February 21, 2010

Through thick and then, Alexander Haig never wavered in his friendship for Israel.

Al Haig, who died Saturday, was a good friend to Israel – through thick and thin, both at the best of times and during difficult times. He never wavered in his friendship for Israel. A very cerebral man, Haig’s support for Israel was not only based on the rationale that the United States and Israel had shared strategic interests; it was also tempered by an admiration for Israel’s courage in the face of daunting odds.

I first got to know him well when I arrived in Washington as Israel’s ambassador in February 1982, when he was president Ronald Reagan’s secretary of state. My first order of business was to request a private talk with him, just the two of us. He immediately consented. A few days after my arrival in Washington, on a Saturday, I was secretly whisked into the State Department building through an underground entrance. For the next two hours he and I, with no one else present, discussed the problems facing Israel and the situation in the Middle East.

When I told him our prime minister, Menachem Begin, was concerned that after having made substantial concessions during the negotiations leading up to the peace agreement with Egypt, he might now be pressured by the White House to make additional concessions inimical to Israel’s interests, Haig responded by saying “not on my watch.” He showed understanding for the problems we faced at the time along the Lebanese border, with the Palestine Liberation Organization militias encamped there launching attacks against northern Israeli villages. When we parted, I knew that Israel had a good friend in Washington and that I had also established a personal friendship with Al Haig.

While there is no truth in the persistent rumor that Haig gave Ariel Sharon – Israel’s defense minister at the time, who visited Washington and discussed Israel’s problems in the north with Haig – the “green light” for an Israeli military operation in Lebanon, we did have his steadfast support throughout the operation until he left the office of secretary of state. When at one point I described the operation to him and told him “Al, we are winning,” he responded “you guys always win.”

To read the full article click here.

Printed courtesy of Ha’aretz

Moshe Arens was a member of Knesset. He served as Minister of Defense three times, and Minister of Foreign Affairs once. He also served as the Israeli ambassador to the US, and was a professor at the Technion University in Haifa.

More on Blog

Read more: