Yoel Marcus Recalls Begin's 'Vassal' Remark

Bush's baby - and ours

Israel's fate does not depend on whether a trip to the United States is successful, Menachem Begin used to say, in the days of the peace process with Egypt. Once, he even called into his office Samuel Lewis, the U.S. ambassador to Israel, and gave him an earful. "Are we a vassal of yours?" he famously asked.

But when Anwar Sadat and Begin landed at Andrews Air Force Base on September 5, 1978, on their way to the Camp David summit, Sadat praised America's involvement. Begin also applauded the U.S. administration as he disembarked from the plane. "The day will come and we will say 'habemus pacem' [Latin for "we have peace"] at Camp David," he said. Later, Begin's aides would join the journalists in singing "Habemus Pacem Aleichem" to the tune of "Heveinu Shalom Aleichem."

Unlike President Carter, a devout Christian from the South who was not a supporter of Israel, and who applied atomic pressure on Begin to give up all of Sinai and its settlements and made him sign a document recognizing the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people, President Bush is a fan - even a groupie - of Israel.

Ehud Olmert Quotes Menachem Begin

In his address to the Kneest's Winter session opening, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said:-

However, the responsibility which rests on our shoulders does not relieve us of our duty to move forward, with patience, taking into consideration all the risks and uncertainties, but also knowing that the road to peace will always be strewn with risks, and bearing in mind the possibility of deterioration, G-d forbid, into additional confrontations. Like Menachem Begin Z"l, our great leader, who set a marvelous example which will forever illuminate our historic horizon, I prefer the risks of peace over the agonies of war.

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