or endlessly rerun situation tragicomedyrnof our time. After all, why should thernprime minister of Israel not despise thernUnited States? Americans do it all therntime. But Americans do not hate Israel.rnQuite the contrary. Indeed, somernAmericans love Israel to the point of idolatry.rnThomas has shown that the Mossadrnhas long known how to take advantage ofrnthat great affection. The network ofrnsayanim, or volunteers assembled byrnMeir Amit (director general of thernMossad, 1963-68), is an imposing one.rn”In 1968 there were over four thousandrnsayanim in Britain, almost four times asrnmany in the United States. . . ,*’ cosHugrnseveral himdred million dollars a monthrnto maintain. Thomas describes in detailrnsome of the coups of the sayanim and thernMossad, including the theft of 100rnpounds of fissionable material from thernNumec plant in Pennsylvania in thern1960’s. He has also detailed the treacheryrnof Jonathan Pollard, whose purloiningrnof 360 cubic feet of documents forrnIsrael was denied by one Israeli governmentrnand then claimed by another.rnJonathan Pollard is now a declared citizenrnof Israel, whose government routinelyrnpressures ours to release him. Do thernZionists not remember the context ofrnZionism itself? Theodor Herzl conceivedrnit in reaction to the infamousrnDreyfus case, and I hope I am not alonernin remembering that Dreyfus was innocent.rnThe Pollard case, absurdly recycling,rnis an outrageous inversion of thernDrevfus affair, but nobody seems to getrnthe joke.rnWhat does it all add up to? GordonrnThomas thinks that the next thing for thernMossad is another bungle, but the newspapers,rnthose foimts of truth, indicate thatrnthere is a new prime minister of Israelrnand a new peace initiative. We may wonderrnhow “new” that is going to be. Accordingrnto Uri Dan, the Mideast correspondentrnfor the New York Post, the newrninitiative is going to be expensive forrnAmerica, requiring “massive” U.S. financialrnaid. Prime Minister Barak has alreadyrnbroached the point of the billionrndollars attached to the Wye accords, sornget out your calculator. But it is nice tornknow that peace can be even more expensivernthan war and, whichever it is, therncheck is in the mail. My only suggestionrnis that electronic transfer might save thernprice of those pesky postage stamps as wernpay off all sides for not going to war withrnthe weapons we sold them with our ownrnmoney. Marxist analysis —GrouchornMarxist, I mean —can clarif)’ even thisrnmuddle.rnHowever that may be, the Friends andrnFamilies of the VicHms of Oslo, a Brooklyn-rnbased association, has upbraidedrnPresident Glinton for interfering in thernrecent Israeli elections, declaring thatrn”Glinton has made a mockery of the sacredrnprinciple of non-interference in ourrnallies’ [sic] domestic affairs.” GordonrnThomas’s book on the Mossad refutesrnthat claim by showing how Israeli interferencernin American domestic affairs hasrnbeen Israeli state policy for nearly 50rnyears.rnGideon’s Spies will not be the last wordrnon the Mossad, but it is the latest. Thernbook is important not so much for what itrnsays about spying as about the underlyingrnrealities of international relations: I havernderived from it two conclusions, though Irnam not sure they are the ones the authorrnintended to convey. The first leads me tornredouble my skephcism concerning ourrnsources of news, or even of facts; the secondrnstrengthens my conviction that neitherrnthe Israeli nor the American peoplernhas been well served by its government—rnthose politicians, elected by bluster andrnlies, who preempt the concept of nationrnand put themselves on television wavingrnflags and making with the pieties. ThernMossad is responsible directly to Israelirnprime ministers; one American presidentrnwas a former head of the CIA. Today, asrnnever before, there is a radical and dangerousrndisjunction between the citizensrnof nations and those who affect to representrnthem. Is it possible —in the MiddlernEast, in America, and elsewhere — thatrnhuman beings might take responsibilityrnfor their “foreign” relations themselves,rnin spite of the mass societies they inhabit,rnwithout the distortion of governmentalrninstitutions and agendas? That is doubtfulrn—but as Herzl said, “If you wish it, it isrnno fairy-tale.”rnKiller Beesrnby Charles Edward EatonrnIf nothing around ‘ou seems to please-rnBeautiful women bore, the wine acid, the fruit rotten to the core —rnCount your blessings that, so far, no killer bees.rnLips that used to stimulate now taste bland.rnWine is blue and bilious as blood from a tired vein:rnDrop that spotted fruit at once. Don’t even smell your hand.rnStars that always stabbed you with desirernAs your arms tightened around that scented and enfabled waist.rnSay time to go to bed, old boy. Put out the fire.rnThe unwelcome sword that morning flashes in your eyesrnGalls up those images of dashing men and duelsrnOnly to ream and ream around the room and cut you down to size.rnThis is when you thank those cold, unlucky stars: No hum —rnA sense of some vast hostilit}’ at the open garden gate.rnReady to fit a buzzing mask upon the man you have become.rnMasque of the Red Death? Black the dominant color of alarm?rnKiss the woman one more glorious time. Drink wine. Eat fruit-rnIs that a fluttering shadow on the window of some all-expansive swarm?rn26/CHRONICLESrnrnrn