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January 14, 2009

Diplomats: Israel causing long-term damage to own image

Friendly, aknowledged friends of Israel among other nation's diplomatic corps are warning their Israeli counterparts that "Israel's image in the world has been destroyed."

"Make no mistake," he said. "I understand why you embarked on the operation in Gaza, and many of my colleagues also understand and even support it, but a few days ago you started to cross red lines."

...

"The international organizations in Gaza are talking about 200 dead children," he said. "I don't know how to explain these things to myself, never mind to my government," added the ambassador. "Your action is brutal and you don't realize how much damage this is causing you in the world. This is not only short term. It's damage for years. Is this the Israel you want to be?"

For their part, Israel's Foreign Ministry appear to understand that some sort of long-term diplomatic hole has been dug by their government. But I see scant evidence that they grasp the enormity of it.

The Western world, however, must be presented with the message that despite the scale of destruction rained on Gaza, Israel is a democratic state with a similar worldview to countries in Europe and the United States.

Still, Foreign Ministry officials are convinced that these public relations efforts will not suffice to restore Israel's image and will need to be backed up by diplomatic progress with the Palestinians.

There you have it. I don't see any way to interprete that except as a freudian admission that diplomatic progress with the Palestinians is, and probably always has been, seen as nothing more than a tactical move that's obviously been held in reserve or it wouldn't be there to be played now.

And that means that the estimated 500 civilians who have died during the Gaza operation were merely pawns which Israel and Hamas alike willingly sacrificed.

Actual sincere diplomatic progress with the Palestinians would arguably have prevented Hamas from every getting big enough to win an election or seize control of Gaza.

To what end?

Consider that most experts agree that within as few as possibly 10 years Arabs will outnumber Jews in the officially "Jewish" state of Israel.

The grand, cold-blooded game is about trying to prevent that from ever happening.

Yitzhak Rabin was the last Israeli leader to sincerely attempt to make permanent peace with the Palestinians. Which is why he was assassinated. But I digress. That's all foundational to what's going on today, but many don't want to know about anything that clashes with their pre-existing beliefs and opinions.

Posted by Kevin at January 14, 2009 04:58 PM