Dahlia Scheindlin talks to Alon Liel. … As to the ubiquitous claim that criticism of Israeli policy is fueled by anti-Semitism, Liel scoffs. “You can’t pull one over on me. I’ve lived abroad for too many years, I know these people personally.” It is hard to imagine a more veteran actor in the international scene. Liel served the government for 31 years, was an ambassador in South Africa and several other African countries, held the top diplomatic post in Turkey, served as consulate in Atlanta and Chicago before becoming Director General of the Israeli Foreign Ministry. It’s ignorance to say criticism is anti-Semitism. The criticism of our policy comes from the left, and classic anti-Semitism is from the right. I can distinguish between those who hate me because I crucified Jesus and those who hate me because of the occupation. They’re not together at the same cocktail parties, they don’t even speak the same language. His insistence that ignorance causes the conflation of criticism and anti-Semitism is somewhat forgiving, when such tropes are often consciously manipulated. Still, the question remains what impact these European votes and recognitions can have when the real power broker in Israel-Palestine relations is the U.S. Symbolic gestures can indeed be empty – they become important when they have enough emotional resonance to galvanize critical masses from grassroots and elites, and when they spark action that gives flesh to skeletal ideas. Palestinian statehood could be harder to ignore should those countries not only name Palestine but begin treating it as a sovereign state – politically, culturally, as well as in terms of trade and international relations. Should those countries treat Israel as the violator of sovereign territory of a recognized state, the limp rhetoric of settlement condemnation could grow policy-oriented teeth. Liel has another vision. In South Africa, he says, pressure against apartheid spread primarily from Europe, catching fire among Western European countries between the 1970s and 80s. “After Europe got involved, and after there was a consensus, just weeks afterward the U.S. got in. …
Posted on: Sat, 15 Nov 2014 19:46:50 +0000
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