Fateful Triangle

Aftermath653sacre,” a “feeling among many Israelis that over the years their countryhad strayed somehow from the ideals of Zionism,” a feeling that itsmilitary successes “had sapped its moral authority, transforming thenation from an underdog into a bully.” 130 The same issue of Newsweekhas a picture of Ben-Gurion, who endorsed the Qibya massacre (amongothers) and sought to conceal it with lies. He is depicted as a man ofpeace, “Casting a light unto the nations.” Recall the highly selective andpolitically irrelevant reference to Ben-Gurion’s views in Dissent (see p.647). It has been no service to Israel to wash away these many stains,and to have established the conditions under which new and greaterones will appear. It is no service now to pretend that Begin and Sharonhave introduced something radically new into Israeli social or politicalculture or military practice in West Beirut, or before. There aredifferences between the Likud and its predecessors, important ones, butthey are nothing like those presented in contemporary debate. Bylaboring to cover up the real history of Israel, and the U.S. contributionto it, its supporters have encouraged precisely the tendencies whosefruition they now deplore as the facts become too well-publicized tosuppress.The crucial point, already copiously illustrated, is that over the yearsIsraeli political elites have learned that they will be protected from exposurein the United States, and that, as the New York Times editorsrecommended once again while much of West Beirut was beingsmashed to rubble, the U.S. will pay for their exploits, as long as U.S.interests are protected. Given this historical experience, Begin andSharon had every reason to believe that the same tactics would workonce again when they sent the forces they mobilized into the refugeecamps. Their judgment may in fact prove correct, as memories fade andthe inevitable reconstruction of recent events proceeds, a process thatwas well underway within a few months of the massacre, as we shallClassics in Politics: The Fateful TriangleNoam Chomsky