Review: The Diplomacy of Prudence
| DOI | 10.1177/002070209905400113 |
| Author | Zachariah Kay |
| Published date | 01 March 1999 |
| Date | 01 March 1999 |
| Subject Matter | Review |
The readers' column
The
diplomacy
of
prudence
Zachariah
Kay
L
.A.
DELVOIE'S
REVIEW OF
MY
BOOK,
The
Diplomacy
of
Prudence:
Canada
and
Israel,
1948-1958
(winter
1997-8)
raises
several
serious
questions.
My
major
concern
relates
to
the
reviewer's
lack
of
forbearance
in
giv-
ing
comprehensive
observations
to
the substantive
Canadian
and
Israeli
primary
archival sources
which
resulted
in
the
textual
conclusions.
For
example,
the
chapter
on
'The
Sage
of
the
Unsheathed
Sabres'
painstak-
ingly
presented
both
the
Canadian
and
Israeli
perspectives,
clearly
delineating
the
attitudes and
policy decisions
of
both
sides.
His
assess-
ment
-
'written
entirely
from
an
Israeli
perspective
...
judged
almost
entirely
in
terms
...
of
addressing
Israeli
interests
and
purposes'
-
brings
into
question the
reviewer's
objectivity
and
competence.
I
am
also
troubled
by
the
reviewer's
plaint
that
in
my
book
I
failed
to
account
for
the
possibility
that
'the
Canadian
government
might
for-
mulate
its
policies
...
on
its
own
assessments
...
or
its
own
appreciation
of
events.'
This
type
of
criticism
raises
the
question
again
of
the
depth
of
the
reviewer's
perusal
of
the text
and
conveys
a
disregard
for
the
con-
stituent
elements
of
diplomacy and
the
political process.
One
has
to
countenance what happened
and
not
what
should
have
happened
or
what
one
would
have
liked
to
have
transpired. Predilection
should
not
compromise
objectivity
when
writing
or
even
reviewing
a
book.
INTERNATIONAL
JOURNAL Winter
1998-9
183
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