Opinion | Columnists
Israel's legitimacy is widely challenged
Young people around the world are working with rights groups to expose Tel Aviv
- By As'ad Abdul Rahman,Special to Gulf News
- Published: 00:00 March 19, 2010
- Image Credit: Illustration: Nino Jose Heredia/Gulf News
- Israel has been pathologically focused on any threat against its existence.
Since 1948, Israel has worn various disguises. This became acutely evident with the release of the Goldstone Report, with Israel trying to minimise the damage, leading a battle to sway public opinion of global TV witnesses of the carnage committed against civilians in Gaza.
The ensuing diplomatic campaign evolved to contain the negative effects of the report, especially after high-ranking Israeli officials were accused of war crimes. "The Israel Defence Forces is not taking the Goldstone Report lightly," said army Major General Amir Eshel. "The issue of legitimacy for Israel is very significant, because we are not living in a vacuum … There is no doubt that the state of Israel has a problem, and the Goldstone Report has reflected it more strongly."
Israel has been pathologically focused on any threat against its existence. This obsession has led to a military mindset which feels a continuous need for war, and also explains its fixation on possessing the most advanced deterrent forces. However there were disappointing consequences for Israel in the wars against Lebanon in 2006 and Gaza in 2008-09. These two wars forced Israel to confront a threat to its legitimacy, and recognise that its military power had proved ineffective. There is also a threat from Western countries, previously on Israel's side. According to Natan Sharansky, "Israel is facing an international campaign that aims at its delegitimisation … a real war that threatens our strategic interests, and we must counteract one for one."
In a report distributed among Benjamin Netanyahu's Cabinet, the Reut Institute, a policy group in Tel Aviv, summarises by saying: "Israel is facing a dramatic assault on the very legitimacy of its existence." The report calls upon the government not to ignore legitimacy criticism, behind which stands an "international network". The report calls upon the government to deal with this issue as a real strategic threat, presenting Israel as an imperialist entity practising Nazi tactics and racial discrimination. The report claims this network uses the old apartheid South African model and the global strategy against it as a comparative example against Israel: boycotting Israeli goods in European markets, boycotting Israeli universities by British and European universities, indicting Israeli politicians and military officers in European capitals. The report accuses this network, comprising organisations and individuals loyal to the Palestinians, and mostly Arab and Islamic groups and the European political left, of trying to expose Israel as a pariah state whose right to exist should be negated.
Joint effort
The report lists the network's major hubs as London, Brussels, Madrid, Toronto, San Francisco and the University of California, Berkeley, saying its members are "young people, anarchists, migrants and radical political activists". Although they are few, they use public campaigns which attract media coverage. The report claims this network cooperates with organisations engaging in legitimate criticism of Israel's policy in the Occupied Territories, such as Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, blurring the line between legitimate censure and delegitimisation, and that they promote pro-Palestinian activities in Europe as being "trendy".
The Reut report says Israel is not able to deal with the threat of delegitimisation because the foreign ministry is built for the challenges of the "1960s, not the 2000s". "There are no budgets, not enough diplomats and no appropriate diplomatic doctrine."
The report did not point to Avigdor Lieberman, whose presence in the post of foreign minister, according to the Israeli press, encourages friendly nations, like the US, as well as the rest of the world, to have negative opinions. In an excerpt from Ari Shavit's article, "Lieberman is helping delegitimise Israel". "For about a decade, the assault on the Jewish state has been renewed and … became an overall attack. A wide coalition … has leveraged Operation Cast Lead to speak ill of Israel and has used the occupation to delegitimise sovereign Israel as well. It has pushed Israel into a corner and turned it into a semi-pariah state. This has damaged Israeli businesses, academia and security. Israel's ability to use force to protect itself has been eroded. And the two-state idea is on the verge of collapse … the threat of delegitimisation has become a matter of survival — requiring a comprehensive change in approach. After half a century of putting strategic emphasis on the military, Israel must now return to state affairs ... The foreign ministry … must adopt the Mossad and Shin Bet work ethos and lead a … diplomatic public relations campaign, the likes of which we have not seen since 1947 …"
Jewish American writer Leonard Fein, founder of Moment Magazine, in an article titled, ‘A spectre is haunting Israel, its name is Goldstone', writes, "I am not quite certain what delegitimising Israel means. Does it mean that Israel's critics seek to eliminate the Jewish state? Plainly, there are those who do. But the vast majority of those who are growingly critical of Israel … do not even hint at putting an end to the Jewish state. Quite the contrary … They call, ever more urgently, for the implementation of a two-state solution … a two-state solution is the only way to assure the survival of the Jewish state — a point widely recognised in Israel."
(Professor As'ad Abdul Rahman is the chairman of the Palestinian Encyclopaedia)
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