The debate was primarily about the Lebanon War – the first one – which had broken out just a few weeks ago on June 6, 1982. Had Israel used cluster bombs against civilians or not? In a tense and angry meeting with the Senate Foreign Affairs Committee on Capitol Hill, Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin was pummeled by 36 American senators, with only three, according to the New York Times, expressing any support of Israel’s policies. (The three were Daniel Patrick Moynihan (D-NY), S.I. Hayakawa (R-Ca), and Rudy Boschwitz (R-Mn).
Prime Minister Begin reportedly told the senators that he “did not know” if cluster bombs had been used and said he would ask Defense Minister Ariel Sharon for a report. The senators were not mollified, with one later telling the Times that “I’ve never seen such an angry session with a foreign head of state.”
The “bitterest exchange,” however, writes the Times, was that between Prime Minister Begin and someone else who’s still around today – Senator Joseph R. Biden. According to the report, Biden told Begin that he had no specific problems with the way in which the campaign in Lebanon was being fought, but objected to Israel’s policies in the “West Bank.” He claimed that Israel was losing its support in America due to its policy of establishing communities in the “occupied territories,” and, according to Begin himself (in a press statement following his return to Israel), “He hinted - more than hinted - that if we continue with this policy, it is possible that he will propose cutting our financial aid.”
Begin was not cowed, and responded:
“Don’t threaten us with slashing aid. Do you think that because the US lends us money it is entitled to impose on us what we must do? We are grateful for the assistance we have received, but we are not to be threatened. I am a proud Jew with 3,700 years of civilized history. Nobody came to our aid when we were dying in the gas chambers and ovens. Nobody came to our aid when we were striving to create our country. We paid for it. We fought for it. We died for it. We will stand by our principles. We will defend them. And, when necessary, we will die for them again, with or without your aid.”
The Times notes that the acrimonious meeting with the senators was an anomaly to an otherwise successful visit to the United States, concluding that “Mr. Begin left Washington pleased at having his basic approach to the Lebanese crisis endorsed by [then-President] Reagan.”
Interviewed following the stormy Committee session, Begin himself was reticent regarding its content, saying only that, “I enjoyed the session very much. I believe in liberty, that free men should freely discuss problems and if they have differences of opinion they should voice them in sincerity.”
He added that it had been “a lively discussion.”