"They Will Shake Their Heads With Disbelief"

I'm not saying Haaretz's Carlo Strenger reads my blog, but the beginning to his op-ed this morning has an awfully familiar ring to it. Actually, there is nothing surprising about us making the same point. In fact, it's hard for anyone who has been following the situation not to make the point. The challenge I suppose is trying to find new and interesting ways of doing so, which is what makes Strenger's column worth reading. Here's the lead in and you can follow the link to read the piece in its entirety.

Future historians looking back at Israel in 2011 will shake their heads with disbelief. They will note that there were voices of reason who called for constructive engagement with the Arab world; that these voices included some of the great luminaries of Israel’s defense establishment like former Shin Bet chiefs Yaakov Peri and Ami Ayalon, former Mossad chief Danny Yatom, former IDF chief Amnon Lipkin-Shahak and General (Res) Amram Mitzna. They will write about their Israeli Peace Initiative of 2011 that basically endorsed the Arab League Initiative.

They will also note, with great interest, that a former Mossad chief known for his daring tactics, Meir Dagan, certainly not suspect of being a soft-headed liberal intellectual, also called for Israel’s engaging with the Arab League peace initiative, while warning about the stupidity of attacking Iran militarily. They will point out that the reaction of one minister was to call for legal action against Dagan instead of trying to take Dagan’s words seriously.