{UAH} Pojim/WBK; The Israeli diplomat spoke of values and morality; I nearly choked on my coffee

http://www.theeastafrican.co.ke/OpEd/comment/The-Israeli-diplomat-spoke-of-values-and-morality/-/434750/2405942/-/j8alpa/-/index.html

The Israeli diplomat spoke of values and morality; I nearly choked on my coffee

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By Jenerali Ulimwengu

Posted  Saturday, August 2  2014 at  11:42

In Summary

• I heard this past week a former Israeli ambassador say that the ties between the US and his country are based on "shared values and morals" and I almost choked on my coffee.
• With the waning of American power, Israel's support base will necessarily erode. It would be wise, then, for the leaders of Israel to try make friends. And keep them.

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What do you do when you have a favourite son, close to your heart, who goes and becomes a neighbourhood bully terrorising all the district using your money and horsewhips? Do you disown him or do you try to rein him in, sometimes applying strong doses of tough love?

US diplomacy must be mulling this question as it regards its relations with Israel, even if we can agree that the Jewish state is not exactly a son to Washington. This "special relationship" between the two countries has often left me wondering what it's all about.

The intensity of the present unequal fight in Gaza puts this relationship under scrutiny once again, especially with the massive civilian casualties and the stone-faced arrogance that has accompanied Jerusalem's claims of innocent victimhood.

We may not agree with the tactics employed by Hamas, including the building of tunnels into Israel and the incessant launching of rockets into that country. The world has come to accept the right of Israel to exist in peace with its neighbours, and having to endure those rockets all the time is not what you and I may consider a peaceful pastime.

But that same right to exist in peace has to apply to the Palestinians as well. Some of us still remember a time when some elements in what was considered the Palestinian resistance called for Israel to be erased from the world map as an illegitimate implant in Palestine.

Though that kind of sentiment can still be found in places, world opinion has since evolved toward a live and let live outlook, and successive American presidents, especially Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton, have pushed for that line of thinking. To no avail.

Like the spoilt brat of the neighbourhood, Israel is claiming the right to kill whoever it feels like killing and grabbing whatever land it feels like grabbing. Anyone who dares to criticise these actions, however unconditional they may have been all along in their support for Israel, is singled out for ridicule and abuse. Like they have been treating John Kerry of late.

Sometimes I feel Kerry and his boss in the White House richly deserve that ridicule, for they are making themselves look ridiculous in persevering in their support for an unsupportable cause, the cause of a country with elastic boundaries. Israel is the only country in the world without permanent borders.

I heard this past week a former Israeli ambassador say that the ties between the US and his country are based on "shared values and morals" and I almost choked on my coffee.

If Israel stands for morality, please give me immorality any day. There can be little doubt that those schools turned into makeshift shelters are bombarded deliberately as a measure calculated to sow perfect terror in the hearts of people who now know there is absolutely nowhere to hide.

This is terrorism as practised by a state.

As Israel continues to lose the few friends it had in the world, we are reminded that the US will not remain the world's only superpower for very long, and with the waning of American power, Israel's support base will necessarily erode.

It would be wise, then, for the leaders of Israel to try the humility recommended by a long future vision. Make friends. And keep them.

Abba Eban, Israeli foreign minister and the country's top diplomat — whom we admired as youths for his erudition and elegant manipulation of the English language — once said:

"We have reached a point at which we can say that Israel has never been stronger in power in a quantitative measure. Never has Israel been less existentially threatened. Never has Israel been more secure against external assault and never more vulnerable to domestic folly. The major perils that now face us come from within ourselves. And they would emerge from the stupendous folly of attempting to enforce a permanent Israeli jurisdiction on the one-and-a-half million Arabs in the West Bank and Gaza."

Ocen  Nekyon

Democracy is two Wolves and a Lamb voting on what to have for lunch. Liberty is a well-armed Lamb contesting the results.

Benjamin Franklin

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