saying so in the book, but Milchan explained to the authors during interviews with him that Smyth is lying about that. Milchan explained that he did not even know Netanyahu until the 1990’s. That is why Confidential left the matter unresolved, and simply reported what both sides claimed. Now we know that this is what the FBI heard from Smyth as well during his 2002 debriefing. Although anything is possible, and the authors are not infallible and may have missed it, the authors tend to lean towards Milchan's version of events in this case because of what is known about Netanyahu's biographic timeline (unless of course, Netanyahu's employment at RIM Furniture in the late 70's was a cover) . It is hard to believe when he [Netanyahu] could have fit in any covert activity of the nature described in this FBI memo during any portion of his busy, public and well documented career. One must also take into consideration that Smyth had every reason to try to embarrass Milchan at that point after his arrest, and stated clearly in his memoirs that he had every intention to do so. It must also be remembered, that these FBI files merely reflect what Smyth told the FBI, and do not pass judgment on whether the information is accurate. The fact that they were found in secret files released only after a FOIA request, does not indicate any greater level of credibility beyond Smyth's word, and beyond what was already known and mentioned in the book, pages 214-216, where Smyth threatened Milchan in a letter and mentioned Netanyahu. In this case, the alluring title of "secret FBI file" does not necessarily mean instant credibility and in fact could transmit a misleading and unjustified aura of credibility. 


On the other hand, obviously, there is also an inherent interest by both Mr. Milchan and Mr. Netanyahu to deny any such past relationship or activity. It might also be noted that lying to the FBI is a federal offence, which could have entailed more jail-time for Smyth, so why would he do that? It is hard to understand what Smyth's motivation for lying would have been, and to merely embarrass Mr. Milchan does not seem motivation enough to justify the risk, but anything is possible. Furthermore, the claim that Milchan did not know Netanyahu until the 90's is not a weighty explanation because there were many people who worked for Mr. Milchan's front companies like Heli-Trading Ltd. who he [Milchan] never met... as Dvora Ben Yizchak confirmed. 


The authors opinions and analysis aside, in reality, they admit that they have no way of confirming one way or the other, who's telling the truth...thus they left the matter hanging in the book, which of course, could serve as fodder for conspiracy theorists. It will be up to enterprising investigative journalists to find the truth.   


In any event, Note that Sharon's name is misspelled, that they call Dvora Ben Ytzchak (Milchan's assistant for covert activity) "Benny Ytzchak" ... and many other details in the memo that  are flat out wrong.... which leads the authors to believe that they have a clearer grasp of the facts in this case than the FBI ever had.  


The most interesting elements to the authors of Confidential, in the recently released FBI documents, is the fact almost everyone's names were redacted except for 'Benjamin Netanyahu'. The authors find it strange that the FBI found it necessarily to redact 'Milchan', 'Smyth' and other names, but not Mr. Netanyahu's name. It was either accidentally left in, or was purposefully left in, knowing that it will become public in this context... which is telling in itself.  It is well known that Netanyahu is disliked at various American government  agencies such as the State Department, the FBI and others, this release is either an explanation for, or a consequence of, that disliking. The release was also the first time that the authors had ever head the term "Operation Pinto", which is the name apparently used by Israeli intelligence for the efforts to obtain various technologies, equipment and material for the nuclear program through the LAKAM front company "Milco". In fact, the name "Operation Pinto" is the only element in the FBI file not mentioned in Confidential.  

Stuxnet-Flame: 'Confidential' Got It Right

The New York Times reports today on the joint US-Israel cyber-war on Iran. Exclusive details of that war are described in-depth in the book Confidential.   

Page 92:
"One of his [Arnon Milchan's] many objectives was to secure the design of centrifuges, a new [at the time] and highly secret method of enriching uranium. The primary manufacturer of centrifuges in the world was Urenco Ltd., a firm based in Julich, Germany, and owned by a consortium of Dutch, German and British companies.


According to Dr. Avner Cohen, a leading expert on nuclear proliferation, Israel started experimenting with centrifuges in the early to mid 1960's, "but it took a while, at least a decade to master the technology." In fact, Israel never entirely mastered centrifuge technology on its own. Only after secretly obtaining the Urenco centrifuge blueprints in the early 1970's from a senior Urenco executive, did Israel finally take command of the technology. Money was exchanged, the blueprints were "misplaced" and later found, but not before copies were made, which miraculously appeared on Benjamin Blumberg's desk in Tel Aviv. Mission accomplished."


Within a few years of Milchan's first Dimona visit, an entire new 'Machon' at Dimona was devoted to enriching uranium, more efficiently and quickly, through centrifuges manufactured entirely in Israel based exactly on the Urenco blueprint. Machon-8, with its thousands of spinning centrifuges, might justifiably be called Machon Milchan. 


It is noteworthy that shortly after Israel secured centrifuge technology from Urenco, Dr. Abdul Qadeer Khan, the father of the Pakistani bomb, who then worked at one of Urenco's affiliated labs in Holland, also secured the same centrifuge designs for Pakistan, and he later sold them to Iran.... which explains how Israel and Iran are today operating virtually identical centrifuges for uranium enrichment, a fact that Israel would take advantage of at a later stage.


Page 262-263:
"Over the years, the United States has tacitly accepted Israel's status as the only nuclear power in the Middle East. That monopoly is currently challenged by a fundamentalist Islamic regime in Iran that denies the Holocaust and maintains deep ties to proxy terror organizations such as Hezbollah and Hamas, who represent an existential threat to Israel. To counter the growing threat, the renamed LAKAM, and the Mossad have kicked into high hear. Every known computer system in Iran has been bugged." [We now know that the bugging method was the Flame virus].    


It is widely reported that Israel is directly responsible for the penetration of the Stuxnet worm into computers that control Iran's uranium enrichment program and its spinning centrifuges. The Stuxnet is considered the ost sophisticated cyber attack since the dawn of the digital age, setting Iran's nuclear program back bu a number of years. On January 15, 2011, The New York Times reported that the Stuxnet worm was tested at Israel's Dimona nuclear reactor, where Israeli uses identical centrifuges. As reported for the first time in this book, the reason Iran and Israel's centrifuges are identical is because both countries obtained the design from the same source in the early 1970's: the German company Urenco."
    


    

Top Master Spy, LAKAM Chief Benjamin Blumberg, Tells His Story, And About His Relationship to Arnon Milchan

"Blumberg carried with him a 
cyanide capsule to kill himself if he 
was ever caught"

Sara Leibowitz – Dar. | 04/07/2012 16:00,  Ma’ariv

This is the English translation of the original article published in Hebrew, in the Ma'ariv newspaper, one of Israel's oldest and largest daily publications. Note the repeated use of the term "according to foreign sources". This term is used to avoid violating Israeli Defense Ministry censorship regulations, which allows journalists to reveal highly sensitive material only if it legitimately comes from a credible foreign source that has been published. It might also be noted that Benjamin Blumberg is the recipient of Israel's highest defense-related award: The Israel Prize for Defense. It was given to Blumberg in a secret ceremony and has never been publicly revealed. That revelation was apparently removed from this article.

Master spy, Benjamin ‘Vered’ Blumberg is the most secretive man in Israel. It is not surprising that few have heard his name. His life has been lived in the shadows, those places that no one should know about, and should certainly not know your name.

First public photo ever of Benjamin Blumberg, one of the most

Important Intelligence figures in Israel’s History
(photo by Arik Sultan) 

________________________________________

Benjamin Blumberg is one of the most important security-related individuals in the history of the country, and apart from senior members of the security establishment, hardly anyone in the country would recognize his name. Yet suddenly now his name is known worldwide, and many romantic terms have been attached to it: "The Prince of Silence", "The Mysterious Agent", and the “Master-Spy ".

All of this publicity does not come naturally for Blumberg who has kept his silence for decades. No interviews and no publicity for the man who stood at the very center of Israel’s espionage campaigns. That is until two weeks ago when the FBI released classified documents proving his relationship to Arnon Milchan, the famous Hollywood producer, who was exposed after purchasing sensitive items for Dimona and the nuclear weapons program.

Milchan's operator in Israel, according to those documents, was none other than Benjamin Blumberg, who headed LAKAM (the Science Liaison Bureau), the most secret body in Israeli intelligence networks, which operated from the 1950’s until the mid-eighties.

Blumberg, according to foreign sources, was the one who taught the future Hollywood producer, the art of setting up shell companies and secret bank accounts. Blumberg is not really amused by the rare publicity he is receiving. In recent years, he is concerned mostly about his economic problems and not about any grand intelligence operation. "It hurts me that for years I was more worried about the fate of our country than that of my own house," he says in an exclusive interview to Ma'ariv.

Two weeks ago, when the American media mentioned his case, he was busy seeking a bank loan to finance an urgent operation. The bank refused. He took several loans in the past, and at his age, Blumberg is 88, the banks are not confident that he is in a position to pay them back. "I never thought about my personal gain, only for national security, today I regret it," he says.

The Third Man

Shimon Peres, Arnon Milchan and

Benjamin Netanyahu in a new conference

Passersby in Tel Aviv do not recognize Blumberg and have no idea who he is, a handsome man, slightly stooped; his hair had turned white long ago. Although Milchan once called him "the third most important person in Israel", Blumberg's picture has never been published, until now.

Many Israelis owe him a great debt. According to foreign reports it was he, through his agents, who obtained the foundations of Israel’s most sophisticated defense systems. His LAKAM agents, and often he personally, gathered the equipment, technology and materials that provided Israel’s military industries with the technological breakthroughs that have made it one of the most advanced in the world today.

Arnon Milchan, it was claimed, was one of his favorite agents. A recent book featuring Blumberg and Milchan, Confidential - The life of Secret Agent Turned Hollywood Tycoon Arnon Milchan, was written by Meir Doron and Joseph Gelman. The book claims that the now Hollywood producer worked for LAKAM for years, and was one of its most important agents, securing mostly American technology for Israel's nuclear program, and that it was Blumberg and Shimon Peres who recruited Milchan.

For years, the company "Milchan brothers" acquired, according to foreign reports, chemicals and various applications for the Dimona reactor. The Americans, of course, could not sell these products directly to Israel, because Israel had not signed the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty, so alternative methods of shipment were invented.

They claim the products were transferred to front companies, and shipped through Germany or France to Israel. Also in the book Critical Mass by William Burroughs and Robert Weindram, Blumberg was noted to be involved in lucrative defense transactions in the United States and else ware, fronted by Hollywood producer Arnon Milchan.

With Milchan and Polanski at the cabaret

Arnon Milchan and his close friend Roman Polanski

took the LAKAM Chief out for an uncomfortable night on the town.

At the request of David Ben Ben Gurion, Blumberg had changed his name to ‘Vered’, but now he is recognized in the foreign media and Israeli documents simply as "Blumberg ". Blumberg says that he was never involved in buying sensitive products in America, but he says that to this day he fondly remembers Arnon Milchan.

He cannot forget the evening he spent with director Roman Polanski at Milchan’s luxurious villa near Paris. Milchan suggested that they all go out for a night on the town at a cabaret. Polanski immediately agreed. Blumberg, the LAKAM Chief was hesitant. "I went with them but after half an hour I wanted to leave. Naked girls were dancing on stage, it's not my taste. I asked Milchan to take me back to the hotel, but we could not move because Polanski was so enthusiastic he refused to go. So I had to spend half the night there watching that. It was horrible. "

Blumberg spent many days, including one Yom Kippur at Milchan's villa in France. "I never saw such luxury, elegance, size." he recalls wistfully. But for some 20 years now, he has not exchanged a word with Milchan. "When I left the LAKAM he severed our relationship," explains Blumberg.

In the mid 1960’s it was Shimon Peres who asked Blumberg to meet with Arnon Milchan. "Milchan's father had just died and he inherited a small fertilizer and pesticide company.  Milchan’s mother called the company’s suppliers and told them not to work with her son because he was not as successful or experienced as his father. I met him [Milchan] and saw a bright young man”, recalled Blumberg.

Blumberg was close to the leaders of the Jewish communities in South Africa, European millionaires and of course the heads of Israel’s security forces and Israeli politicians, many of whom called him a genius and considered him an extremely capable person who can achieve anything, anywhere in the world.

I bought a plane

One of the many stories in foreign publications tells how LAKAM agents secured the production plans of the French Super-Mirage, after France had declared an embargo on arms shipments to Israel. They bribed a Swiss engineer who worked at the factory that manufactured the Mirage engine.

In better times the LAKAM Chief rubbed elbows with world leaders. He described how he once flew abroad with a certain billionaire trying to close a deal on military equipment. The billionaire was acting as the middleman. "He talked about the profits that the deal will produce for him. I called Milchan and told him that I do not want to work with that man, and I will need a private jet to fly me to the seller directly. Milchan put me in touch with a Hollywood film producer who wanted to sell his plane. So I bought the plane from the producer intending to fly over there and continue the relationship that the man had started, but realized I could not work behind the back of that billionaire. Eventually, Israel Aircraft Industries sold the plane for a profit. “The man [Milchan] did a number of things for the country, I could work with him.”

"When I was coming to Washington I would stay with Yitzhak and Leah Rabin at the ambassador’s residents. Rabin was always willing to help. I Happened I asked him to arrange a dinner and invite whoever he wants but to also invite a certain person that I needed to work with. He did it without asking a single question."

I was crazy, abnormal

Many plots are only memories now. Blumberg, married with two children, a daughter and a son who is a kibbutz member who is sick and needed emergency surgery. He lives on a pension from the Prime Minister’s office, is in debt to the tune of a few tens of thousands of dollars after helping relatives, and for several years cannot escape the economic troubles which have befallen him.

At 88, he lives in a tiny apartment in Tel Aviv, on the third floor without an elevator. He only recently finished paying off the mortgage. The stairwell is neglected and most residents in the building are renters. Senior defense officials who lived in the building have long-since moved on to more luxurious homes, only Blumberg remains.

Doctor's told him that he is forbidden from going down the three flights of stairs too frequently. He has not visited Jerusalem in years and he dreams of seeing the old city and the amphitheater on Mount Scopus. He hasn’t even been to the beach, not far from his house, in years.

On good days he walks the streets of Tel Aviv alone, often going to The ‘Midina Square’, for a cup of coffee in the hope of meeting old acquaintances at random, "although most have already died," he says. Most of the day he is holed up in the bedroom of his tiny apartment. "For years I worked for the country," he says. "I had to think about myself and my family before the State of Israel and its security. While other people took care of themselves, built beautiful houses and saved money, I traveled the world and worried about the country. Today all those former colleagues live well, and I'm in debt".

A few months ago he wrote a letter to his daughter and granddaughters and apologized to them for not taking care of his home. "I never thought of taking care of myself, I was mad, not normal, I worked only for the good of the country, that's why I have no savings, just debt," he explained.

He wrote various committees that examined his medical condition: "From age 16 I have held positions in the defense establishment and took personal risks outside the country, and I neglected to take care of my family. I'm ashamed I have gotten myself into such a situation. I've put all of myself into the security of Israel, but I neglected myself and my home."

I never thought of personal benefit

Earlier this week, as noted, he applied for a loan from a bank to help pay for urgently-needed surgery. With an "HMO I have to wait months. A private doctor will do it much faster, but I have to pay several thousand dollars," says Blumberg.

After a brief consultation, the branch manager decided not to extend the loan. He has already taken a loan and at his age, the manager is not sure he could pay the loan back. In recent years Blumberg has tried to get assistance from various sources, after everything that he contributed to the state, the state declined his request not pay taxes on his paycheck.

"Cutting the 3,000 shekels a month in taxes would help me close the debt and start my life from scratch economically," he says. But Blumberg did not meet the criteria, and his request was denied.

"When I left, the LAKAM offered me to become an arms dealer. I had many contacts all over the world, and I imagine I would've made a lot of money. I refused. I never liked this kind of pursuit of the money. Only one time in all the long years I worked in the defense establishment did I allow myself to take two days off. I spent a whole weekend relaxing. I've always just worked, I never thought about my personal gain. I took the flight, met with the one I needed to meet with and come back home. I was all over the world but did not see a thing, only offices and hotels."

Involved in defense since age 14

In recent months, late at night, he began writing a book in a thick notebook. He describes the operations that he participated in, the dangers which he was exposed to. Due to censorship laws, he is not allowed to document his memories on a computer. He doesn’t have one anyway.

"I Keep everything in my head," he says, "I do not need a computer." He forgets certain dates and names of people but fluently recites the words of David Ben Gurion to President John F. Kennedy, in a meeting that Blumberg participated in.

 Blumberg was born in 1923 at Mikveh Israel. His maternal grandfather was a founder of the agricultural school, his father was the manager of the school. "That's one reason for my bad economic situation," he says, "My parents never left me a thing, when they passed away. Even their apartment belonged to the agriculture school of Mikveh Israel."

Security matters flowed in his blood from a very young age, he says. "I was already a squad leader in the Haganah at 14 years of age. At 15 I left home and went to live with the family of Sheikh Zayed Giora. Zeid introduced me to the Druze in the region and thanks to them I learned to speak Arabic."

In the War of Independence in 1948 he fought in the Tiberius region.  After the war he returned to Zaid and he dreamed of becoming a farmer, but Isser Harel, former head of Shin Bet security service asked him to establish the security system within in the defense industries.

"I recruited security officers and established procedures. It started off as a mess. It was not easy and I had to convince the military industry executives that they actually needed security. Tzvi Dar, director of the military industry, told me what the hell, let them steal”, he recalls.

Uranium reactor

Blumberg refused to turn to Peres for help

During his time in the Defense Ministry, Blumberg established a special relationship with, and worked very closely with Shimon Peres, who at the time was the Director-General of the Ministry of Defense. When he [Blumberg] ran into his financial difficulties, it was suggested that he contact President Peres for help, but Blumberg refused to reach out to his old colleague Peres on the matter.

However, when President Obama declared that it was time to march towards a world free of nuclear weapons, Blumberg said he considered calling Peres to ask him to crack down on the more talkative ministers in the government who were reacting to that..

It was Shimon Peres who introduced Blumberg to the most closely guarded secret of the State of Israel in the late fifties – the plans to build the Dimona nuclear research complex. In '58, when they started to build the nuclear reactor, according to foreign reports, Blumberg was appointed the lead security officer of the reactor. To this day, in his little bedroom at home, is a painting of the Dimona reactor, a gift from an artist friend.

According to foreign reports, from early on, Israel stepped up its efforts to obtain uranium for the reactor. In November 1968, Blumberg’s LAKAM devised a plan, together with the Mossad, to steal 200 tons of natural uranium (yellow cake) from the deck of a cargo ship sailing in the Mediterranean

The ship was carrying the flag of Liberia and was scheduled to reach the port of Genoa. The uranium on board was for a German chemical company acquired by the Belgian company Societe General de binary. The ship never reached Genoa. Journalistic investigations revealed that she had rendezvoused in the Mediterranean with an Israeli cargo ship, and her cargo is claimed to have made it to Israel instead.

Iran - a small and harmless reactor

Until the early eighties, Bloomberg was a significant figure in the security established and was involved in most of the secret operations of that period. He told a close friend that for years he carried with him a cyanide capsule so they he could kill himself if he was every caught. In The Unspoken Alliance, Sasha Polakow-Suransky writes that Blumberg was heavily involved in the security relationship that developed between Israel and South Africa during the 1970’s, which included nuclear cooperation.

According Polakow-Suransky, Blumberg wanted to buy hundreds of tons of "yellow cake", a substance needed to begin the uranium enrichment process for nuclear reactors. Blumberg does not confirm his involvement but says he frequently visited South Africa and became friends with Jewish community leaders and even convinced one of them to immigrate to Israel.

"I was not just hanging around. On my very first drive from Pretoria to Johannesburg I saw the way a white rancher beat a black worker with a whip. Later at the hotel I took an elevator that was separate from my luggage because I was not allowed to ride in the same elevator as a black person. It killed me. All that happened there disgusts me, but for the country I was ready to absorb anything,” he says.

Despite his age and the fact that for many years now he is not part of the establishment, Blumberg sometimes participates in security discussions, mainly because of his long and deep experience in the nuclear field. "Sometimes, they send me a taxi with a driver who waits for me outside the building until the meeting ends." On the one hand they won’t increase my pension, even though I need the money to survive, and on the other hand, spend money on taxis for me. "

He cannot always get to the hearings; "I am a member of another security committee which meets in Tel Aviv," he says, "but a taxi ride costs 25 shekels each way, it is too expensive for me, so I do not go to those discussions. The biggest mistake that Israel is doing is that we're talking about the Iranian nuclear program. This topic is not a topic that should be talked about, he warns. "I do not understand the hysteria over Iran's nuclear reactor, it’s small and harmless."

The Firing

Sharon allowed no appeal for Blumberg, but over time developed a close 
relationship with Arnon Milchan

Blumberg did not make many friends over his many years as the LAKAM chief. Even though all of the higher ups in the defense establishment knew who he was, he was distant, secretive and all powerful; the true holder of the secrets. He did befriend the poet Natal Alterman, “I enjoyed his genius and consulted with him from time to time.” 

 In recent years he [Blumberg] is very lonely. His sister died many years ago. His brother, who also worked for the security establishment went blind and lives alone in Holon. "I would like to see him, but I have no way to reach him," says Blumberg. His bitterness stems not only from his economic situation and his loneliness, but by the way that he was let go after so many years of hard work for the country.

In 1977, when the Likud came to power, Deputy Defense Minister Mordechai Tzipori, asked the new Defense Minister, Ezer Weizman, to replace Blumberg with somebody that was identified with the Likud party. Blumberg took his case to newly elected Prime Minister Menachem Begin, and convinced Begin to put a stop to the efforts to fire him. But two years later, in 1981, Ariel Sharon was appointed Defense Minister. Sharon did not show the appreciation for Blumberg that Begin had showed, and replaced him with one of his cronies, Rafi Eitan. More than 20 years of security work ended abruptly, without even a chance to appeal.

"I never even saw Sharon," says Blumberg. "I was driving north to Tel Aviv and on the way I heard on the radio that Sharon plans to replace three senior officials. I had a bad feeling. I stopped by and I called from the pay phone to someone who told me that Sharon had fired me. So that’s when I knew I was fired after 40 years of defense work."

"On the one hand, I felt terrible; on the other hand, I felt relief, after so many years I wanted to rest".

There is no fault

Blumberg was still relatively young and determined to work. He became Vice President of a small electronics factory in the town of Migdal Haemek. The Company used laser welding machines to manufacture metals and military electronics.

"When I was looking for investors in the factory, I was offered a meeting with Nahum Manbar, before he was prosecuted. He agreed to invest a half million dollars in the factory, but I decided to give up on his investment. I always operated according to feelings about people and I usually was not mistaken.

In 1998, he retired from the company, and since then passes his days in near total isolation and existential anxiety. In thin plastic bags and worn binders he keeps correspondence with banks the nation insurance company. He knows every document, and each line explaining his accounts.

"I am hurt by the fact that I did so much for the country, and this is how I am treated."

There is no single person at fault in this story; only a single person who contributed so much to the security of the state who now finds himself in difficult circumstances. Earlier this week, Amos Malka, former Military Intelligence Chief, and Giora Eiland, former head of the National Security Council, upon learning of this situation, said that they will try to help Blumberg. "I hope that they will succeed," Blumberg says.