The eternal danger
Norman Geras, the erudite Manchester politics professor and proprietor of Normblog, notes a copy of a short news report from The Times for 8 May 1948 sent to him by Jeff Weintraub:
"ZIONIST DANGER TO LEBANON"
FROM OUR CORRESPONDENT
BEIRUT May 7
M. Chamoun, Minister for Home Affairs and Health, addressing a Press conference to-day, emphasized the Zionist danger to Lebanon if the Jews succeeded in forming a Jewish state intended, he said, to include Lebanon, Syria and Transjordan at a later date.
He revealed that the Foreign Ministers of the Arab League decided on April 26 to invade Palestine, but he blamed the Arab States for their military unpreparedness and the Palestinians for the lack of organization. The Arabs, he added, were now defending the world against Communism, which was being introduced to the Middle East under the cover of Zionism.
Norm points out the great danger, tongue firmly in cheek:
It’s the eternal danger of Zionism, you see, its content somewhat changeable. As Jeff points out, the Zionists were running the Soviet Union at the time, as they’re now running the US.
