Fateful Triangle

Aftermath640when opponents of a strategic weapons build-up are dismissed witharguments against unilateral disarmament. But the conditions that Laborattempted to impose on the inquiry went far beyond the non-issue thatPeretz raises, a fact that was overlooked in the outrage focussed uponBegin and Sharon.6.2 The ChargesThe government of Israel blamed the Phalange for the massacre.Sharon, in his Knesset testimony, argued that Israel cannot “choose ourneighbors in the Middle East”; if they are savages, it is not Israel’s fault.As Begin put it in a widely-quoted statement, “Goyim kill goyim, andthey immediately come to hang the Jews,” 114 another sign of theineradicable anti-Semitism of world opinion. The U.S. governmentblamed the Christian militias, assigning Israel indirect responsibility forfailing to do enough to prevent the massacre. The Labor oppositionblamed Begin and Sharon. American supporters of Israel also rushed toblame Begin and Sharon, who had defiled the “beautiful Israel” of earlierof goodwill, peace and mutual benefit” (“Visions and Revisions,” Times LiterarySupplement, March 5, 1982). He cites no examples of rewriting of history,admiration of Stalin, or the rest; as noted several times, it is a convention ofscholarship and intellectual life in general that no evidence is necessary indenunciation of those who dare to question Higher Truths—for Laqueur, that“Unlike the Soviet Union, the U.S. does not want to convert anyone to a specificpolitical, social, or economic system” (Laqueur and Charles Krauthammer, NewRepublic, March 31, 1982), etc. For some further examples of his interestingdoctrines, see Chomsky and Herman, Political Economy of Human Rights, vol.I. pp. 87f.; TNCW, pp. 48, 190.Classics in Politics: The Fateful TriangleNoam Chomsky