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By Rabbi Dow Marmur
 TORONTO, Canada—There are several reasons why I’m ready to go back to Israel. I hope that, once there, I won’t have to worry so much about Israel’s image in the world. In Toronto, where virtually all I hear about Israel comes from the media, there’s much to agonize over – in fact, so much so that what follows should be read as a feeble attempt at diaspora therapy.
It’s troubling that the country’s Foreign Minister is a persona non grata in most places, including the State Department. He seems to be going out of his way to make public pronouncements calculated to annoy others, especially Palestinians. True, Obama would have been less accommodating than was his predecessor, but it would still be nice if Avigdor Lieberman could talk to Hillary Clinton the way Tzipi Livni could talk to Condoleezza Rice.
Lieberman seems to be getting on well with Putin and other Russians, but his much-heralded effort to make Israel less dependent on the United States doesn’t seem to be doing much good, even when it comes to Israel enlisting Russia’s (and China’s) help to deal with Iran.
Though we shouldn’t be under the illusion that the previous government was close to making peace with the Palestinians, despite Ehud Olmert’s spirited defense - perhaps as a diversion from the adverse publicity he’s about to get when his trial begins – it’s reasonable to suggest that, though the conflict isn’t anywhere near a solution, it was better managed then than it’s being dealt with now. At least then Palestinian and other Arabs talked to Israelis.
It’s troubling when the members of Israel’s cabinet are afraid to go to Europe lest they be arrested and charged with war crimes. Though there’s a silver lining in this – they’ll be saving the country a lot of money by not having the excuse to claim extravagant expenses, as Ehud Barak is said to have done recently – it’s indicative of Israel becoming a pariah state. And it won’t do just to “explain” it in terms of anti-Semitism.
It’s troubling when the Prime Minister of Israel speaks to the United Nations General Assembly as if he were addressing a UJA rally by using the Holocaust as the main defense in the face of criticism of his country. The (ab)use of the Holocaust by Israeli right-wing politicians has a long history, but as time goes on it’s even less appropriate than it was in the days of Menachem Begin. It’s a scandal when the Holocaust is turned into a cliché, irrespective who does it.
It’s troubling when the Government of Israel gets itself into a corner when even the United States may have to go along with some form of condemnation of Israel’s military over the Goldstone report. Though I cannot fathom why Goldstone would have chosen to put things as he did, I find it equally difficult to assume that what he’s saying is only a pack of lies. Had Israel
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cooperated with his probe, however flawed it now may be, it may have been to the country’s advantage. And had Israel initiated a probe of its own, much of the criticism might have been deflated.
Transparency may be risky, but the alternatives are much worse.
Everybody knows that war is a mess and that fighting it in densely populated areas is bound to cause civilian casualties. NATO forces in Afghanistan and American troops in Iraq aren’t immune from similar charges. Not to say so in some form opens Israel to some of the charges levelled against it now.
It’s troubling, when despite rumoured agreements to the contrary, settlement expansion in the territories continues unabated so that Netanyahu can keep his coalition by giving in to the extremists in his cabinet. Going against the wishes of the United States is a path to hara-kiri, despite Lieberman’s loose talk about making deals with the Russians. Does he really think that the Russians will be more tolerant to his political ambitions and ideological excesses than American evangelicals who continue to play an important part in the United States?
One ominous side-effect of the cooling between Washington and Jerusalem is that the US administration may now even be prepared to discuss in public what’s happening in Dimona, the plant that houses Israel’s ultimate deterrent which, if exposed to the world beyond the perennial rumours, might really endanger the Jewish state.
It’s troubling that Turkey, the Muslim country that had come relatively close to Israel is shifting its attention to Syria. Whereas not long ago it was the principle go-between in the efforts to come to an understanding between Israel and its neighbours in the North (Lebanon would be easier to deal with once an understanding with Syria had been reached), it now appears to be making common cause with Syria against Israel.
It’s troubling that the Government of Israel doesn’t even try to be civil to diaspora groups that venture to put forward a different point of view. Surely, there’re other categories in the Jewish world than sycophants (“patriots”) and renegades (“self-hating Jews”). The concerted attack on J-Street is a case in point. The smear campaigns against the Jews in the Obama administration is another.
It’s troubling that Israel - the Jewish state that binds it to the diaspora - should be used in bombastic announcements by Netanyahu as an excuse for making it impossible for Palestinians to come to the negotiating table. It’s reasonable to assume that the majority of Palestinians who want to live in peace and relative prosperity have tacitly accepted that Israel is Jewish. But to rub it in and thus invalidate their myth of “the right of return” isn’t clumsy Israeli diplomacy but an elaborate effort to derail talks and put the blame on them while continuing to build settlements.
Though I don’t believe that once I get to Israel all that’s troubling me here will be resolved, I hope that I may get a more nuanced perspective on these and many other issues. Come Hanukka, therefore, recipients of this column are likely to be subjected to many more.
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