Begin vs Olmert

As usual, I must start a post by commenting that I haven't posted in a while. However, as in the past, I came across something that has to be noted for those who missed it.

Menachem Begin was someone who had a lot of aspects to him.
People remember the freedon fighter or his giving away of the Sinai in a so called peace deal with Egypt.
But, there is one side that, I think, is usually gets forgotten, and this is sad because it is this part of him which made him great.

In fact, some one told me that the Begin museum does Begin a huge disservice by not portraying this aspect of him at all.
I am referring to his apprecation for the specialness of the Jewish People and their place in history and the world.

There was a column in the Jersualem Post recently that compared Begin's behavior to the way in which Olmert has been recently scurrying around the world and sniveling and kow-towing before various Heads of State.

The whole column itself is worth a read but I will quote one story to you here (for those who aren't too good at clicking on links)

From The Jerusalem Post:
"THREE WEEKS later, the very same issue cropped up once more when prime minister Begin first met president Jimmy Carter in the White House. As their encounter drew to a close, the president handed the premier a piece of heavy bond White House stationary on which the formal communiqu to be released in their name was drafted.

"I trust this will meet with your approval," said Carter in his reedy Georgian voice.

Begin ran his eye over the one page text, and said, "Totally acceptable, Mr. President, but for one sentence."
Secretary of State Cyrus Vance, an unruffled man as a rule, who had invested much effort in drafting the document, became momentarily agitated. After a year at the job he had perfected a manner of drafting such joint statements designed to convey as little meaning as possible.
"And what might that be?" he asked.

"Please delete the sentence which reads, 'The United States affirms Israel's inherent right to exist.'"
President Carter's steely pale-blue eyes flared in surprise. "It would be incompatible with my responsibilities as president of the United States were I to omit this commitment to your country," he said. "To the best of my knowledge, every Israeli prime minister has asked for this public pledge."
"I sincerely appreciate you sentiment, Mr. President," said Mr. Begin, his tone deeply reflective as if reaching down into generations of memory, "But it would be equally incompatible with my responsibilities as prime minister of Israel were I not to ask you to erase that sentence."
"But why?"
"Because our Jewish state needs no American affirmation of our right to exist. Our Hebrew bible established that right millennia ago. Never, throughout the centuries, did we ever abandon or forfeit that right. Therefore, sir, we alone, the Jewish people - no one else - are responsible for our country's right to exist."