Begin looks forward to future negotiations and the continuing relationship with the US under Jimmy Carter’s presidency. He looks back on the faults of Kissinger as Secretary of State as well as Prime Minister Rabin. He hopes Carter will fulfill his campaign promises of supporting Israel militarily and economically, and ensuring their spot in the UN.
Begin responds to a recent terrorist attack at Lod Airport and statements by President Sadat and other Arab leaders celebrating the tragedy. He draws several comparisons to the Holocaust and calls on the world to hold the Lebanese government accountable for the actions of the Popular Front, which perpetrated the attack.
In response to Foreign Minister Abba Eban’s declaration that Israel seeks only secure borders, not annexation, Begin argued that one cannot annex part of one’s Motherland. He further notes that the Jarring letter and all similar proposals are dangerous to Israel’s survival, drawing a comparison to the conflict between India and Pakistan.
Begin discusses American pressure to make concessions to Egypt for peace, increasing Egyptian threats, and the development of Soviet influence in the region.
Article by Begin for Yom Haatzmaut (Israel Independence Day) 1968, recounting the events that had transpired since the previous Independence Day. On Yom Haatzmaut 1967, even as Jews were both mourning the Holocaust and celebrating the resurgence of their people Israel, Colonel Nasser of Egypt ordered his troops to go into the Northern Sinai Peninsula. Soon the combined forces of three large Arab armies from Egypt, Syria, and Jordan surrounded Israel. Israel still won and took the Suez Canal, but Nasser was still spouting the same rhetoric a year after the war. Other Arab leaders made similar declarations about their intent to destroy Israel, in Syria, Iraq, and Jordan. Israel is in a state of “magnificent emergency” where it is under threat but has great opportunities to settle and claim its land. To this end Israel needs another mass aliyah from western Jewry and to initiate economic reforms to ensure a free market and economic growth that westerners expect.
