Famous for saying what was on his mind--especially in defense of Israel--Begin was the kind of Israeli Prime Minister we would always wish for Israel.
Especially today.
Rick Richman captures that spirit of Menachem Begin in 2 recent posts.
What Would Begin Do?Read the whole thing.
To help evaluate Evelyn Gordon’s impassioned post regarding Israel’s possible $20 billion defense request, let me recount two incidents from the negotiations Menachem Begin conducted with the Carter administration in 1977-78 that are worth remembering today.
The first incident occurred in July 1977, when Zbigniew Brzezinski presented Begin with a draft statement regarding the just-concluded U.S.-Israel meeting. Begin told Brzezinski that the draft was acceptable — “except for two sentences.” Brzezinski asked what they were:
“Please delete ‘The United States affirms Israel’s inherent right to exist.’”
When Menachem Met MargaretRead the whole thing.
Under its “30-year rule,” the British National Archives has released a November 1979 cable quoting Margaret Thatcher telling French President Valery Giscard d’Estaing that she “never had a more difficult man to deal with” than Menachem Begin, whose West Bank policy was “absurd.”
But there was more to the 1979 meeting between Thatcher and Begin than is reflected in the cable, evidenced by Yehuda Avner’s account of the meeting in his extraordinary new book, The Prime Ministers.
Thatcher, with British Foreign Secretary Lord Peter Carrington, hosted Begin for a lunch in May 1979 that Avner attended as Begin’s note taker. The book is based on shorthand notes he transcribed at the time: “anything [in my book] in inverted commas are the words actually spoken.”
The lunch went well until Carrington suddenly confronted Begin about settlements:
“Your settlement policy is expansionist. It is intemperate. It is a barrier to peace. The settlements are built on occupied Arab soil. They rob Palestinians of their land. They unnecessarily arouse the animosity of the moderate Arabs. They are contrary to international law — the Geneva Convention. They are inconsistent with British interests.”
I'll add a third story, one I found a few years ago in It Shines For All, the former blog of The New York Sun.
Here is the relevant part--about a confrontation between Joe Biden and Menachem Begin:
When hearing the name Biden, we always think of the famous exchange between Biden and Prime Minister Begin. As Moshe Zak recounted in a March 13, 1992, piece in the Jerusalem Post:At one point, some questioned the authenticity of this last story.
In a conversation with Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan, after a sharp confrontation in the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on the subject of the settlements, Begin defined himself as "a proud Jew who does not tremble with fear" when speaking with foreign statesmen.
During that committee hearing, at the height of the Lebanon War, Sen. John Biden (Delaware) had attacked Israeli settlements in Judea and Samaria and threatened that if Israel did not immediately cease this activity, the US would have to cut economic aid to Israel.
When the senator raised his voice and banged twice on the table with his fist, Begin commented to him: "This desk is designed for writing, not for fists. Don't threaten us with slashing aid. Do you think that because the US lends us money it is entitled to impose on us what we must do? We are grateful for the assistance we have received, but we are not to be threatened. I am a proud Jew. Three thousand years of culture are behind me, and you will not frighten me with threats. Take note: we do not want a single soldier of yours to die for us."
After the meeting, Sen. Moynihan approached Begin and praised him for his cutting reply. To which Begin answered with thanks, defining his stand against threats.
Yisrael Medad did the research and has a post documenting that the story of the confrontation between Begin and Biden is true.
They just don't make them like Menachem Begin any more.
Technorati Tag: Menachem Begin.
3 comments:
Its like with Reagan.
Israel won't see a Prime Minister the likes of Begin to appear again in our generation.
That's why Israel sounds whiny, weak, confused and defensive.
It isn't helping matters when Israel's leaders speak in the language of concession rather in the language of Jewish rights.
If Israel doubts its own right to be in the heartland of its history and culture, the world is taking those doubts at face value.
Better hasbara won't help an Israel gnawed by its own insecurities.
Begin was a first.
A known terrorist who won the Noble Peice Prize and then went on to terrorise again.
Ah, so Begin then was a terrorist--but Arafat and those who follow in his footsteps are merely militants.
Gotcha.
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