One of the first Israeli writers to publicly challenge the character of the State, Amos Elon provided original and penetrating insights beyond the scope of his contemporaries. Never shy of highlighting the truth, however uncomfortable, he was also prepared to act on his convictions, moving to Tuscany after becoming disillusioned with life in Israel.
Born in Vienna in 1926, Elon was 7 when his family moved to Palestine, but he nonetheless retained an enduring reverence for Germanic culture and lifestyle, reflected in his meticulous appearance and horn-rimmed glasses. After excelling at school, he read law at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem before spending a year studying history at Cambridge.
When he returned to Palestine, Elon quickly built a reputation as one of the country’s sharpest minds, becoming a prominent member of Tel Aviv’s intelligentsia. Deciding to become a journalist, he began writing for the left-wing newspaper Al-Hamishmar (On Guard), and worked as a reporter during the War of Independence in May 1948.
He then moved to the liberal daily newspaper Haaretz, quickly becoming known for writing penetrating stories about topics that others ignored. Initially, he courted controversy by referring to the North African refugees flooding into the country as dirty and uncultured, and although he never lost this snobbishness his work on what he termed “the second Israel” — the poor immigrants whose plight was ignored by the European-dominated official bodies — was invaluable in highlighting their predicament.
Elon’s talent for finding and chronicling a story was obvious, and before long he was promoted to Paris correspondent, before a period in Bonn. From there he was sent to Washington where he spent six years. His experiences during this time proved to be valuable in allowing him to see Israel as an outsider.
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His journalistic pedigree now asserted, Elon turned his attention to the longer form, writing his first book, Journey Through a Haunted Land: The New Germany. Describing a dynamic, self-critical society, he offered a fresh perspective on the country to Israeli readers who until then could see the country only through the prism of Nazism and the Holocaust.
It was not, though, until the publication of his second book that Elon truly began to make an impact. The Israelis: Founders and Sons painted a respectful but uncompromising portrait of the early Zionists, criticising their lack of consideration for those already inhabiting the country that they hoped would become Israel. The “national and social renaissance in their ancient homeland” that they yearned to enjoy had, in Elon’s opinion, made them “blind to the possibility that the Arabs of Palestine might entertain similar hopes for themselves”.
Although this point of view is not uncommon today, at the time it was rare. Elon surmised that “the Arabs bore no responsibility for the centuries-long suffering of Jews in Europe. Whatever their subsequent follies and outrages might be, the punishment of the Arabs for the sins of Europe must burden the conscience of Israelis for a long time to come.”
Published just as Palestinian nationalism was developing, the book appeared on the international bestseller lists and cemented Elon’s position as one of the most important voices in Israeli society. Finding his services in demand from American and European broadcasters, Elon left Haaretz to focus on his career as a writer and essayist, his work appearing regularly in The New Yorker, The New York Times and most frequently The New York Review of Books. Elon returned to Haaretz in 1978, remaining there until 1986.
In 2002 his ninth and final book was published. The Pity of it All charted the history of German Jewry from the mid-18th century until Hitler’s accession to power. Elon’s aim was to draw attention to the richness of a culture forged by people he referred to as “really the first free Jews. And the first Europeans”, who built a civil society in which Bildung — self-improvement through the fostering of social concerns — was a central pillar.
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Two years later Elon moved permanently to Tuscany. This act, perhaps more than any other, encapsulated the contradictions in his character. Despite having written fervently about how difficult it was to be a Jew in the diaspora, Elon chose to be exactly that. He saw his work as an intellectual pursuit rather than something that he was involved with personally.
Elon’s emigration caused a national debate, Israel asking itself why one of the people who understood it best had decided to leave. In an interview, he revealed his disenchantment with the growing influence of religion and military power in Israeli society, explaining that “nothing has changed here for the past 40 years. The solutions were already known back then. I realised I was saying the same things again and again. I began to bore myself.”
During the time he spent in Washington, Elon met his wife, Beth, and she survives him along with their daughter.
Amos Elon, writer, journalist and essayist, was born on July 4, 1926. He died of leukaemia on May 25, 2009, aged 82