Article Preview
On the Peace Process
- Abstract
For many years—and especially during the period 1977-92, when Likud was in power—I took the position that American Jews had no moral right to criticize Israel’s security policies. Since these policies literally involved the life and death of the state and its people, only those whose lives were actually on the line had the standing to participate in the public debate over them; and any American Jew who wanted to acquire such standing had only to board a plane for Tel Aviv and claim citizenship under the Law of Return.
Needless to say, very few, if any, American Jews who opposed the security policies first of Menachem Begin and then of Yitzhak Shamir saw the matter in this light. Most of them neither held their tongues nor became citizens of Israel. Speaking from the safety of America, they criticized the Likud government whenever it said or did anything in relation to the Arabs, and especially the Palestinians, of which they disapproved. On some occasions, most notably the Israeli invasion of Lebanon in 1982 and the ensuing massacre at Sabra and Shatilla, they did more than criticize—they attacked, with varying mixtures of sorrow, anger, and self-satisfaction.
About the Author
Norman Podhoretz has been writing for COMMENTARY for 56 years.
This article is available for purchase to subscribers and for individual purchase
Subscriber Sign In
Not A Subscriber?
