The references to Begin’s “Polish Lawyer” mentality came from the Israeli media of the time. This was referring to his immersion in the details of what many believed to be matters of secondary importance in the agreement. Your hero Jimmy Carter was also known for this trait under a different term….a “micromanager”. I, unlike you, don’t know any Polish lawyers so I don’t know how this term got adopted, but Begin obtained a Law degree in Warsaw before coming to Israel.

What you call “xenophobia”, I would call “caution”.
For someone as “multicultural” and “sensitive” as you keep telling us you are, you certainly find it difficult to look at recent Jewish history in the way that I, for one, look at it. You are constantly telling us about your illustrious ancestor who was hanged in 1657 in Boston Common for his beliefs. Well, I had ancestors and numerous close relatives murdered much more recently, in the 20th century, by people who quite openly stated they didn’t like Jews and that they were going to do something about “the Jewish problem”. Thus, when the Arabs, Iranians and others, in their media, call for eradicating us here in Israel, I feel justified in being concerned about it. Now, you will respond that I am not seeing “the big picture” as you do. I really don’t know how to respond to that.

Regarding your statement that I am filled with “hatred”, I can only say “GUILTY AS CHARGED”. I hate antisemites and I hate those who are trying to eradicate us. I am not a Christian so I have not been taught to “turn the other cheek”.

Regarding your anecdotal stories of yordim (Israelis who leave Israel), I can only respond that I know more than one American Jewish doctors who left flourishing practices in the US to come to Israel. Yes, there are too many high-tec Israelis in Silicon Valley, and I know of a few of them, but the ones I know went there for economic opportunities and not because of the political situation.

We seem to disagree on what happened in the past, and so on what conclusions to draw. Sadat approached Begin specifically because he felt he had “won” in ’73. Having acheived his military goals, he could make peace. It was for this specific reason, not the general unrest, that he was assassinated — he took quite a risk for this effort. I think this casts doubt on your assertion that peace talks encourage violence. After all, there was plenty of violence long before there were peace talks. While I would not want to ignore the propaganda you speak of, I don’t think that this alone makes the Egyptian peace treaty no different than the Syrian non-treaty.

You ask legitimate questions. A few months before Begin came to power in Israel in 1977 there was mass unrest in Egypt due to increases in bread prices (just like today!) with a large number of people killed by the police. Sadat felt his regime was in danger so he decided making the agreement with Israel in order to open Uncle Sam’s wallet for him to get aid he felt was necessary in order to survive. In 1973 he was proclaimed as the greatest Arab military leader since Salah ed-Din due to his supposed “victory” (actually a military defeat) in the Yom Kippur War but the public credit he had achieved from this had already worn off within 3 years. However, the circus surrounding the peace agreement with Israel also wore off within another 3 years leading to another period of mass unrest in 1981 leading to another crackdown, finally culminating in his assassination in October 1981. I do not believe that Sadat had any intention of honoring any of the “normalization” clauses of the peace agreement which Begin spent so much time haggling over any more than Mubarak did. I am sure that if Sadat were alive today, the situation between Israel and Egypt wouldn’t be any different than the “cold war” that exists today.

In order to understand how Egypt views the “peace agreement” we only have to look at how Israel is dealt with in the official media, where the genodical antisemitic progapanda is no less virulent than in countries like Syria, Saudi Arabia or Iran. Israel is presented as an enemy state and the Jews nefarious enemies of mankind. Egyptian state television broadcast a 40+ series claiming to prove the “Protocols of the Elders of Zion” are true.

Mr Hilborn apparently doesn’t have any understand of what
I have been trying to say here. He thinks I am a “warmonger” The opposite is the case. The “peace camp” in Israel (the Left) has been dictating policy since Oslo in 1993 and they have brought about a big increase in violence against Israel and a rapid spread of virulent antisemitism around the world. This is because Israel is showing itself to be weak and unsure of itself. Their answer to every demand of the Arabs is “how much land do you want”? This encourages Arab extremism. The only way to stop it and reach an INFORMAL modus vivendi is to STOP the grovelling and the concessions. The Arabworld is carrying out a long-term war of attrition against Israel and Israel’s Prime Minister contributes to its encouragement by saying that “Israel is too tired to fight any more ” (said to Israel Policy Forum in 1995), “Israel is doomed” (said this past year) added to the Labor Party former Minister Efraim Sneh’s comment recently that “Israelis will flee the country once Iran gets the A-bomb”. The Arabs say “see , themselves say they are finished….a little more pressure, a little more terror and they will collapse completely”. Why should they make peace in such a situation. Only a gov’t committed to Jewish rights throughout Eretz Israel, committed to Jewish settlement throughout Eretz Israel, and flexibile enough to encourage peaceful Arab economic pursuits and hopefully a drawndown of the Israeli security presence in order to allow freer Arab movement (restricted today due to terror organization’s operations) will be able to really reduce the violence. “Peace talks” merely stoke it. Olmert said, after announcing his phony “peace talks” with Syria that “talking is better than shooting”, yet Syria, just like the Palestinians will talk and shoot (through its proxy HIZBULLAH) at the same time, as if Olmert can’t conceive of such a thing.

Regarding HAMAS and Egypt, the Gaza-Egypt border is pretty short, the Egyptians know everything that is going on there and they exactly what weapons are flowing into Gaza and this is obviously done with their connivance. The Americans have even complained about it so Egpyt carries out a few televised “uncovering” of weapons tunnels in order to keep the American aid flowing while mainaining they are “too weak” to do anything about it.

Today these nations are major trading partners and participating together in matters of mutual interest, like the negotiations to curb or coopt a member of the “Axis of Evil”.

The change? Nixon went to China in 1972 and talked with his communist enemies.

We can thank Israel for sending so many of their ex-pats to Silicon valley and a number of top flight physicians to us including two of my own.My heart surgeon left not only for the money, but because of the unsettled strife, and yes he served.
I can assume from your demeaning remarks that a) Begin as a lawyer and b) a Polish lawyer with a Polish lawyer mentality he wasn’t up to the task.I’m a lawyer and I have several Polish lawyer friends and I never noticed a Polish lawyer mentality among them as you describe.

I live in the United States and I would never be so self-centered and arrogant as to say that an Israeli didn’t have as good or even a clearer insight into what is going on here than I just because I live here.In many ways living here can be a disability when trying to view my country’s conduct objectively because there is the quite natural inclination to be defensive and excuse it’s conduct.

Doesn’t the fact that Sadat sacrificed his life to come to an agreement and establish diplomatic relations with Israel suggest that there are key differences between Egypt and Syria? Also, while arms to Gaza do come through Egypt, what evidence is there that the Egyptian regime sponsors Hamas in the same way that Syria sponsors Hezbollah and effectively has been fighting a proxy war with Israel through them?

I live in Israel and you don’t. I am very well aware of the cost of keeping this country going, far more than you are.

Israel’s conduct in Gaza is nothing to be proud of .The BS we get from the official news agencies is so slanted you would think that Hamas has a real and effective military presence down there. What Gaza is ,is the biggest concentration camp in the world surrounded on three sides by the world’s best trained and equipped army.Do you honestly think that any people with any pride are not going to revolt against those conditions ? These are human beings eventhough you think of them as sub-humans.The whole separate state thing is just BS and the holding it out to the Palestinians is nothing but a cruel hoax.Go ahead and declare “mission accomplished ” and line the Palestinians up on the Jordan border and boot their asses out