Remembering Begin

Let us salute Menachem Begin, who ordered the Israeli attack on Iraq’s Osirak nuclear reactor in 1981. As the New York Sun recounts in an editorial, every government and newspaper in the world condemned Israel for the destruction of the reactor, while at the same time (or within a few years, when they had time to think clearly) being secretly thankful. The editorial concludes, “That is what the world was taught by the courage of Menachem Begin, who uttered his famous retort ‘never again’ and went to his grave understanding that even in a life marked by almost constant heroism, his attack on the Iraqi nuclear reactor was his great prime ministerial act.”

It is of course Israel’s taking out of the Osirak reactor that Bob Dylan is speaking of in this verse from his 1983 song “Neighborhood Bully,” the lyrics of which I posted the other day:

When he knocked down a lynch mob, he was criticized.
Old women condemned him, said he should apologize.
When he destroyed the bomb factory, nobody was glad.
The bombs were meant for him, he was supposed to feel bad.
He’s the Neighborhood Bully.

Posted by Lawrence Auster at February 15, 2006 08:15 PM | Send