Eli Geva was an officer serving in the Israeli Defence Force. During the siege of Beirut in 1982, he refused to lead his troops into the city because of what he termed the “excessive killing of civilians”. Shortly after he was dismissed from the army, and remains to this day a name associated with insubordination in the IDF.
Later that year, the Norwegian folk singer Birgitte Grimstad was invited to do a tour around Israel. She brought with her a new song about Eli Geva’s decision. The song, however, was not welcome everywhere. On several occations, the organisers of the concerts asked for it to be removed from the set. On the concert in Jerusalem, even the Norwegian ambassador made it clear that he would leave the room if the song was played.
ELI GEVA The dogs of war are loose again Cold blows the wind to me And widows weep for fallen men for fallen men they weep again Cold blows the wind to me.
Again the ravens rule the skies Cold blows the wind to me With hacking beaks and hungry cries With hungry cries they wheel the skies Cold blows the wind to me.
We heard the march of army boots Cold blows the wind to me Until they stopped outside Beirut Outside Beirut we heard them shoot Cold blows the wind to me.
But a colonel who served in that army The finest in all of the land Said: “If they send orders for taking the town I cannot obey their command”.
So when at last the order came Cold blows the wind to me The world knew Eli Geva’s name The world knew Eli Geva’s name stood up against that cold, cold wind come blow his name to me.