Time Warp/Mind Warp: 28-Year-Old Netanyahu Debates Fouad Ajami in 1978

A hat tip to Joshua Teitelbaum of Stanford and Tel Aviv for this YouTube find. A 1978 debate between "Ben Nitay" (Bibi Netanyahu at age 28) and an Arab spokesman over a Palestinian state. The real kicker is the Arab interlocutor: it's a dark-haired, fuller-bearded Fouad Ajami. Netanyahu's views, at least as I hear them, haven't changed very much, except cosmetically. As for Ajami, I'll let you make up your own minds: It is, 33 years later, utterly fascinating for those of us old enough to remember 1978.






The debaters today: