BYE BYE GAZA - Barry Chamish

RUMINATIONS FOR ADIR ZIK
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Monday, Feb.7/05, I drive in a violent rainstorm to the funeral
of writer-broadcaster Adir Zik. It takes over half an hour to
drive two blocks and park. Two police cars direct the traffic.
The crowd of mourners flows from the chapel of the burial
society for another fifty meters, almost to the street. It is the
most crowded funeral I've seen. And not one Israeli TV
camera recorded the event.
I'm not alone in this observation. I stand under the umbrella
of a longtime acquaintance. He tells me, "There is not one
media personality from the Left who could draw a tenth of the
people in this kind of storm. The only report I heard of Adir's
death was on Galei Tsahal this morning. It said that he had
become very popular because of his advocacy of the Rabin
murder conspiracy and that a large gathering of right wing
extremists were expected at his funeral."
One of the most influential figures in the Israeli media died,
and there was not one word about it on any evening news
program, nor in the morning papers. That is how alienated
the media is from over half the people.
On a typical Friday morning broadcast on Arutz Sheva, Adir
would attract an audience of anywhere from 100,000 to
250,000. When he plugged a new book or CD of mine, I
would have over 200 sales within a few hours. No other
broadcaster anywhere in the world had the power of Adir to
bring my work to the public.
But then, how many other broadcasters joined me, hand in
hand, to expose the truth of how Yitzhak Rabin was really
murdered? Adir was fearless, the rest of the Israeli media are
cowering hypocrites. My personal loss can only be matched
by that of the rest of the country, which lost a giant. He may
turn out to be the last of a breed: an honest, Israeli crusader
for the truth.