Hebron, Shiloh, and Bethlehem

Menachem Begin and Jimmy Carter

During one of Menachem Begin’s initial meetings with Jimmy Carter, the subject of Israeli settlements in the West Bank inevitably arose and it was a major sticking point in their relationship.

He (Begin) took out a piece of paper from his inside pocket, adjusted his spectacles, peered at the page, absorbed its contents, and then said with sudden good humor, “Mr. President, here in the United States of America there are eleven places named Hebron, five places named Shiloh, four places named Bethel, and six places named Bethlehem.”

Jimmy Carter’s eyes grew faintly amused.  “Indeed, there are.  Within twenty miles of my home there is a Bethel and a Shiloh.”

“May I be permitted to visit them one day?”

“Of course. With pleasure! There are three good Baptist churches there.”

“In that case, I shall bring along our chief rabbi to protect me.”

Everyone laughed, but it was a hollow laugh.

“Allow me to put to you a hypothetical question.  Imagine one day that the governors of the states in which these Hebrons and Shilohs and Bethels and Bethlehems were located were to issue a decree, declaring that any citizen of the United States was free to settle in any one of these places except for one category- the Jews.  Jews are forbidden to build homes in the Shilohs and the Hebrons and  the Bethels and the Bethlehems of America- so it would be decreed!”

Begin threw up his hands and let out an inflated sigh:  “Oh dear!  Everybody is welcome to settle in any of these places whose names derive from the Book of Books except for the People of the Book.  Good women and men everywhere would cry from the rooftops- ‘Scandalous!’ ‘Discrimination!’ ‘Bigotry!’ Am I not right?”

Jimmy carter heard the penny drop and did not like the sound of it. “Hypothetically,” he said, not amused.

Whereupon Begin clinched his argument.  “So how can you expect me, a Jewish prime minister of the Jewish State who heads a cabinet of fifteen Jews, free men all- how can you expect me to forbid my fellow Jews from acquiring a piece of land and building a home in the original Shiloh, in the original Bethel, in the original Bethlehem, and in the original Hebron, from whence our Jewish forefathers originally came?  Would that not be scandalous?”

From The Prime Ministers by Yehuda Avner.

HKO comments:

Menachem Begin viewed the West Bank as liberated rather than occupied.  But even if the West Bank does become a Palestinian State, why is there no moral outrage in accepting the Palestinian demand that it be Juden Free?

Israel has millions of Arabs and Muslims who own property and have citizenship rights. There are even Muslims in the Knesset.  It is simply stunning that the rest of the world would be willing to accept a new nation bordering Israel that openly excludes Jews.



Sixty Seconds Over Baghdad

On June 7, 1981 four Israeli F-16 jets took off for their secret mission known as Operation Opera, also called Operation Babylon.  They flew almost 600 miles at ground level to avoid radar detection from the Jordanians, Saudis, and the Iraqis.  At precisely 6:30 PM they rose to make their pass and all four pilots  hit their target, the Osirak Nuclear reactor, and destroyed it completely.

All four pilots made it back safely.  One of the four pilots, Ilan Ramon participated in the space shuttle Columbia mission that ended tragically in February, 2003 when a re-entry accident killed Ramon and the shuttle crew.

Israeli fighter pilot and astronaut Ilan Ramon

The mission was a risky one. To make the round trip the planes had to shed weight and fly the entire mission by manual controls.  To be sure they had enough fuel to make the round trip they topped off the tanks at the end of the runway, with the plane running, a very risky trick.  The attack was timed precisely to minimize casualties and detection.  It was the culmination of years of planning and intelligence.

Menachem Begin picked the moment he did because Israeli intelligence learned that the plant was about to go live.  If they waited to attack, they risked radioactive infection to the Baghdad civilian population.

Begin had lost his family in the holocaust.  He understood from the decimation of his people in Europe that he as the leader of the Israelis could trust the security of his country to no one but the Israelis themselves.  His most important consideration was to avoid any risk of a second holocaust.

The world was shocked and dismayed by the attack, and Reagan and his cabinet was especially distraught that Israel had undertaken the mission without any communication from their ally.

According to Yehuda Avner in The Prime Ministers, Begin had shared his security assessment of the Osirak reaction with Reagan’s predecessor, Jimmy Carter.  The information was given such tight security clearance, that no one briefed the incoming president or his security detail on the threat.  Perhaps Reagan either neglected the seriousness of this security detail, or failed to absorb the transitional information, as one Carter insider suggested.

Furthermore Begin did not want to place Reagan in position with other nations in the Middle East that would have indicated that he had approved or participated in the decision.  Begin possibly did not yet trust Reagan and his team to keep the mission confidential.

While soundly criticized by nearly everyone for his attack, the decision was later appreciated when we faced the Iraqi forces in Desert Storm and liberated Kuwait from Iraq.  While many blamed Israel for its ‘uncivil’ act, few ever criticized the ‘uncivil’ act of France for supplying Iraq with the nuclear reactor to begin with.

Thirty years later Israel faces a similar threat from Iran.  If and how Israel will respond is yet to be played out.  The element of surprise will be much harder to execute.  Missions such as the Six Day War and the raid on Osirak are not easy to repeat.

Yet, I would be slow to question the resolve of Netanyahu and his new unified government. His mission to avert another holocaust is as clear as it was to Menachem Begin.

Much but not all of the above taken from The Prime Ministers by Yehuda Avner.  Some of the details of the attack were taken from The Raid on the Sun by Roger Claire, an excellent detail of the attack, and the background that led to it.



The Right to Exist

Begin and Brzezinski playing chess at Camp David

Menachem Begin’s election over Shimon Peres was a pivotal point in Israeli politics, the first time the Labor Party faced defeat. From his days with the Irgun, Begin was deemed an intransigent radical.  To many he was an obstacle to peace.  Given Jimmy Carter’s commitment to the peace process, many expected his staff to be more hostile toward Begin and his party when they arrived in Washington to begin peace negotiations with Carter.

Carter was exceptionally hospitable, serving the first kosher meal at a state dinner.  The next morning at the Blair House Begin was to meet with Zbigniew Brzezinski who was even more skeptical of Begin than Carter.  Begin presented Zbigniew a dossier showing that his father, Tadeusz Brzezinski, had served as a Polish diplomat and had worked to rescue Jews from concentration camps.  Zbigniew was grateful and impressed, having fought accusations of being anti-Semitic.

The two were to work on a joint statement  to be issued later in the day.

The national security adviser had brought with him a draft for the prime minister’s approval, and after analyzing each phrase with his eagle eye, Begin said, “Totally acceptable but for two sentences.”

“And what are they?”

“Please delete “The United States affirms Israel’s inherent right to exist.”

“Why so?”

“Because the United States’ affirmation of Israel’s right to exist is not a favor, nor is it a negotiable concession.  I shall not negotiate my existence with anybody, and I need nobody’s affirmation of it.”

Brzezinski’s expression was one of surprise.  “But to the best of my knowledge every Israeli prime minister has asked for such a pledge.”

“ I sincerely appreciate the president’s sentiment,” said Begin, “but our Hebrew Bible made that pledge and established our right over our land millennia ago.  Never, throughout the centuries, did we ever abandon or forfeit that right.  Therefore, it would be incompatible with my responsibilities as a prime minister of Israel were I not to ask you to erase this sentence.“  And then, without pause, “Please delete, too, the language regarding the U.S. commitment to Israel’s survival.”

“And in what sense do you find that objectionable?”

“In the sense  that we, the Jewish people alone, are responsible for our country’s survival, no one else.”

Wordlessly, and seemingly perplexed, the national security advisor deleted the offensive sentences, upon which the prime minister expressed himself totally satisfied.

From The Prime Ministers by Yehuda Avner

HKO comments

What would we give to have such clarity of leadership.  The intelligence, wisdom, and leadership qualities of so many of Israel’s leaders is stunning to read about.  Avner served many of them directly and his book is filled with insights that bring much to the modern history of Israel.

Imagine the United States finding it necessary to ‘affirm’ the existence of any other member of the UN.

Begin who was considered such an obstacle to peace surprised his critics by ultimately signing the peace agreement with Egypt’s Sadat,  the most important peace treaty since Israel’s independence.