The “New York Times” Stands by Its Debunked Claim about Ben-Gurion

In a July 22 article in the New York Times, Max Fisher cited a widely circulated anecdote told by the American rabbi and historian Arthur Hertzberg that David Ben-Gurion, in Fisher’s words, “emerged from retirement in July 1967 to warn Israelis they had sown the seeds of self-destruction” and urged Israel to give up the newly acquired territories as swiftly as possible. Martin Kramer—who in an April article for Mosaic had demonstrated that both the transcript of the speech to which Hertzberg referred and numerous other statements by Ben-Gurion give the lie to this anecdote—called attention to the inaccuracy on his blog. Last week, Fisher defended his original assertion, citing a conversation with the staff of Ben-Gurion Archives in Israel and several secondary sources. Kramer replies: