The voice of radio broadcaster Aryeh Golan is familiar in every home in Israel, mainly thanks to the 27 years he spent hosting the most listened-to current affairs program in the country - "Yoman al-Boker" on Reshet B.
In an interview he gave to the '7 Days' supplement of the 'Yediot Aharonot' newspaper, he spoke about his childhood life in the home of Holocaust survivors, the reason why he was not circumcised until the age of 11, and the moment he neutralized a terrorist in Paris nearly 40 years ago.
Golan was born in Legnica, Poland, in 1947 as Leon Skornik. Both of his parents lost their entire family in the Holocaust, but found each other and tried to build a new life. As a child, Golan did not talk to his parents about that war.
Want more news, videos and stories? Join the Haredim 10 WhatsApp channel >>
In an interview, he said: "Father's reckoning with God began with the Holocaust. Because the Jews ran to the synagogue to give them shelter, but from there they were dragged to the train, everything was covered in blood. 'What do you mean they went like sheep to the slaughter? What could we do against armed soldiers?' he said and was so angry. These were civilians, mothers, children. And whoever tried to do something died on the spot.".
Golan was asked if this was part of the reason his parents decided not to circumcise him - and he replied: "I read about how they would identify a Jew in Warsaw; they would take him aside and take off his pants. If there is circumcision, he is a Jew and that is a death sentence.
""So Dad said, 'I'm not going to mark my son the way we were marked.' When I immigrated to Israel, I wanted to be an Israeli like everyone else and I asked my parents to get circumcised, as did my brother. At the age of 11, it's already surgery. You remember that. Especially the towel with chloroform that they put on my face.".
From 1984 to 1986, he served as a representative of the Jewish Agency's Youth and Pioneer Department for Education and Student Affairs in Paris. In 1985, he survived a terrorist attack.
Golan described: "In 1985, when I was on a mission in Paris, I had an encounter with a terrorist when I went down to an underground parking garage. It was quite scary. Paris was then a target for Palestinian terrorists. A few months before I arrived on the mission, a Mossad agent was murdered there. There were security warnings.".
Golan pulled out a gun and neutralized the terrorist, but did not volunteer any details.
""I don't want to talk about it. We knew how to defend ourselves, we were trained. He threatened me - stood in front of me with some kind of weapon, and I wasn't a combat soldier but in the IDF's Galei, I couldn't even recognize the weapon.".
""I did what they told me to do in front of him, and he ran away. And I'm shaking all over. I told my wife, 'Don't panic, but I'm going home with 20 police officers, because I need water. Please don't panic.' Then they took me to the police station, asked me all kinds of questions, the embassy's security officer arrived and took me out, and that was the end of the matter.".
Golan preferred not to tell his mother about the incident. "But it didn't help anything, because when the news broadcast in Israel opened with the fact that the Israeli emissary had been attacked in Paris, the commotion of God had already begun.".
