נאום הצ'חצ'חים של מנחם בגין - בית הספר לדיבור מול קהל

מנחם בגין - רטוריקן בחסד Menachem Begin's speech in Kings of Israel Square on the eve of the 1981 elections is a classic example to contradict speech. The speech ignited party activists and brought great motivation in the last two days of the elections, and helped Likud achieve a narrow majority.

Rhetorical analysis

Begin responds to a speech given in the square the night before (as part of the formation's election closing event) by his uncle Topaz. As part of the speech, Begin makes extensive use of one Topaz quote (the Likud's chachachachi are Shin Gimlim) and presents it as an example of the formation's arrogance and disdain for the Mizrahi denomination. It is interesting that Begin does not try to connect with the audience or the Eastern community himself - he speaks with a heavy Ashkenazi accent and makes a theatrical effort to appear as if he does not know the word Chachachim or his uncle Topaz himself. This habit of Begin's, in contrast to the demonstrated effort of the leaders of the Labor Party to 'connect with the people' by making an effort to demonstrate sincerity and self-confidence without projecting arrogance and superiority, thus earned Begin the support of the disadvantaged strata. Begin also attacks Topaz personally - he pretends not to know his name and pretends to be a hired actor (even though Topaz was not paid and spoke in support of the formation). Begin also projects the personal attack on Topaz towards the rest of the lineup that chooses to let the entertainer represent him.

As a matter of fact, Begin presents two lines of contradiction: one is that there is no problem with the Mizrahi ethnic group, and from this comes the second argument according to which the source of the Labor Party's electoral problems with the Mizrahi ethnic group is its own discrimination and racism towards them. In the central part of the speech, he extols the miracle of commanders and heroes of the Mizrahi ethnic group who served under him in Etzel - and in particular the story of the gallows immigrants Feinstein and Barzani who committed suicide together with one grenade - and also projects bewilderment (probably staged) about the very distinction between Ashkenazim and Sephardi. He makes use of the dramatic story about two underground fighters, an Ashkenazi and a Jew, who committed suicide together in a British prison, and it is interesting that he manages to fit all the drama and theatrics into only about 40 seconds of speech.

It is interesting that Begin's speech is a speech of 100% pure contradiction and does not contain any original statement or initiative by Begin. If it weren't for Topaz's speech the day before, even one line from the speech would not be relevant. Also, it is interesting that Begin chooses the day before going to the polls to completely ignore any topical issue - he does not talk about peace, territories, security or the economy - and deal only with the sectarian issue.

A final interesting point is the manner in which he makes use of the technique of Godcall for action' which I recently explained in an article. He is not satisfied with arousing sympathy and anger, but makes sure to give detailed instructions to supporters - to pick up phones, call friends and tell them.

historical background

The 1981 election campaign was tumultuous and was characterized by severe verbal violence as well as in many cases of mild physical violence in the election assemblies of the formation - especially towards party chairman Shimon Peres. A few weeks before the elections, Air Force planes bombed the atomic reactor in Iraq, which strengthened the Likud electorally and raised the political flames even more. Topaz was one of the speakers, and praised the party's contribution to the country's security for generations. - On June 26, 1981, the Alignment party held the traditional end-of-election event in Kings of Israel Square (today Square Rabin).

His uncle Topaz, who was then a well-known but still young entertainer (presented a TV show in those days), was invited to give a speech and support the party. Towards the end of the speech, Topaz announced that "it's a pleasure to see this crowd, and a pleasure to see that there are no Chachachas here who destroy election meetings... The Chachachas are in the Wolf Fortress. They're barely shin gimelis, if they go to the army at all. Here are the soldiers and the commanders of the combat units." The speech, which did not receive much exposure at the time, included a line about the infighting of the formation boys versus the Likud voters, and Topaz used the word "Chachachaim" to describe the Likudniks. Since the word Chachachim (a word of onomatopoeic origin that originates from the way the Moroccan accent sounds to Ashkenazim) was a word of derision for the Eastern denominations, Begin chose to use it to bash Topaz.

Begin's speech

Last night in this square stood a young actor, what was his name? Doo doo? Uncle Tu Paz, Uncle Topaz, here he said the following things, now silence, not to hear a fly, absolute silence, listen, Uncle Topaz, in the ears of a hundred thousand men of the array, he says the following things: “The tsachtschahms, they are in the Zeev fortress, they are barely shin gimelim... here... are the soldiers and the commanders of the combat units“.

I will thank you and confess to you, until this morning I had not heard the word ``tshachtshahim'' and I did not know what it meant. In the underground, during the days of the Mari movement, Galili asked me, after consulting with Natan Yelin Mor, his memory is blessed, on behalf of the Lahi, when they planned actions against the British rule together, and he said to me as Hai Lishna, Galili said to me: How did you solve the problem of testimony The East Bach“To? And I look at him in bewilderment, and say to him, Israel, what are you asking? what problem And he says: Well, you don't know, haven't you heard? The problem of the Eastern identity.
So I say to him: what problem? We have no! We are all brothers, we are all Jews, we are all equal, all of us! ... the greatest commander in the provinces - a Yemeni! Uzi was Spanish. Gidi, who did the historical operation of the King David Hotel, was Spanish. The person in charge of all the prisoners in Latron was a Yemeni and all our guys stood still in front of him! what problem We have no!
We are all Jews! We are all brothers! We are all fighters!
But they heard, when he, what was his name, Du Du Tu Paz, said his foolishness, his words of vanity and bad spirit, the whole crowd that stood here last night, cheered. Now I will tell Dodo Topaz, who he meant.

The members of our Mizrahi ethnic group were heroic fighters, even underground, among them were gallows immigrants, who until the last moment of their lives sang the song of hope, and amazed the whole world with their masterful heroism. And they went to prisons, to concentration camps, they fought and did not break, they shouted to the British judges the words: We do not recognize your rule at all. They must get out of Israel! Feinstein was of European origin, what do you call it, Ashkenazi. Moshe Barzani was a Sephardi from Iraq.
The night after they were sentenced to death, and they had to take them down from the gallows in the morning, and the rabbi was an old man, he said he would come to take them down, and they didn't want to hurt the rabbi, they opened a hand grenade in their hearts: bread! Ashkenazim? Iraqis? Jews! Siblings! Warriors!

Will every hired player of the formation stand up and abuse and desecrate the name? The members of the Mizrahi tribe are the best fighters of the IDF“L, they together with Eric Sharon crossed the Suez Canal and went to the other side. He commanded them, the best warriors in Israel! And now we will say in front of a committee and in front of the wild crowd of the cheering formation, what did he say there? Tshtshtsham, Tshtshtsham, that's what he calls them, “The tshahtshahs are only worthy of being shin gimelim“, what is Shin Gimel? Regimental policeman, right? Is it like jobniks? Jobniks do not fight at all. Yes! Blasphemy! And the whole crowd cheered, and where theJDid Mrs. Shoshana Arveli have tea? Which is in second place on the lineup list, and where were the others? Why didn't they leave this meeting in protest?

No one has yet blasphemed the name to such an extent, no one has yet harmed the honor of an entire tribe in Israel, as the formation did last night in this place.
What I ask of you is, tomorrow, from morning to evening, make a series of phone calls. What is necessary, what is important is to call all your acquaintances in Jerusalem and Haifa and Rishon Lezion and Bens Ziona, and in Rehovot and Be'er Sheva. Just tell them what Dodo Topaz said here, all the people of Israel must know this, one sentence in all: “Everyone was in the wolf fortress“. We are happy that they are in Citadel Ze'ev...