John Connally and Moshe Dayan: The Con and the Pro
JOHN CONNALLY ANDMOSHE DAYANTHE CON AND THE PRO I There is another America out there. It is an America where John Con-nally is taken seriously, regarded as an acceptable candidate for this...
...It is a discomforting shame that the situation has come to this, that we are now placed in so awkward and so delicate a position...
...What is one to do if one agrees with Shimon Peres, who minced no words in a recent address to the British Board of Deputies when he asserted that Begin was still seized by the annexationist dream...
...There is no room for disagreement, we have said, unless you are prepared to be seen as an enemy of Israel...
...The only way to muddle through the remaining months of the Begin interlude—and, if the government survives until the scheduled elections, there are eighteen of those months to get through—is to make it clear that there is a distinction between support for this policy or that and support for Israel itself...
...Nixon, it is said, favors Connally for the presidency...
...A continuing refusal to acknowledge that Israel's government, like all governments, is fallible will not any longer, be taken seriously...
...Oh yes...
...Oh, how clever...
...it is harder <rgive the New York Times and >; it is impossible to forgive John nally, who knows better than >ne the venality of the oil ucers and the oil companies, knows better than anyone that if Israel was to accede to every i demand, the prices would stay the supplies would stay down, way to defeat Connally and all he represents is to know the truth of these matters, and to insist on it...
...Connally puts forward an imposed solution, some of whose elements are entirely reasonable, some of whose elements are debatable, and one of whose elements is a naked confession of the candidate's genuine intentions: "We must secure a clear understanding from Saudi Arabia and other moderate oil-producing nations in the region that a just and comprehensive peace settlement means a return to stable oil prices in real terms...
...Connally is the candidate of the forgetful American, the American who does not remember that it was he who advised Nixon to "burn the tapes," that it is he, the very one who drapes himself in anti-communism, who has sought to expand trade with the Soviet Union wherever he might turn a profit from such expansion, that it is he who served entirely without distinction as Governor of Texas and Secretary of the Navy, and whose distinction as Secretary of the Treasury was in his endorsement— this grand defender of free enterprise—of mandatory wage and price controls...
...questions as merely rhetorical...
...It has been clear for some time that the American government won't have that...
...What is one to do if one agrees with Mr...
...Begin's defenders have not argued that his West Bank policy makes much sense...
...Where are its limits...
...Some of us will continue, whether because we agree with the policies or because we believe that it is our obligation to defer, to support the decisions of Israel's government...
...What all of us shall have to do, supporters and dissenters alike, given the new circumstances, is to rethink traditional strategy for defending Israel's interests...
...The thing that redeems this country—violence-prone though it be, capable of large foolishness though it be—is that most Americans very much want to play fair, to do the right thing...
...No one, after all, has accused Connally of being dumb...
...In his first nationally televised commercial, Mr...
...Such argument as there has been within our community since the accession of the Begin government has been precisely over the question of whether there was any room for doubt...
...We shall have to tell the Israelis that good public relations cannot salvage bad public policy, and we shall have to tell the Americans that ephemeral policy differences, no matter how profound, do not warrant a punitive response...
...But Connally now sends the Saudis and others a special invitation: exploit the ignorance of the American electorate, he says, by piggy-backing your policies on the energy crisis...
...But John Connally is wrong...
...others among us have argued forcefully that the evidence was ambiguous...
...it would be a folly were we to persist in a rearguard rally...
...I do not mean these "What is one to do...
...So long as it is possible to interpret Israeli policies in a constructive fashion, we prefer so to interpret them...
...Those who persist in that refusal would themselves not be taken seriously...
...Dayan and Mr...
...Connally's effort to present himself to the electorate as a man of principle, who know him to be a man whose only principle is expediency, that other America is a puzzlement...
...it is hardest of all to explain that this country needs a new energy policy, not a new Middle East policy...
...Those who assent to the policies can no longer dismiss those who dissent as misguided...
...The Arabs must, in short, forsake the oil weapon in return for Israel's withdrawal from the occupied territories...
...Out there," in that world we know too little of, are people with enough good sense to see through his veneer...
...Dayan that the Begin autonomy plan is an entirely inadequate inducement to Palestinian participation in the peace process...
...He thinks the America he has come to know in the course of his wheeling and dealing is a microcosm of the real America, but it is not...
...such definition has been a cornerstone of our strategy...
...What are we to do" becomes a pressing and practical question...
...And it will be difficult for us, given our history, to rethink our most fundamental strategic assumptions...
...Forgotten, perhaps, but not easily had by con artists...
...Moshe Dayan is not George Ball...
...Begin's intentions were annexationist has been overwhelming...
...Once again, an associ-n is suggested where there is ie...
...Those who dissent cannot be insensitive to the prospect that their dissent will be used and abused by Israel's enemies...
...If he is using anti-Semitism, he must have a reason, and there can be only one reason— he thinks it will work...
...John Connally proposes gratuitously to let this country's Middle East policy be held for ransom by the Saudis, and manages to make the sell-out sound heroic...
...That may well be so—it is almost surely so—but though it be so, one presumes that Dayan, Peres and such have taken that risk into account, and have concluded that silence is the greater risk...
...America, anxious to avoid chaos and upheaval, will settle the matter, and Americans will go along with the Connally program, despite their commitment to Israel, because no such commitment should be allowed to destroy this country's energy supplies...
...What is one to do if, at last, there is no doubt left that Mr...
...Connally has presented himself as the candidate of "the forgotten American, who works hard and pays his bills and pays his taxes...
...Dayan could be wrong, of course...
...Nor will the non-critics have an easier time...
...He has lived too sheltered a life...
...they have insisted, instead, that there must be more to the policy than meets the eye...
...It will not help Mr...
...The next time that an Egyptian diplomat or a local editor or an American Friends Service Committee activist accuses Mr...
...But now all that must change...
...Nor is he alone...
...at last we know the name of the used car that Nixon wants us to buy...
...Parade Magazine, in its wisdom, informed its readers that the Saudi decision to increase its production by a million barrels a day was a quid pro quo for an American promise to tilt towards the PLO—an assertion without foundation...
...For three decades now, we have sought to mobilize support for each piece of Israeli policy by refusing to acknowledge any distinction between support for its policies and support for Israel...
...But if we do, how will we answer when they say to us, "Dayan...
...We may not even be witness to anti-Semitism at all...
...Weizman has been of special importance...
...That is the awkwardness of our position these days, and it does no good to ignore it...
...Until now, until brave John Connally has had the courage to state the truth, American policy has been shaped by people who don't care about America's interests...
...He is playing for those who will j notice, and be pleased...
...I'll help you every step of the way...
...Now Dayan has gone, and Weizman may yet leave...
...That is, unless we boldy step forward to put an end to the Arab-Israel conflict...
...The association between Arab political demands and OPEC behavior seems so natural, so convenient an explanation, and the remedy that it implies so much more attractive than genuine conservation here at home...
...Some of us have felt that the evidence that Mr...
...But is only a shame, and if we understand the moment, and the change, it need not be a tragedy...
...Shall we deny everything and once more trot out all the legal justifications that are invariably both correct and irrelevant...
...And it becomes harder still to explain all that, and the rest of the energy mess, when Connally says what he says...
...Begin, to be sure, but it will help to clarify the issues and choices which face Israel, to resolve the considerable ambiguity of this last period...
...The American Jewish community has a long-standing tradition of offering the benefit of every doubt to Israel's government...
...But given the changed nature of the circumstances, Israel requires a far more sophisticated defense than we have had to mount until now...
...Senators and Representatives regularly complain that not every issue which affects Israel can be defined as a litmus test...
...F...
...The evidence is overwhelming that these policies are entirely independent of the Arab-Israel conflict...
...it is hard to explain that the first dramatic^esca-lation in oil prices, back in 1973, came about at Iran's behest, at a time when Iran and Israel were getting along quite well...
...we are nervous because we fear that Connally may know something that we do not, that he may be in closer touch with the American temper than we...
...It is more likely the case, however, that Mr...
...It is an America where John Con-nally is taken seriously, regarded as an acceptable candidate for this nation's presidency...
...For it is that survival, not the survival of one government or another, that is our abiding commitment...
...Are we, the critics, to delight in our new freedom...
...For those of us who are not part of that America, who are repelled by the blatancy of Mr...
...And he must imagine there are enough of those to carry him to the White House...
...And, among the other bits and pieces of evidence they have introduced into the argument, the presence in the cabinet of Mr...
...To the uninitiated, the statement is framed to sound as if it demands a concession from the Arabs...
...That same "forgotten American," Connally goes on to say , in his carefully prepared commer- ] cial, "goes to church on Sunday and believes in prayer in schools...
...In fact, of course, it proposes that Arab oil is more important to this nation than Israel's safety...
...It will no longer suffice for them to say to us, "If you criticize, you give aid and comfort to Israel's enemies...
...Begin's critics will be tempted to an acute display of itoldyousoism...
...Rally 'round the flag speeches won't do the trick any longer, not when the flag is being planted in provocative places...
...Begin of intransigence, or asserts that Israel means to annex the West Bank, or simply shakes his head in despair over the Middle East morass, are we to try stonewalling it...
...There are those in the United States who seek to exploit every trivial bit of evidence that there is a split in the Jewish ranks, to use such splits as an excuse for punishing Israel...
...And Dayan has been very clear about why he left: he disagrees with the Begin West Bank policy, and believes that the Begin government is insufficiently concerned with developing a plan that can move Israel towards an amicable settlement of its problems with the Palestinians...
...It depends on sly innuendo: He speaks, he says, "without concern for political consequences...
...We have long been taught that only a united Jewish community could adequately defend Israel's interests, and there is much to commend that view...
...whatever Kissinger's merits, adherence to the truth is not among them...
...it is now clear that a growing number of Israelis won't have that...
...But this is not a case of a querulous ideologue taking idle pot-shots at the Israeli government...
...Worse, he helps to foster and give credence to a canard which can do both American interests and the state of Israel terrible damage...
...John Connally's level of competence at anything more than hustling has yet to be demonstrated...
...We are not witness here to unfortunate slips of the tongue that reveal a latent anti-Semitism...
...Get the point...
...What we are witness to is the conscious adoption of anti-Semitism as a campaign device...
...The pall lifted instantly...
...How persuasive could they then expect to be on the major questions, those that go beyond the policies of the day, that go to the heart of Israel's survival...
...By and large, Mr...
...It is true that Henry Kissinger praises him fulsomely in the Kissinger memoirs, but that is hardly a recommendation...
...The use of that device makes us angry, and nervous...
...ie danger, of course, is that her or not there is an associ-11 between oil and the Arab-el dispute, the spreading belief there is will be enough to make ajor difference in American attires and behavior towards Israel...
...Clever man...
...Connally's Middle East pronouncement, of course, was meant for more sophisticated types, for tfle uptown anti-Semites...
...And the New Vi-rk Times/CBS Poll in early V ' ember, in analyzing which res-Jents favored talks with the > and which opposed such talks, e the answers to that question iccording to race, to political ty, to age—all of which makes —and according to whether respondent thought the oil crisis • real...
...But the issue before us now is that a new chapter has begun...
...And now, several incarnations later, Moshe Dayan has left the Begin government...
...It is hard to explain that Nigeria and Venezuela, happy OPEC members, have no political claims against Israel...
...His going in 1979 lacks the drama of his coming in 1967, but it may, in its own way, be as meaningful...
...If there was any doubt, when Connally made his baptismal speech on the Middle East, that he knew what he was doing, that he was not only writing off the Jews but actually running against them, the commercial dispelled the doubt...
...Most Americans will not notice that there are some of us who are left out when a candidate identifies himself j with those who go to church on Sunday...
...Connally himself has proffered an answer...
...it is time, he says, that American policy in the Middle East reflect American interests...
...They would be wise, however, to exercise self-restraint...
...It will be used subtly, of course...
...The American people would vastly prefer to believe that the energy crisis is about something other than a shortage of supplies...
...Yes, of course, Peres is the leader of the opposition—but until now, opposition leaders, when abroad, have been restrained in their disagreement with the government...
...I write, of course, as an American Jew...
...responsible and respectable Israelis have publicly announced that Israel's interests do not coincide with the direction Israel's government has chosen to follow...
...It does not help them to complain...
...j jde Magazine may be forgiven tot knowing better...
...We are angry for obvious reasons...
...Reject the policy, we have said, and we shall conclude that you have rejected Israel itself...
...This is not a case of the Peter Principle, which holds that people eventually rise beyond their natural level of competence...
...Use the energy crisis and the fears it has generated...
...Begin is bent on a policy which endangers not only Israel's standing, but also its safety...
...it will be difficult to explain this to the Americans...
...It will be difficult to explain this to the Israelis...
...Who, save for his fellow users, can take him seriously...
...Who is it that is taken in by him...
...Guess who...
...More innuendo: "There hovers over our nation and all the nations of the West the awful specter of economic upheavel, social disruption and political chaos...
...If we can no longer offer categoric support to all Israel's action, how shall we insure that the distinction between the actions we support and the actions we oppose is as clear to others as it is to us...
...Let the critics talk of Sharon and Hammer...
...This is Moshe Dayan, and his resignation and his stated reasons for that resignation must, at the very least, reduce the doubts we here have had regarding Begin's intentions...
...Given our constant fear of abandonment, it will make us very nervous to "permit" people an easy excuse for turning away from Israel...
...It makes it plain to the Arabs that if Connally has his way, they will not be called on to negotiate or to make concessions of their own...
...it was as if all the sighs of relief gathered into a refreshing wind...
...We know what that means...
...For while the analytical ambiguity may now be reduced, the behavioral ambiguity increases...
...On the eve of the Six Day War, when Prime Minister Levi Eshkol appeared to have lost the confidence of the Israeli people, he appointed Moshe Dayan as Minister of Defense...
...Others of us will withhold our support...
...the endorsers would point to Dayan and Weizman...
...Every serious student of the matter knows that OPEC pricing and supply policies are expressions of classic cartel behavior...
Vol. 5 • December 1979 • No. 1
