LOOKING BACK
•
What
Were
The 10
Most
Significant
Jewish
Events
Of The
Decade?
GARY ROSENBLATT
Editor
•
I
A defiant Prime Minister Menachem Begin ordered, and
later defended, the Israeli air attack on Iraq's nuclear
reactor in June, 1981.
Life is messy. Decades
don't have "themes" that
begin and end on schedule,
and they are impossible to
neatly define. But any
reflection on the 1980s and
their impact on world
Jewry calls to mind events
of conflict and violence,
from the assassination of
Egyptian president Anwar
Sadat to the election of
Kurt Waldheim as presi-
dent of Austria and the
terrorist bombing of a Pan
Am flight over Scotland.
The events listed here
are in order of chronology
rather than importance,
and are representative of
the struggles and events
that highlighted the
decade just passed. May
the coming decade bring
peace.
Israel Bombs
Iraqi Reactor
IT
he attack was swift, stunning
and militarily successful.
Politically and diplomatically,
though, there was a good bit of
fallout after Israeli Prime
Minister Menachem Begin
ordered a surprise raid on Iraq's nuclear
reactor in early June, 1981.
Sen. Mark Hatfield of Oregon called the
strike "one of the most provocative, ill-
timed and internationally illegal actions
taken in Israel's history," and deplored
Israel's "enormous and dangerous ar-
rogance."
Begin, whose political leadership
reflected his personal belief that Israel
cannot afford to rely on the support of
others for her survival, defended his deci-
sion, calling it an act of duty to his nation
and his people. "There will never be
another Holocaust in the history of the
Jewish people," he declared. "Never
again."
With this and other actions (notably
bombing PLO headquarters in Lebanon),
Begin was crossing new lines, and many
Jews in Israel and America felt he had
gone too far, while others said he em-
bodied his nation's commitment to ensure
Jerusalem's survival.
In light of Iraq's deadly war against
Iran later in the decade and her use of
nerve gas against civilians later, there
were many who, whether or not they ad-
mitted it publicly, were grateful that
Begin had moved to pre-empt Iraq's
nuclear military capability with his two-
minute strike destroying the Osirak
reactor.