THERE WAS something interesting to be learned from the belated confessions of some of those who opposed [Ronald Reagan]'s healthy instincts. His former chief of staff, later secretary of state James Baker, relates how he too joined the very vociferous and powerful chorus of the foreign policy establishment that fought Reagan tooth and nail to have him eliminate from his speech at Brandenburg gate in Berlin the history-making phrase, his call to the Soviet leader, "Break down this wall, Mr. Gorbachev."

As for Israelis, they mostly share the attitude of their media that still treats Reagan with hostility. Mentioning Reagan's achievements to my bright university students, I elicited mostly blank stares or condescending smiles or sneers.

Little wonder. Shortly after Reagan was elected, Irving Kristol, who provided the intellectual inspiration for Reagan's revolution, visited Israel and met with senior Israeli editors. Hanna Zemer, then editor of Davar, turned to him and said: "Prof. Kristol, I understand that your newly elected president, Ronald Reagan, is not exactly a brilliant intellectual."