The frenzy over Prime Minister Netanyahu’s speech before a joint session of Congress – how it came about and its content – has tended to obscure his remarks at the AIPAC convention the day before. Mr. Netanyahu made an enormously significant point in addressing the current disagreements between Israel and the U.S. and giving it some historical context. Here are some excerpts:
America and Israel have had some serious disagreements over the course of our nearly 70-year-old friendship. That started with the beginning.In 1948, Secretary of State George Marshall opposed David Ben-Gurion’s intention to declare statehood. That’s an understatement – he vehemently opposed it. But Ben-Gurion, understanding what was at stake, went ahead and declared Israel’s independence. In 1967, as an Arab noose was tightening around Israel’s neck, the United States warned [Prime Minister Eshkol] that if Israel acted alone, it would be alone. But Israel did act – acted alone – to defend itself. In 1981, under the leadership of Prime Minister Menachem Begin, Israel destroyed a nuclear reactor at Osirak. The United States criticized Israel and suspended arms-transfers for three months. And in 2002, after the worst wave of Palestinian terror attacks in Israel’s history, Prime Minister Sharon launched Operation Defensive Shield. The United States demanded that Israel withdraw its troops immediately but Sharon continued until the operation was completed.
There’s a reason I mention all of these. I mention them to make a point. Despite occasional disagreements, the friendship between America and Israel grew stronger and stronger, decade after decade. And our friendship will weather the current disagreements as well to grow even stronger in the future.
A fair point. But he could have made a more emphatic one by referring to the 1956 Sinai Campaign and the 1973 Yom Kippur War.
It will be recalled that in 1956 – after years of cross-border Egyptian/Fedayeen raids into Israel, the prevention of Israeli ships from passing through the Straits of Tiran and the Suez Canal, and, finally, Egypt’s nationalization of the canal – Israel, in conjunction with Great Britain and France, resorted to military force and seized the Sinai and Gaza.
The United States placed enormous pressure on Israel to relinquish its gains, which Prime Minister Ben-Gurion did with great reluctance. What followed for Israel was the resumption and intensification of the raids, blockades of Israeli shipping, and years of threats and provocations, all of which led to the Six-Day War of 1967. In short, Israel’s capitulation to the U.S. led to unmitigated disaster.
And in 1973 the Nixon administration warned then-Prime Minister Golda Meir not to take preemptive measures against a suddenly imminent attack by Egypt and Syria. She acquiesced, and Israel very nearly lost the Yom Kippur War.
The obvious conclusion is that when Israel has followed its well-honed defense and security instincts, it has fared far better than when it’s gone along to get along with the United States.