Fateful Triangle

Peace for Galilee521But they found no recipients, so Arnon instructed that packages beleft in the center of Tyre “in some ruin.” The convoy went on to Sidon. Inthe light of the earlier “bitter experience,” Arnon decided to avoid therefugee camps. Eight trucks were still full, and he announced that “wewill not return with them to Tel Aviv.” It was finally decided to distributethe supplies at an orphanage. At one, no clothes were needed but theywere left anyway. At the second, the orphans said “Who needs clothes?We need food.” So the mission ended.It is true that this impressive story was not properly reported by theAmerican media, another indication of their anti-Israel bias, or perhapstheir control by Wafa and the International Communist Conspiracy.8.2.2 Flowers and RiceAnother contribution to the “image problem” was the story, widelyreported and generally accepted at face value in the United States, thatthe Lebanese greeted their Israeli liberators with warmth andenthusiasm. In continental Europe, which has some experiences of itsown, reactions were often a bit different. In Copenhagen, for example,Knesset Member Yosef Rom told a television audience “that Israelisoldiers were greeted in Lebanon with flowers and rice.” The interviewerinterrupted him with the following words: “Do not tell us in Denmarkabout flowers and rice. Nazi Germany also had pictures of how theDanish people greated the April 1940 conquest with flowers...” 281 (Seealso end of section 5.2).The story was also regarded with some skepticism in Israel. Soldiersdescribed the Lebanese villagers who waved to them “with a frozenexpression.” One was reminded of a scene from Joseph Heller’s Catch22 where an old man says that he is not interested in politics: “He isClassics in Politics: The Fateful TriangleNoam Chomsky