Judith Miller reflects on her decades covering the Middle East, describing how an early assignment reporting on the 1983 bombing of United States Marines in Beirut deepened her awareness of rising militant Islamism. Traveling through Israel to reach Lebanon, she encountered Israeli intelligence officials who were already alarmed about Iranian-backed groups such as Hezbollah and other Shiite and Sunni militants. She later reported that Hezbollah was responsible for the attack, at a time when many American officials were slow to recognize the growing threat.

Miller recounts her relationship with Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, including a memorable, unscheduled meeting in New York where he warned about the dangers posed by Iran and its regional proxies. Although Rabin pursued peace with the Palestinians, she believed he viewed radical Islamist movements as the greater long-term danger. With his support, she published a controversial front-page investigation detailing financial networks in the United States that allegedly supported Hamas.

Contrasting her experiences, Miller writes that reporting in Israel was far easier than in many Arab countries, where access to officials was limited and media freedoms were constrained. Israel’s open and argumentative press culture, despite military censorship, offered broader access and transparency. She concludes with regret that formal peace agreements between Israel and its Arab neighbors have not produced deeper mutual understanding, leaving mistrust and distance on both sides.