“Well, you know we’re Israelis, but we’re patriotic Israelis willing to go to any lengths to preserve the integrity of our country.”
“Like shoot Prime Minister Rabin?”
“That was none of our affair. Frankly, we have more important things to do.”
“So what are you, some sort of latter-day Zealots?”
“Not really, old buddy,” Judas said cheerfully. “They wanted the Romans out and were strong patriots, but we go back to an earlier tradition. My country under Syrian domination, the Temple defiled, our religion, our whole way of life threatened.”
“Just like today, is that what you think?”
“We are constantly under threat. I’ve lost relatives to Hamas bombs, Aaron there had a brother, a pilot, shot down over Iran. He was tortured to death. Another of my men lost two sisters in the bombing of a student bus. We all have our stories.” He relit his cigar, which had gone out.
“So what’s this earlier tradition you mentioned?”
“The Syrians were defeated by Judas called Maccabeus, which means the Hammer.”
“Ah, light dawns.”
“His followers were known as Maccabees, ardent nationalists who wished for national independence for our country. Under the leadership of Judas, they fought a guerrilla war with such success that they defeated Syrian armies much larger than their own, took Jerusalem, cleansed and reconsecrated the Temple.”
“I know the story,” Dillon said.
“From the redoubtable Chief Inspector Hannah Bernstein?”
“Now she does speak Hebrew,” Dillon said. “Anyway, she told me once what Chanukah was about.”
“Celebrated every year in memory of what the Maccabees achieved. A small country became independent again.”
“Until the Romans came.”
“True, but we will not allow that to happen this time around.”
Dillon nodded. “So you see yourself as Judas Maccabeus, and your followers, the fellas who knocked me off, for example, are twentieth-century Maccabees?”
“Why not? In your game, codenames are a necessity, so Judas Maccabeus does very well.”
“Leading an army of Maccabees.”
“I don’t need an army, just a small group of dedicated followers.” Judas raised a hand. “No, believers, and a few hundred scattered around the world, Jews like myself who believe above everything else that the State of Israel must survive and are prepared to go to any lengths to ensure it.”
“I’d have thought Israel has done a pretty good job of that. When the U.N. withdrew in nineteen forty-eight, you defeated six Arab countries. In the Six-Day War in nineteen sixty-seven, you defeated Egypt, Syria, and Jordan.”
“True, but before my time. Yom Kippur was my war, in seventy-three, and we’d have lost it if the Americans hadn’t poured in fighter planes and weaponry for us. Since then, nothing but trouble. We live on the edge. Our settlers in the north never know when they’re going to come under attack, Hamas constantly wages bombing campaigns. Scud missiles in the Gulf War showed our vulnerability. It can’t go on.”
Almost reluctantly, Dillon said, “I can see that.”
“Even in Britain there are Muslims who call for the annihilation of Jews. Syria, Iran, and Iraq will never be happy until we are crushed. Saddam Hussein proceeds with the further development of chemical weapons, the mullahs in Iran call for war against America, the Great Satan. The bombing attack on the U.S. barracks in Dharan was only the start. It is a known fact that Iran is working on the production of a nuclear bomb. They have numerous training camps for terrorists. There are also nuclear research establishments in Syria.”
“Common knowledge for years,” Dillon said. “So what else is new?”
“Missiles purchased from Eastern Europe since the breakup of the Soviet Union, and as we saw in the Gulf War, Israel is vulnerable to such weapons.”
Dillon reached for another cigarette, and Judas picked up the lighter near his right hand, leaned across, and gave him a light. It was tarnished silver, a black bird of some kind in bas-relief, with jagged lightning in its claws, obviously some military motif.
Dillon said, “So—you’ve made your case. What’s the solution?”
“It’s time to bring a stop to it, once and for all. Iraq, Syria, and Iran brought to heel for all time.”
“And how in the hell do you achieve that?”