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By William A. Rusher The Middle East crisis is indirectly responsible for an ugly spat that has broken out between two distinguished columnists. Pat Buchanan, one of the best known conservative commentators, has come out against any escalation of America's involvement in the Mid dle East to the point of actual war. In the course of a discussion on the popu lar TV program “The McLaughlin Group,” Buchanan declared that “There are only two groups that are beating the drums for war in the Mid dle East, the Israeli Defense Ministry and its omen corner in the United States.’ A few minutes later he added, “The Israelis want this war desperately be cause they want the United States to destroy the Iraqi war machine. They want us to finish them off. They don’t care about our relations with the Arab world.” These remarks were enough to acti vate the hair-trigger that controls the notorious temper of Abe Rosenthal, the retired executive editor of The New York Times who now has his own column on the Times’ Op Ed page. Ro senthal offered his own “interpreta tion” of “what this man (Buchanan) is saying,” to wit: “The Jews are trying to drag us into war. Only Jews want war. Israeli Jews want war to save Israel’s hide. American Jews who talk of military action against Iraq want war because it would suit Israeli interests. They are willing to spill American blood for Israeli interests.” Rosenthal thereupon charges Bu chanan not merely with anti-Semi tism but with a “blood libel” against Jews, and concludes by borrowing and revising Jesus’ words upon the Cross: “Forgive them not, Father, for they know what they did.’ First, Buchanan. Pat was simply wrong in one respect: To whatever ex tent American Jews are “beating the drums for war in the Middle East,” they are certainly not the only Ameri cans doing so. Most (though not all) of the non-Jewish writers and commen tators grouped around National Re view, for example, starting with edi tor-in-chief Bill Buckley, have shown no reluctance whatever to contem plate escalation of America’s role in the Middle East from defensive de ployment to active attack. As for the rest of his quoted re marks, Buchanan seems to me broad ly correct. Israel, like many other countries (Greece, Turkey and Tai wan, to mention only three), does in deed have a vociferous “amen cor ner” in the United States, which, in general, supports the policies of its government (though Israel’s can sometimes speak sharply to Jerusa lem, as on recent military actions in the West Bank). As for the Israeli government, if it isn’t hoping for even deeper U.S. in volvement in the Middle East, why isn’t it? Does anyone suppose that the British Foreign Office, in 1940-41, wasn’t praying nightly that the United States would somehow be dragged into World War II? What's so terrible about that? The British had no obliga tion to put our interests above their own. Now, Rosenthal. His grotesque “in terpretation” of Buchanan’s state ment tells us far more about the dark er recesses of his own mind than about anything in Buchanan's. Abe is famous for his emotionality, but if he's going to be in the column business he'd better get it under firmer control. My longtime colleague Bill Buck ley, commenting on the flap, spoke of the need to understand “the nature of (Jewish) sensibilities in an age that coincided with Auschwitz.” This is en tirely proper, and many non-Jews have done so far so, these past 45 years. But American politics is a robust game, and it is fair to ask how long commentators on it must continue to tiptoe past the Israeli embassy. We all make allowances for a pregnant girl who is temperamental (“You must ex cuse Tessie — she isn’t quite her self”). But Tessie’s indisposition lasts nine months at most. Following a famous ancient exam ple, let’s be a little more forgiving on both sides. © 1990 NEWSPAPER ENTERPRISE ASSN THE CONSERVATIVE ADVOCATE RUSHER WILLIAM A.
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Marshall Chronicle
Marshall, Michigan, US
Fri, Sep 28, 1990
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