Benny Morris, historian of Israel (and 1948 in particular), offers the first response to my essay at Mosaic Magazine on what happened (and didn’t) on the eve of Israel’s independence in May 1948. Morris: “While in 1948-49 Ben-Gurion was highly interested in expanding Israel’s borders beyond the confines of the territory allotted by the UN partition resolution, he also refrained from supporting the conquest of the whole Land of Israel.” In my final word, I’ll focus exactly on this issue. Read Morris here.

(And I offer a special word of thanks to Morris: this is my third monthly essay at Mosaic Magazine to which he’s contributed a response. Always reliable, always interesting.)