Posted on 04/08/2003 3:08:14 AM PDT by Asher
Apr. 8, 2003
Editorial: 'To Joshka Fischer'
Dear Joschka: It is nice to have you here, because we appreciate the visit of every friend, and we see in you one of Israel's most credible and reliable friends in Europe.
Anyone who doubts this need only read the speech you gave on your last visit in May, when you received an honorary doctorate (your first degree, as you happily confessed) from the University of Haifa. You spoke candidly about German history and the hope that "through this unwavering solidarity of democratic Germany with Israel, trust and sometimes even friendship could develop between the survivors and the children of the victims on one side and the children of the perpetrators on the other side."
Since then much has happened. The government in which you serve has been re-elected, and your personal political position in it strengthened. That government openly and insistently opposed the American-led coalition to remove Saddam Hussein in Iraq, a position that raised eyebrows not only in Washington, but in Jerusalem.
Though Israel is much criticized in the West, we are a country that greatly appreciates the need for Western unity, particularly in NATO, and we see it as relevant over the long term to our security.
It is time, then, to have a look at our friendship in light of the wreckage at least as many Israelis see it of the Atlantic alliance. Coming as we do from a place that has suffered the blows of Iraqi missiles, the attacks of Iraqi armies, and Iraqi support for waves of suicide bombings, you no doubt will understand why Germany's position has been received here with some alarm.
We know that we have to be careful here. Israel, it is true, often misreads European politics and sometimes unfairly ascribes to it the darkest of motives. Then again, too often Europeans have failed to appreciate the seriousness of our predicament. Many of your colleagues take too lightly our real security concerns, thinking us a Goliath who can afford to be magnanimous when we see ourselves as a David fighting, time and again, against the odds.
Since we seem to be on the eve of a different Middle East, one in which Europe very much would like to have a role, it is worth speaking frankly, in the hopes that a new page can be opened. We must ask ourselves a question that you sometimes ask us why do we so mistrust Europe? Why doesn't Europe count?
Despite what you may think, the first basis of mistrust is not Europe's wartime history. What we cannot forget is what has happened since, at times when the chips were down and Israel's very survival was at stake.
In 1967, when Israel was on the verge of being overrun and provisions for mass graves were being made, the French, our main arms provider, imposed an arms embargo, abandoning Israel to its fate. In 1973, when Israel was under attack from all sides, no European country except Portugal including, notoriously, Willy Brandt's Federal Republic would grant the US overflight rights to rush to us emergency supplies.
These betrayals are fresh in our memories because they have not been obviously disavowed. Much fresher still, however, is perhaps the greatest betrayal of all, the one that continues at this moment.
In 2000, Israel finally did what Europe had been pressing for over three decades: it put on the table an offer of Palestinian statehood over some 97 percent of the territories. The Palestinian counter-offer? A terrorist offensive that continues to this day.
As Israeli civilians were pounded by attack after grisly attack, Europe's media and political leadership did not rush to our defense. Nor were they particularly evenhanded. One might have expected a lonely European voice to ask the question, "did Israel not do what we have asked? Is it right that Israel's outstretched hand was met with violence?"
Instead, as Paul Berman writes in his book Terror and Liberalism, "each new act of murder and suicide testified to how oppressive were the Israelis. Palestinian terror... was the measure of Israeli guilt." Your colleague Louis Michel of Belgium stood on the tarmac of the Brussels airport and sent the Palestinians supplies. Your colleague Chris Patten of the European Commission refused to countenance the idea that the Karine A might have something to do with Yasser Arafat. France's ambassador to London called us "that shitty little country." Leading European intellectuals came to Arafat's court to pay express their "solidarity." Jacques Chirac stood on the same platform with representatives from Hizbullah. And so on and on.
Yes, Europeans expressed their condolences for our dead. They told us we had the right to self-defense. But it had to be "proportional." And what did that mean? When we imposed closures, blockades, curfews --this was "punishing the innocent." Fair enough. When we pursued a policy of targeted killings against the worst of the worst, this was "extrajudicial." So just what did Europe mean by "self-defense"?
To all this, of course, you have been an exception a lonely exception, it seems. As we said at the beginning, this letter is written to a friend, a friend who has great influence with Messrs. Patten, Michel, Chirac, etc. etc. So we would be grateful if you would tell them this:
Why does Europe not count for Israel? Why do we ignore its counsels? Because Europe has no money in its moral bank account. Because when our people are blown up in buses and cafes, when children are bludgeoned, when toddlers are shot in their beds, we expect something more than pro forma condemnations, condemnations often packaged with apologies for the perpetrators of these atrocities. Because when we make offers for peace, and those offers are rejected, we expect you to swing behind us, not make further demands on our "reasonableness." Because when Europeans tell us that, once we get out of the territories, Europe will "guarantee" our security, we ask: with what political will and with what military means? Because when the US moves to remove one of the greatest existential threats to our security namely, Iraq Europe vigorously opposes it. Because when the chips have been down for us in the past, it was always the US, and never Europe, that came to our rescue.
Joschka: When we have a true partner on the Palestinian side, you can depend on Israel to be "reasonable." Until then, we look to you to persuade your colleagues to be reasonable as well.
Fischer refused to visit Israeli Justice Minister in his office and requested meeting take place elsewhere.
It seems that Herr Fischer feels East Jerusalem should be Judenrein.
The only good thing is that Justice Minister is Yosef Lapid and guest was treated as he deserves. Lapid rebuffed FIsher saying Fischer will not dictate the borders of Israeli capital.
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