More lies

Last Friday, H.D.S. Greenway reviewed (sort of) Caleb Carr’s “new book” in the Boston Globe. The “review” didn’t show up in the Books section, though. It appeared in Greenway’s old stomping grounds, the Globe editorial page.

”The Lessons of Terror: A history of warfare against civilians - why it has always failed and why it will fail again,” (whew!) isn’t exactly hot off the presses. It was released last January and was reviewed in the Jerusalem Post in March (in the Books section). But it obviously provides fair cover for Greenway to indulge in one of his periodic Israel-bashing sprees, so here we are.

I haven’t read the book (and don’t intend to) but I have read Mr. Greenway’s editorial. Or semblance thereof. Greenway prefers to do his most of his sniping in this piece from the dubious shelter of Carr’s delusions, seldom speaking in his own voice.

His explicit point: terrorism is self-defeating.

His implicit point: Zionism is the ultimate source of terrorism.

His evidence:

In Palestine, the mainstream Jewish armed struggle against the British was carried out by the “Haganah,” a group not known for terrorist attacks against civilians. But such restraints were not observed by the Irgun and the Stern Gang, led respectively by Menachem Begin and Yitzhak Shamir, both of whom were considered terrorists even by many Jews. Both rose to become prime ministers of Israel.

Certainly both men believed that terror had worked for them. . ..

Carr, however, considers the terrorist activities of the Irgun and the Stern gang to have been ultimately counterproductive. He says their “murderous ways” turned the British, “once the Jews' most powerful protectors in the region,” against the Jews. And once the British had gone, the extremists lost in a confrontation with the newborn government of Israel, which had never been comfortable with Jewish terror tactics against civilians. “Menachem Begin still believed that murdering civilians and hurling bombs into crowds of Arab shoppers would somehow break the Arabs' spirit and provoke sympathy for the Jews among the world community. He continued to be mistaken,” according to Carr.

Not only did the Irgun and the Stern Gang not achieve their political goals - they wanted a “Greater Israel” to include both sides of the Jordan River - but the “vicious terrorism that the Irgun had bred into the Israeli character would never be removed,” according to Carr. “Worst of all,” he writes, “it would inspire vengeful imitation among the Palestinian Arabs.” The PLO “took as one of their organizational and operational models the Irgun.... Had they not witnessed over many years the murderous efficiency of the Irgun, the Palestinians might have been tempted to choose a different path; but anger, desperation, and impatience took them down the same road, and inevitably, the results of their decisions were also similar.”

His conclusion:

And there you have the tragedy of the Middle East, where revenge follows upon revenge until terror and counterterror become the only form of dialogue.

Let me count the errors. First, the British were “the Jews’ most powerful protectors in the region?” In comparison to whom? Yes, factions in the British government were supportive of Jewish national aspirations, but their representatives on location were only slightly less anxious than the Arabs to see the Jews driven into the sea. The fact is that the British did next to nothing to “protect” the Jews under the Mandate, but rather elected to appease Arab unrest by imposing increasing restrictions on the immigration of Jews fleeing from Hitler. The “murderous ways” of Irgun anti-British activity began only after the British had betrayed the promise of the Balfour Declaration and thrown most of their local weight behind the Arabs. Even so, among the many reasons for Britain’s decision to withdraw from the region, “Jewish terrorism” was hardly a decisive factor.

Next, Menachem Begin’s alleged penchant for “murdering civilians and hurling bombs into crowds of Arab shoppers” can be dismissed as a product of Carr’s overactive imagination (no doubt fueled by a steady diet of Arab propaganda). While the Irgun did perpetrate retaliatory attacks on Arab civilians in the late 1930s, Begin was still in Poland at the time (he “immigrated” in 1942). And at no time did Begin ever condone such tactics as a national policy or suggest they would “provoke sympathy for the Jews.” To the contrary.

Carr’s pathetic postulation of “vicious terrorism that the Irgun had bred into the Israeli character” hardly deserves a response, but its inclusion in this editorial says a lot about Greenway’s true agenda. Hadn’t he just pointed out that the Israeli government “had never been comfortable” with Jewish terror tactics?” That discomfort has been manifest in Israel’s conduct throughout the many wars launched against it, including the current conflict, often to its own tactical detriment. The true nature of the Israeli character is also evident in the continuing list of painful concessions offered over the years in the vain attempt to achieve peace with its neighbors. Hey, why let facts get in the way?

But the real kicker here is the notion that the activities of the Irgun somehow inspired the murderous rampages of Arab terrorists. As if the latter hadn’t already been busily at work long before any Jewish terrorist acts were contemplated. As if Begin or Shamir ever considered hijacking airplanes. As if members of the Stern Gang ever blew themselves up in bus stations or cafes. As if they crouched by roadways with their rifles and bombs to lie in wait for school buses and mothers driving home from the grocery store. As if they taught their children to seek death and 72 virgins while spilling the innocent blood of others.

In fact, the PLO would have done well to have taken “as one of their organizational and operational models the Irgun.” In that event, they would actually have foresworn terrorism the day the Oslo accords were signed instead of using the foothold they had extorted to incite and initiate yet another round of butchery.

Caleb Carr bills himself as a military historian but, as Elliot Jager points out in the Post review, Carr’s bread-and-butter is fiction. That could explain a lot. H.D.S. Greenway calls himself a journalist. What’s his excuse?

Next week: what Jenin, Tantura and Deir Yassin really have in common.

Shabbat Shalom.