Thus, he never challenged allegations that Tzahal (the Israeli armed forces) had committed crimes but, rather, argued that such actions were few and rare; that they were overwhelmingly the result of human error and fallibility rather than due to any malicious intent; and that they were universally condemned by the Israeli public – this in marked contrast with the Arab mass murderers of civilians and children broadly celebrated as martyrs and heroes by the Arab public.
Thus, Herzog presented Israel as a country that, while establishing ethical perfection as a national ethos, was not always successful in meeting that goal. By pursuing this then-innovative strategy, he succeeded in forcing Toynbee to acknowledge Israel’s ethical typicality with other nations that, despite their imperfections, are nonetheless viewed as honorable and decent.
