On the wall of my office hangs a Soviet propaganda poster from 1981. I bought it at a Moscow flea market while I was stationed there several years ago.
The poster reflects the Soviet Union’s efforts to undermine the peace process between Israel and Egypt. It depicts a towering Arab figure, reminiscent of Yasser Arafat, looking down upon caricatures of Egyptian President Anwar Sadat, Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin and US President Jimmy Carter.
Behind them appear a Star of David and an American dollar sign, drawing upon the antisemitic trope of nefarious Jewish financial influence over American politics. In the bottom-left corner, a Russian inscription declares: “No to the Camp David Accords.”
For me, the poster is a reminder that campaigns against Israel are nothing new. Today, they spread through social media; in the 1970s and 1980s, they were printed on propaganda posters.
Forty-seven years after Israel and Egypt signed their historic peace treaty, we know that the opponents of peace were wrong then, just as today’s naysayers are wrong now.
Israel Prime Minister Menachem Begin 🇮🇱 & Egypt President Anwar Sadat 🇪🇬 sign the Camp David Accords, witnessed by President Jimmy Carter 🇺🇸.
Sadat is one of the great peacemakers of my book The Cauldron.
He paid with his life.
Israel returned Sinai to Egypt. The peace treaty that still endures.