On the Right

Israel and American Policy

New York, Aug. 8—In 1967, when Israel was threatened and the Six-Day War resulted, prominent American liberals paused in their clamor to get us out of the Southeast Asian imbroglio, to clamor, in a highly publicized declaration, for getting us into the Mideast imbroglio, causing Professor John Roche of Brandeis to remark wryly that their manifesto should have been labeled “Doves for War.” They got quite sore at Professor Roche, fussily insisting on the distinction between independence for the people of South Vietnam and independence for the people of Israel. What it came down to was pure and simple that where Israel is concerned, the encroaching demands for a reticent American international profile do not apply. John Kenneth Galbraith, a leading philosopher of neo-isolationism, confronting the paradox on television in Miami Beach during the McGovern Convention, said simply and honestly, “I confess I have a special affection for Israel.”