I was the news editor of a daily newspaper (Haartez) the night Ariel Sharon implicitly compared George W. Bush to Neville Chamberlain. I remember that night, because it was one of the busiest, craziest nights in an era filled with such nights. That day, an airplane, making its way from Tel Aviv to Novosibirsk, dived into the Black Sea along with 78 people on board. There was a terror attack that day in Israel – these were the early days of the second Intifada. And lastly, late at night, as we were planning to put the paper to bed, several settlers wandered into Palestinian territory and a rush to rescue them was under way.
And there was also the speech. Sharon’s speech. “Do not repeat the dreadful mistake of 1938,” he warned the world, US included, “when enlightened European democracies decided to sacrifice Czechoslovakia for a convenient temporary solution.” In Israel, it barely registered. As far as I remember, ours was the only newspaper to give it some space on the front page. Even then, it was just one column on the right side. Even then, there was a debate the next morning among several of the senior editors of the paper about whether giving it space on the front page on such a day was the right decision. It was, after all, just a speech, given on a bloody day.
But the so-called Munich speech did register in Washington and hence became a teachable moment in Sharon’s term as Prime Minister. The “bull” – as Bush sometimes called him – had to learn certain manners of restraint. Frantic phone calls from Washington and Jerusalem were made in the hours following the speech, and, to Sharon’s credit, it did not take him long to realize that he is going to have to climb off the tall tree rather than expect an American ladder of forgetfulness or forgiveness.
“Unfortunately, the metaphor in my words was not understood correctly, and I'm sorry about that,” the proud Prime Minister said. He was apologizing, taking his words back. He knew that State Department officials were inflating the anger over his speech. He knew that Secretary Colin Powell was working behind his back on a plan for Israel and Palestine. He had reasons to worry, and he had reasons to be frustrated with the administration. And yet, there are things a Prime Minister of Israel cannot say – not even implicitly – about an American President. Sharon learned his lesson. The Munich speech was the last major incident of carless statements of this sort.
Apparently, Avigdor Lieberman, Israel’s Defense Minister, did not learn the lesson. Maybe he forgot the Munich speech, maybe it did not register – as I said, the speech was not a huge story in Israeli public debate as it was in diplomatic circles. Whatever the case, it is now Lieberman’s turn to learn a lesson. Last week his Defense Ministry was blunt in its response to Obama’s ridiculous implied claim that “the country that was most opposed to the deal” is now in favor of the Iran deal. “Israeli military and security community … acknowledges this has been a game changer,” the President said. No wonder that smoke came out of Lieberman’s ears. No wonder that he was angry. No wonder that he wanted to set the record straight (no – Israel still does not think the deal was a great achievement).
So his ministry released a statement in which Obama was implicitly compared to – well – I guess Chamberlain is an option: “The Munich agreement”, the statement said, “did not prevent the Second World War and the Holocaust, precisely because their basic assumption, that Nazi Germany could be a partner to any kind of agreement, was wrong, and because the leaders of the world at that time ignored the explicit statements by Hitler and the rest of the leaders of Nazi Germany.” So Iran is today’s Nazi Germany, and the Munich agreement is the Iran deal. The deal Obama advanced. The deal in which he believes.
It is ironic that his trying to teach the president a history lesson – Munich, Nazis – is proof that Israel’s Defense Minister refuses to learn his own history lesson – Bush, Sharon. So now it is Lieberman’s turn to apologize and learn Sharon’s lesson. It is a simple lesson, really: No matter how frustrated you are with the American President, with his policies, with speeches in which he makes preposterous claims about Israel’s positions – Israel cannot, and ought not, compare the president of the United States, explicitly or implicitly, to Neville Chamberlain. Clearly, Prime Minister Netanyahu knows this. He was also unhappy with Obama’s remarks, and was blindsided by his Defense Minister, who did not deem it necessary to consult with anyone before releasing his own statement. Clearly, Lieberman needs to learn this the hard way: by climbing down a tree without a ladder, clarifying his comments, and damaging his image as a Trump-like truth-teller who fears no one.
He does fear someone. He fears Obama. Here is one proof, for those who still need any, that Obama is no Neville Chamberlain.
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