Death of a Friend

Colonel Nehemia Argov, 43, was Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion's shadow. He was the only military aide the old man ever had--a gentle, universally loved man who himself loved only his chief. Unmarried, he lived only for Ben-Gurion, issued orders in his name that Cabinet officers accepted unquestioningly. "There are only two people who matter in the state--Ben-Gurion and me," he said, not in arrogance, but in devotion so great that it amounted to identification. One day last fortnight, as he drove into Jerusalem, a wasp flew in the window of Argov's car and stung him on the eyelid. Argov lost control of the wheel and knocked down a cyclist. At the hospital he blanched when the doctor told him the cyclist, a father of four, might not live.

Next morning Argov did not appear at the ministry to receive the message that the cyclist was out of danger. Friends broke into his flat, found him sitting at his desk, dead. There was a bullet wound in his temple; by his side, letters to the police and Ben-Gurion. "To my deep regret." said the note to the police, "I cannot bear living in the circumstances which have occurred. I imagine I have some friends who will be sorry for what I am going to do. I beg them not to be angry. I am not worthy to be mourned." The note directed that all his money be paid over to the cyclist's family.

The Prime Minister was still in the hospital, where a splinter from the bomb tossed into the Knesset last fortnight had just been removed from his leg. If B-G heard the news, he would undoubtedly have insisted on going to the funeral, and his doctor refused to accept responsibility for the consequences. Since B-G is an avid newspaper reader, Argov's friends persuaded Israel's editors to print special editions for the old man, without any mention of his aide's death. The state radio (Ben-Gurion never listens to anything but Kol Israel) omitted the news from its broadcasts.

Morning after the funeral, a solemn group filed into the Prime Minister's hospital room. Chief of Staff General Moshe Dayan spoke. "Sir, we have bad news for you. Nehemia is no more. He has shot himself." The old man turned his face to the wall and wept. An hour later he read Argov's letter: "I know what I am going to do will cause you pain, but I cannot do otherwise. It is not the act of a strong man, and you need strong men about you."

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