When last week I saw a White House spokesman say that Israel’s bombing of a UN school was “totally indefensible”, I briefly thought that I had witnessed something new. Surely the Americans had never before been that strong in condemning Israel? But a colleague with a longer memory reminded me that Israel’s siege of west Beirut in 1982 had provoked President Ronald Reagan (yes, Reagan) to telephone Menachem Begin, the Israeli prime minister, and accuse him of perpetrating a “holocaust”. There is nothing new about Israeli military action killing hundreds of civilians. There is also nothing new about the international outcry it provokes.
上周，當我看到一位白宮發言人形容以色列轟炸一所聯合國(UN)創辦的學校是“完全站不住腳的”，我在短暫的一瞬間以為自己看到了一些新的發展。以往美國人肯定從未這么強硬地譴責過以色列吧？可是一位記性比我更好的同事提醒我，以色列在1982年圍困貝魯特西區，曾促使美國總統羅納德?里根(Ronald Reagan)（沒錯，就是里根）致電以色列總理梅納赫姆?貝京(Menachem Begin)，指責他犯下了一場“大屠殺”。以色列的軍事行動殺害成百上千名平民，這不是什么新鮮事。以色列的行動引發國際社會的聲討，這也不是什么新鮮事。