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，当我看到一位白宫发言人形容以色列轰炸一所联合国(UN)创办的学校是“完全站不住脚的”，我在短暂的一瞬间以为自己看到了一些新的发展。以往美国人肯定从未这么强硬地谴责过以色列吧？可是一位记性比我更好的同事提醒我，以色列在1982年围困贝鲁特西区，曾促使美国总统罗纳德•里根(Ronald Reagan)（没错，就是里根）致电以色列总理梅纳赫姆•贝京(Menachem Begin)，指责他犯下了一场“大屠杀”。以色列的军事行动杀害成百上千名平民，这不是什么新鲜事。以色列的行动引发国际社会的声讨，这也不是什么新鲜事。