Israel must declare: Possession is nine tenths of the law

Israel must declare: Possession is nine tenths of the law

Netanyahu’s speech in the U.N. is a shining example of a fundamental flaw in Israeli Public relations (hasbara): Israel doesn’t stop apologizing and asking for support. It never stops asking for permission. Other heads of state used the UN platform to tell other countries what to do. If we were a normal country, our Prime Minister would point to his audience with an accusatory finger and say, “you did this!” He would accuse the “moderate” Palestinian leadership of giving its children over to Hamas with their never-ending defiance.

It is about time we stop apologizing and start accusing the real opponents of peace “Moderate” Abu Mazen.

Netanyahu must make full use of the equating of Hamas and ISIS, an organization seen as a strategic threat to the West, by making clear that the failure to stop the former is a direct cause of the rise of the latter. He would make clear that to protect themselves they need to ensure that Israel, which stands on the front lines of the Islamist assault on the Western world, needs to be defended, as a statement, not a request, a demand, not a plea.

Our real problem is not anti-Semitism, the Muslims or even the settlements. Our real problem is our desire to be loved. By arguing that Israel is a small country surrounded by enemies and in need of allies we neglect the fact they need us no less than we need them. Just to show how desperate we are to be liked, as opposed to any other country on earth, we see the virulent criticism against our country as something positive to be listened to and absorbed. As though there is truly “constructive criticism” in the messy and Machiavellian world of international politics.

The EU has an article in every “association agreement” it reaches with Middle Eastern countries which deals with the preservation of Human Rights. Only with Israel does the EU threaten every so often to suspend the agreement for violating this article. Only is Israel subject to the possibility of harming of bilateral ties based on an issue not directly connected to them. Does anyone seriously doubt that the human rights situation in Israel is better than in Egypt, Syria or Algeria? Does anyone doubt that Israeli criticism of treatment of immigrants in Europe would be contemptuously rejected (justifiably!) as an unjustified attempt at interfering in another country’s internal affairs?

What’s Our Dignity Worth?

The Nation of Israel has invaluable assets for a declining Europe. It provides a unique contribution to the west by fighting emerging Middle Eastern threats as the only western forward post in the region with intelligence and operational capabilities which are second to none. It even has what to contribute in helping to ensure and improve moral standards in fighting terror. Time and again, we try to cooperate with a world which speaks of morals and justice but in truth is run primarily by “personal goals, fear and interest.”

We are so desperate to be a member of the club of liberal democracies that we don’t even try to use these assets as the price of admission, but forgo them in the pointless hope that we will be loved enough on the merits to be allowed to join. We reject with contempt the idea of tying our support for fighting just causes in exchange for support in fights no less just.

Even the most moral countries (which are not Israel) see first and foremost to their own interests. They have no incentive to help Israel when the price for this is paid in negative public opinion in their own country and abroad, when they can get what they want from Israel for free. On the contrary, they have an incentive to force Israel to standards no other country is held to – and unfortunately, Israel agrees to them far too often.

After the Six Day War (in other words, right after the infamous “occupation”) the liberation of our ancestral lands, we were admired the world over. Now we’re just repeatedly used. We supposedly dishonored the victory – not the Arab states, not anti-Semitism and not even “Peace Now.” Israel. The Israeli leadership which keeps begging and pleading for the world to “recognize Israel’s right to exist” are helping to cause horrific damage to Israel throughout the world.

Sovereign states don’t ask or plead for permission, and Israel who is fighting bitter battles for its existence for the past seven decades – as opposed to many other countries – has nothing to apologize for.