Caveat Emptor

Just in case all that talk about Israel's wanting to bring its boys home from Lebanon has got you to thinking that a new, less trigger-happy Israel has finally emerged on the scene, you should meet Mattityahu Shmuelevitz, Director General of the Israeli Prime Minister's Office.

Mr. Shmuelevitz is annoyed because West Germany is planning to sell some military equipment to Saudi Arabia. Quite annoyed, in fact. He told a West German daily, Die Welt, that Israel might launch a preemptive strike against Saudi Arabia if Bonn actually went ahead with its plans.

The Israeli government press office, apparently embarrassed that Mr. Shmuelevitz had made what appeared to be a Freudian slip in public, at first denied he had said it—that is, until the German correspondent produced a transcript of the taped interview.

According to the transcript, he had asked the Israeli official: "Could the supply of arms to Saudi Arabia or other Arab countries place Israel in a position where it could deal a preemptive blow?" Mr. Shmuelevitz replied: "Yes, this would place us in such a situation."

The fact that he then went on to say that his was a personal opinion" did little to lessen the impact in either Germany, Saudi Arabia, or other Arab countries which might buy West German weapons—since Mr. Shmuelevitz holds down an influential job which is roughly equivalent to that of the White House chief of staff.

We have our doubts that Israel will actually carry out an attack on Saudi Arabia over this issue. But Mr. Shmuelevitz's statement reflects the continued existence at a high level in Israel of a dangerous kind of thinking. Personal opinions can be the stuff of policymaking—and all too often are translated into official decisions. Mr. Schmuelevitz has confirmed that it is still far too early for Israel to be counted among the world's doves, to say the least.