If Menachem Begin Wore Swim Trunks, He Would Never Have Withdrawn from Sinai (and Castro's Recent Comments)

If Menachem Begin had worn swim trunks, he would never have completely withdrawn from Sinai and kept Gaza. Actually everything was pretty clear when Begin -- with Ariel Sharon's help and approval -- basically unilaterally withdrew from Sinai, bulldozed Yamit, and kept Gaza. This was in response to "the mouse that roared" Jimmy Carter, who won a Nobel Peace with him and Sadat because of it, but would soon be thrown out of office by the Americans themselves -- Obama already has one, so probably the same thing won't happen in precisely the same way again with him.

So who said, "the Jews were so smart" or not stupid or, to put the proposition as an American might: "A fool and his money are soon parted". In any event, for Israel anyhow, it has been a slow, downhill slide politically-speaking -- and sometimes not so slow -- ever since. It was in response to this slide that I began characterizing this episode from the Eighties onwards, "If Begin wore swim trunks, he would have never withdrawn from Sinai (and kept Gaza)". Rather, he would have drawn a line halfway down the middle or, as the old adage would have it, "You keep half and we'll keep half" (can you picture Menachem Begin in swim trunks -- I can't?).

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