One of the greatest moments of admiration we’ve ever felt for an Israeli leader is when our eyes fell upon the photograph of Prime Minister Menachem Begin standing before an almost empty United Nations. The photo ran on the front page of the June 19, 1982, number of the New York Times. The dispatch, by Bernard Nossiter, reported that two thirds of the members of the General Assembly had stalked out when the Israeli leader rose to address the body that had first recognized his country.

We feel a similar admiration for Israel today. President Obama may have mocked the Jewish state for being the only country in the world to oppose the pact of appeasement he’s just inked with Iran. All the greater Israel’s glory, we say. That glory will be shared not only by Prime Minister Netanyahu, who gave a blunt assessment of the pact earlier this week. It will be shared by the full spectrum of Israel’s political leadership, including Isaac Herzog of the laborite faction, who also oppose this deal.

And, as the New York Post marked in an editorial this morning, by the American public, who are polling two-to-one against this deal. Such doubt in a population of more than 300 million isn’t purchased with a lobbying campaign of “tens of millions of dollars,” as the president put it (he’s got the vast machinery of the government’s publicity departments behind him; the annual budget of the state department’s public affairs office alone tops $38 million). The president seems to think the American people are dumb.

It’s hard to avoid saying that the president’s sketch of history smacks of dishonesty. He claims America was bound by the START and SALT treaties, but neglects to mention SALT II. That’s when the public got its back up at Soviet paltering. It was so clear that the Senate would not ratify SALT II that Carter didn’t even submit it, and America, in fact, was not bound by it. Reagan pointedly marked that he would not be bound if the Kremlin broke the agreement — and he made good on the promise.

We would not suggest that the president lacks for a mandate to extend his hand to Iran or to try to end the Iraq war. He campaigned for office on the points, and he’s more than entitled. That doesn’t give him a mandate to rewrite history. It doesn’t bind the Congress. He blames the Iraq war not on Saddam Hussein but on those Americans who have “a preference for military action over diplomacy.” He neglects to mention that more than a decade of diplomacy preceded the Iraq war he was against.

It was diplomacy that failed in Iraq. By the time war came it was clear that Mr. Obama and his ilk would never have enforced the U.N. sanctions. The president says that “more than a decade later, we still live with the consequences of the decision to invade Iraq.” Actually, the consequences we’re facing now are of his own decision to retreat prematurely, pulling our last GIs from a battlefield they had done so much to subdue. He gave away a victory that was purchased in the blood of, among others, Americans.

This is what the Congress is worried about in respect of Iran. It is what Israel is worried about. Congress legislated an unprecedented sanctions regime. It was just starting to bite. The president wants to declare victory “mission accomplished.” The Congress doesn’t. So whom does the President blame? Here’s the money quote: “every nation in the world that has commented publicly, with the exception of the Israeli government, has expressed support.”

Mark the President’s formulation: “every nation in the world that has commented publicly.” He doesn’t mention the opponents of the deal who haven’t commented publicly. He wants to isolate Israel. That is the point of the speech: “with the exception of the Israeli government.” Yet Israel knows it would be the first target of any use of an Iranian weapon. It was excluded from the table of the P5+1 the way the Czechs were from Munich. So good for Mr. Netanyahu, good for Mr. Herzog for standing Israel’s ground. They are standing on the shoulders of Menachem Begin.