Words not backed by confirming action, remain just words!
"Anyone uttering such words would be called a traitor today"?
Well, if that doesn't beat all, or sound just like something one might have reasonably expected from an insane tyrant, just like an eternally despised, hateful Herr Hitler? Ironic isn't it?
Well if they are going to act just like that particularly pernicious regime and label peacemakers traitor, I believe, they leave the rest of the world in no doubt, just who and what they now are? Rhrosty.

Menachem Begin was an exceptional man of honour and integrity.
He did mean every word and set exemplary personal standards.

But he was alone (with the exception of his son, Benny, which nowadays continues in his footsteps, but was not in politics at the time).
He did the best he could, but even as prime-minister, Begin was surrounded by corruption and liers, so it was an uphill battle to which his body eventually succumbed.

I wonder where Begin was during the Deir Yassin massacre-wasn't he a member of the Irgun, one the terrorist organisations responsible for that atrocity? ( and the bombing of the King David Hotel). Sow the wind.

There's honour and there's "honour".

Dear Mac,

I made the necessary enquiries:

King David Hotel:

1. The hotel was the headquarters of the British intelligence in Palestine.
2. The hotel was blown up on 22.7.1946.
3. Following the "Black Sabbath", 29.6.1946 (also known as "operation Agatha"), a few weeks earlier, when all the Jewish leadership was arrested by the British (excluding Ben-Gurion who was overseas at the time), all underground-organizations (including Haganah) coordinated their operations in unison. The task of blowing King-David was allotted to the Irgun with the blessing of the rest.
4. Menachem Begin was the head of the Irgun, its supreme commander.
5. Begin had a principle to avoid killing people, only destroy buildings, bridges, airports and military equipment.
6. Once Irgun placed the bombs in the basement of King-David, they phoned the British, informing them to leave the building because a bomb was planted.
7. The British had a spy in the Irgun, a captain nick-named "Yanai", which they trusted. Irgun was unaware of that.
8. On the eve of the operation, Irgun forbade and denied its members all access to phones or other means of communication, hence the spy was unable to report about the impending operation.
9. The British believed that since Yanai did not contact them, the warnings were false, so they did not leave the building.
10. The blown building contained all the intelligence files about members of all Jewish undergrounds. This saved many lives.

Details about Deir Yassin will follow soon.

Yuyustu,

Thanks for the info, however, regardless of the details, the bombing of the King
David Hotel was a terrorist attack. Although Zionists (and Palestinians) aren't collectively responsible for any atrocity committed in their name--- if it waddles and quacks...you know.

Deir-Yassin:

1. Deir-Yassin was a small village, then situated at the edge of [Western-]Jerusalem, on a hill overlooking the western exit of the city.
2. Unprovoked gun-fire was routinely shot from Deir-Yassin to Jerusalem and its suburbs since 1936.
3. In April 1948, Jerusalem was under siege with heavy fighting all around. Food and water was scarce, with imminent danger of all Jerusalem residents dying of dehydration.
4. Deir-Yassin was one of the Arab villages controlling the road into Jerusalem, blocking practically the only way food and water could be supplied to the city.
5. Menachem Begin was in Tel Aviv at the time.
6. Communication with besieged Jerusalem was very difficult, Begin couldn't command day-to-day fighting of his forces in Jerusalem, but managed to transmit one general instruction: "Do whatever is needed to open the road".
7. Operations inside Jerusalem were coordinated between all Jewish militias, including Irgun/Haganah.
8. The mission to take over Deir-Yassin and unblock the road below was assigned to Irgun.
9. As Irgun approached, after a short gun-battle, all houses of Deir-Yassin raised the white flag for surrender.
10. As Irgun arrived in the village center, gun-fire was opened against them from all sides.
11. Irgun retreated, then under constant fire, managed to detonate the houses one by one.
12. Once the battle was over it was discovered that civilian residents were in the blown houses side-by-side with the Arab militants.
13. The total number of Arabs killed, militants and civilians together, is estimated as 50-70, but in any case no more than 100.
14. Haganah, desiring to blacken their political opponents, exaggerated the casualty-numbers into the 100's.
15. Arabs, based on rumours, exaggerated those numbers further and further, sometimes reaching a 4-digit figure.
16. No side wanted to deny the exaggerated numbers, because:
A:-Haganah: it blackened their political rivals.
B:-Arabs: it blackened the Jews.
C:-Irgun: the scare caused Arabs to flee without battle whenever they heard that an Irgun unit is attacking their village or town, thus saving Jewish casualties.
17. By winning the next village, Lifta, the road to Jerusalem was opened.