Judge for yourself:

After the past number of days in which tons of scorn have been poured over Yosef Lapid, someone has to stand up and defend him. I decided that the hostile rivalry between us should not be allowed to get in the way, so I will admit: some of Lapid’s explanations about the change in his position are acceptable to me.

I agree, for example, with the argument that “only a bull doesn’t change its mind.” I spent the last week searching through Victor Hugo’s writings for that saying, which Lapid attributes to the famous French author; so far I haven’t managed to find it. But I do remember a similar phrase from Moshe Dayan, who said “only a donkey doesn’t change its mind,” and it is very possible that Lapid is making a mutt of things, which has long been prohibited by the Rabbis going back to “don’t let a bull and donkey plow together,” but it is well known that Lapid and I don’t live according to the strict laws of the doctrines of Moses.

My suspicion did, however, raise the odd thought that perhaps the attribution to Hugo was [fixed translation -AST] meant to distract attention from the connection to Bernard Shaw, who once said about one of the oldest professions in the world that first principles are dealt with and then the question of price – but it is not proper to regard that suspicion with too much seriousness. I’m known for suffering the ailment of suspicion.

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