The issue of Israel's security needs and the meaning of Israel's security has long been one of the items on which there was disagreement between Israel and the U.S. In an interview on Canadian television, Professor Brzezinski was asked about Israel's sensitivity to its security and its fear of a sudden attack. He replied that if Israel would find itself facing a mortal danger, the United States would certainly come to its aid. Prime Minister Begin reacted to reports of this interview which appeared in Israel, in the following manner:
This morning I heard a summary of the statement made by Professor Z. Brzezinski, National Security Adviser to President Carter, in the course of a television interview with the Canadian CTV:
According to the published press report he said that if Israel were "mortally threatened", the United States would certainly come to Israel's aid.
The question is who will decide when Israel faces such a deadly peril. Indeed, only very recently we had the experience - and it was a harsh one - of mortal danger directly facing the Christian minority in Southern Lebanon.
During my visit to Washington in July this year, I handed to Professor Brzezinski documents dating back to the thirties, testifying to the efforts of his own father to assist persecuted, condemned Jews in Nazi Germany.
We are charged with the duty - and we are going to carry it out - to ensure that never again will anybody speak with pity about persecuted Jews, who are no more. But that everybody will respect a living Jewish people, free and independent.