We’re not Pariahs
Wednesday, 14 January 2009
Too many of us still believe that Jews are the outcasts in the world and Israel the despised state. In some places in Europe, where thugs occasionally attack Jews, communities have been understandably frightened and in most countries Jewish institutions have security arrangements (as, incidentally, have institutions in Israel, including supermarkets and restaurants.)
Some prominent Jews have made something of a science of it. Canadian Jewry’s own Irwin Cotler, to mention but one, has argued passionately that the world has transposed the pariah status of the individual Jew of old onto the State of Israel of today thus turning it into a pariah nation. This then becomes one line of argument in seeking to identify anti-Zionism and “anti-Israelism” with anti-Semitism.
For all I know, there may be much to it. I don’t have the wherewithal to defend non-Jews when they’re asked, albeit in more sophisticated ways, “When did you bash a Jew last?” But my instincts tell me that this is far too simplistic. I don’t feel it in Canada, even though, for example, I get my share of hostile comments to my columns in the Toronto Star, and I decidedly don’t feel it in Israel – even when I watch Al Jazeera.
In support of my “soft” attitude I’d like to cite an article, posted today, by Barry Rubin, the director of the Gloria Center in Herzliya and most decidedly not a defender of the enemies of Israel. He concludes his discussion about Israel’s diplomatic standing in the world with these words: “Nevertheless, the fact remains that Israel’s diplomatic relationships are far better than is generally realized and the importance of this fact should never be underestimated.”
To read the full version that includes brief analyses of the different countries with which Israel has relationships, please go to the Gloria Center's website. Even as the Gaza war is still raging and the media are turning more and more against Israel’s action, it’s vitally important always to remember that Jews have never had it so good. Those who ignore this fact seem to refuse to leave the ghetto, even though they don’t live in it. For obvious reasons, this stance is more prevalent in the Diaspora than it’s in Israel, but there are also traces of it here. Thus, for example in assessing the prospects of Tzipi Livni in the forthcoming elections in Israel, whereof I wrote yesterday, there are those who say that she’s not doing well because she’s “only” dealing with diplomacy and not with warfare. If Rubin’s assessment is correct, Livni’s “front” may turn out to be even more important than Barak’s.
The admittedly limited knowledge I have of retired Israeli diplomats makes me suspect that this negative view is fanned by them. Looking back on their careers they tend to remember the darts more than the laurels. Also, of course, the expulsion of the Israeli embassy staff from Venezuela a couple of days ago and the current demonstrations outside embassies and consulates around the world support the jaundiced view of the nations’ attitude to Israel.
I’m therefore grateful for Rubin’s description because it confirms me in my belief that, rather than Israel making the world more hostile to us Jews, the world has, in fact, come to respect us more thanks to Israel, albeit at times grudgingly.
| < Prev | Next > |
|---|
