Today I was invited to Brussels' Radio Judaica to discuss the aftermath of the US elections with American documentary film maker Myriam Abramowicz. As might be expected, the war in Gaza became a topic, especially the reaction on the streets of Europe.
Abramowicz read out excerpts from Marvin Hier's January 8 Op-Ed in the Wall Street Journal, "The Jews Face a Double Standard." Hier, founder of the Simon Wiesenthal Center and its Museum of Tolerance, cites the upsurge of odious attacks on Jews and Jewish institutions throughout the world since the Israeli attack on Gaza. I am wary of a tendency to equate even reasoned criticism of Israel with antisemitism, but when words like "ovens" and "gas chambers" surface and swastikas are smeared on synagogues and other Jewish institutions, it is clear that old demons of hatred against Jews have never died. Principled protesters have been sullied by association with extremist ideologues and jackboot hooligans that they normally wouldn't be caught dead with.
Thinking Israelis too are concerned that, despite their government's well-honed PR machine, Israel may be losing the worldwide battle for hearts and minds. Says Barak Ravid in today's Haaretz:
This is not a problem of public relations. It is
difficult to impossible to explain the harm to civilians. The Foreign
Ministry's efforts to emphasize that Hamas is using civilians as a
human shield have only slightly contained the short-term damage.
Nevertheless, the problem is the medium- and long-term damage,
which may be manifested abroad as increased anti-Semitism and the
delegitimization of Israel's existence as a Jewish state.
These are big concerns. There is no doubt that Israel's image is suffering, yet again, for what much of the world sees as its army using a sledge hammer against largely defenseless Palestinians. No matter that Israeli civilians have also suffered years of trauma and death at the hands of Hamas rocketeers.
Israel may achieve short term goals in Gaza, only to have Jewish communities throughout the world pay a long term price in strained relations - and worse - in their countries. And what of the radicalization of West Bank Palestinians? This may be a victory that only Pyrrhus could savor.
Before he took to gloating about how he "shamed" Condoleezza Rice by getting her boss on the phone to scuttle a UN ceasefire resolution on Gaza, Ehud Olmert had other ideas about the value of diplomacy. Here he is, last year, apropos of avoiding war with Syria: "It is better in this situation to speak rather than to shoot." For Olmert, it may not be too late to heed his own words. But that depends on what Israel wants out of its final end-of-Bush-era war.
Beyond the immediate matter of rocket-launching Hamas militants, Israel should be concerned about its reputation. It may now scoff at Europeans practicing double standards, and wonder how any reasonable Arab interlocutor could have sympathy for Hamas. But it should really worry about the damage this may be causing to long term support in the US. George W. Bush might be content with transmitting Olmert's abstention instructions to his Secretary of State, but I doubt that Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, supportive of Israel though they may be, will be as willing to provide perpetual cover for Israel's intransigence in the face of world calls for a truce.
And the US Congress, which overreached itself in its desire to be more Israeli than the Knessnet, may be out of sync with US public opinion, which is tilting away from unquestioned support of Israel's incursion into Gaza.
1,000 Palestinians killed in Gaza so far. Five more days until January 20. Less than a month until Israel's election.
A lot of loose ends to tie up. And that's just the short term.
