28
Friday, May 2, 1986
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
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U.S. Finally Adopted
Israel's Terror Answer
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Special to The Jewish News
Menachem Begin must be sit-
ting in his apartment in seclusion
with a smile on his face — admit-
tedly a wry, sad smile — but with
a smile nevertheless.
The man who institutionalized
the concept that terrorism must
be answered with retribution suf-
fered the pressures of world con-
demnation and lukewarm sup-
port from the United States dur-
ing the best of times.
Suddenly, as this country has
suffered its own loss of life at the
hands of terrorists, the concept
seems to have garnered the
necessary support in the Reagan
Administration — including such
notable figures as Defense Secre-
tary Weinberger — and in the
State Department, the public and
ever the media.
Indeed, when the U.S. Air
Force last year intercepted an
Egyptian plane and forced it to
land, capturing suspected ter-
rorists, some headlines in this
country screamed patriotically,
"Got 'em."
Unfortunately, the acceptance
of the philosophy by the United
States that terrorism must pay a
price is somewhat belated, and is
a result not so much of principle
but rather self-interest. The
United States has been forced to
act because of loss of American
lives. It finally realized that a si-
lent response would, in effect,
imply weakness and a lack of re-
solve to the killing of innocent
people.
It is not so much that Ameri-
ca's borders are endangered — as
is the case in Israel — but that
the United States has decided.
that it cannot sit back and let the
Qaddafi-kind of terrorism: con-
tinue to grow.
And that is exactly what Israel
has said'for some 20 years. But it
was not until Begin produced a
firm and unequivocal policy that
retribution would be swift and
certain that terrorists were
forced to have ,some second
thoughts.
It might well be argued that
the equivocation by the United
States of its support of Israel may
have given the Quaddafis of the
world the idea that this country
would not act when faced with
terrorism itself. Had the United
States given its uncompromising
support, perhaps the present
situation might have been
avoided.
Even the U.S. State Depart-
ment, which has an abominable
record when it comes 'to support-
ing Israel, is reportedly now as
pro-Israel as it has ever been.
Apparently, the alleged threat of
the loss of oil is no substitute for
responding to what the State De-
partment sees as a shift of public
opinion.
And the venerable New. York
Times, hardly a newspaper which
supports military actions, wrote
the day after the attack on Libya:
"Attacks against a foreign Coun-
try cannot help but stir moral
feelings of uncertainty and prac-
tical fears of unknown cyclones.
So far in this case, however, for
'Atedietiiis; flio136 'cad Yield
to the sober satisfaction of seeing
justice done."
The following day the Times,
even in more uncharacteristic
language, stated editorially: "For
the United States to have failed
to act . . . would have said to the
world: 'Go ahead. Shoot. Bomb.
Kill. The Tiger never bites! There
have been times in the shadow
war of terror when the tiger could
do no more than snarl and twitch
his tail — and there will be
Acceptance of the
philosophy that
terrorism must pay a
price is somewhat
belated, and is the
result not of principle
but of self-interest.
others. On Monday (April 14) for
once, America could justifiably
send a different message. This
tiger bites."
Israel's pursuit of justice
throughout the years, of course,
had the same objectives. And
while the U.S. allies are still
somewhat cautious in their sup-
port of retaliation for terrorism,
the hope is that will learn before
they pay their own price in terms
of loss of life that political expe-
diency for whatever reasons is no
substitute for the need to defeat
terrorism.
Whatever Begin's thoughts
presently, he must be somewhat
rueful in knowing that all this
could have been avoided with
firmness and decisiveness.
But he must also feel reassured
that the Free World's superpower
finally understood the need for
responsiveness — however late
the hour — and that terrorism
may unite the United States and
Israel as never before.
Frankfort Fair
Date Challenged
New York — 'American pub-
lishers .are threatening . to with-
draw from participating in the
annual Frankfurt, Germany book
fair because the fair dates this
fall conflict with Rosh Hashanah.
The Putnam Publishing Group
has already withdrawn from the
fair.
Officials of the fair, one of the
largest in the World, claim they
changed the dates to Oct. 1-6
from Oct. 8-13 so as not to conflict
with Yam Kippur. Jewish pub-
lishers say privately that chang-
ing frost a Yom Kippur conflict to
a date conflicting- with Rosh
Hashanah shows the anti-
Semitism of the book fair offi-
cials.
Although Putnam is the only
publisher that has withdrawn to
date, others say they. may attend
but curtail activities, or stage
limited protest actions.
•