{"id":47787,"date":"2024-05-10T13:37:46","date_gmt":"2024-05-10T13:37:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2024\/05\/10\/biden-is-not-the-first-u-s-president-to-cut-off-weapons-to-israel\/"},"modified":"2024-05-10T13:37:47","modified_gmt":"2024-05-10T13:37:47","slug":"biden-is-not-the-first-u-s-president-to-cut-off-weapons-to-israel","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2024\/05\/10\/biden-is-not-the-first-u-s-president-to-cut-off-weapons-to-israel\/","title":{"rendered":"Biden Is Not the First U.S. President to Cut Off Weapons to Israel"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Biden<\/div>


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The president was livid. He had just been shown pictures of civilians killed by Israeli shelling, including a small baby with an arm blown off. He ordered aides to get the Israeli prime minister on the phone and then dressed him down sharply.<\/p>\n

The president was Ronald Reagan, the year was 1982, and the battlefield was Lebanon, where Israelis were attacking Palestinian fighters. The conversation Mr. Reagan had with Prime Minister Menachem Begin<\/a> that day, Aug. 12, would be one of the few times aides ever heard the usually mild-mannered president so exercised.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is a holocaust,\u201d Mr. Reagan told Mr. Begin angrily.<\/p>\n

Mr. Begin, whose parents and brother were killed by the Nazis, snapped back, \u201cMr. President, I know all about a holocaust.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nonetheless, Mr. Reagan retorted, it had to stop. Mr. Begin heeded the demand. Twenty minutes later, he called back and told the president that he had ordered a halt to the shelling. \u201cI didn\u2019t know I had that kind of power,\u201d Mr. Reagan marveled to aides afterward.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n