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feelin g about the Israel i a ttitude : "Thi s was the onl y pe ri od in which
Ame ri ca could be justl y accused of hav in g
I
t Israel a lone to the
winds and torms."
T a king a nothe r very tense, pe rha ps even d a ngerous, moment
for Israel in 1950 , we find the same kind of puzzling Ame rican
indiffe rence. A week a fte r the beginning o f the Sina i campa ign , a nd
a s complete vi ctory had bee n secured , the Sovie t Uni on wa rned
Israel tha t it was "at thi s moment taking steps to put a n end to the
war a nd rest ra in its aggresso rs ." Israe l's a llies in the fi ghting, Brita in
a nd Fra nce, had been given American ass ura nces tha t a Sov ie t
attack on them would lead to a n Ame rican res ponse, a nd tha t Israel
had , the United Sta tes recogni zed , 'Just gri evances" again st Egypt.
Neve rtheless, Israel was not to be given a ny Ameri can ass ura nces.
On the contra ry, the United Sta tes added its own pressure to the
Sov ie t threat. Israel was told by W as hin gton tha t if it did not
compl y, se rious measures would be ta ke n , such as the te rmina ti on of
a ll U .S . governmenta l a nd pri vate a id , a nd the fa ilure of the United
Sta tes to object to U .N . sanctions against Israel, o r to its eventual
expul sion from the U .N . By a mos t unfortuna te coincidence the
Ameri can wa rning to Israel was issued on the same day the Soviets
delive red theirs.
Yet even during the mos t diffi cult pha es o f the American–
Israeli rel a ti onship , some Israelis neve r falte red in their belief tha t
hidden behind its cold exte ri or was a wa rmhea rted America tha t
could be tru sted . Frequentl y, they ha ve been pa rtl y or wholl y vin–
dica ted . The net psychol ogical effect o f the persistent Ame rican cold–
shoulde ring was, nevertheless, to keep the ea rlie r tra uma tic
memories ali ve in Israel. It is now almost forgotten , but for ma ny
years the Israeli prime mini ste r was, a ppa rentl y, conside red too
problema tic a pe rsonage to be oHiciall y invited to Was hington . In
1960, Ben Gurion had to ask Brandeis Unive rsity to invite him to the
Sta tes , so tha t a visit to the White H ou se a nd a talk with Eisenhower
would be made to a ppear impromptu . This curious exe rcise was
carried out in accorda nce with the U .S . admini stra tion's wi sh not to
upse t the Arabs. A year la te r , when Ben Guri on wa s anxious to mee t
with K ennedy, he acce pted a C a nadi a n invita tion to come to
Ottawa, so as to stop en route in New York . The re, a t the W a ldorf
Astoria, he me t with K ennedy, who had not invited him to the
White H ouse .
Israeli di sappointments with U.S. policy continued in the
sixties . Whil e the Kennedy admini stra tion es tablished a valuable
