Angrily calling back an ambassador while fretting about “shameful” resolutions labelled as “anti-Semitic”, Israel flexed its diplomatic muscles against a country acting in support of Palestinian rights.
Reading the above, you must be thinking about Israel’s recent decision to close its embassy in Dublin, justified by foreign minister Gideon Sa’ar on the grounds of Ireland’s “anti-Semitic rhetoric… rooted in efforts to delegitimise and demonise the Jewish state”.
But think again (and again). The same spirit – and variations of these diplomatic actions – was deployed by Israel against countries such as Sweden and New Zealand. Sweden’s sin? Recognising, in 2014, a Palestinian state. And what did New Zealand do to earn Israel’s wrath? In 2016, it dared to co-sponsor UN Security Council resolution 2334, adopted in a 14–0 vote (with the US as the sole country abstaining), declaring that Israel’s establishment of settlements “has no legal validity and constitutes a flagrant violation under international law”.
[ Attention-grabbing gimmick? Israeli media reacts to embassy closure in DublinOpens in new window ]
Frankly, there should have been more examples – many more examples. What Israel is doing to Palestinians is not its own domestic problem, nor is it a minor or passing crisis; it is one of the most horrific, ongoing, large-scale human rights abuses of this century (and much of the previous one). The international community should do more – not less – to counter this reality.
What Israel is doing to Palestinians is one of the most horrific, ongoing, large-scale human rights abuses of this century
Unfortunately, actions have been few and far between. In an effort to keep it this way, Israel acts as a diplomatic bully, never quite addressing the substance of its policies or engaging with arguments over the factual record. This is understandable: decades of dispossession and oppression of Palestinians, a policy to maintain Jewish supremacy between the river and the sea, entire Palestinian communities wiped out, gradual ethnic cleansing, tens of thousands killed, blanket impunity, apartheid – all these are hard facts, backed by repeated reports of journalists, diplomats, UN experts and human rights organisations. How can one even begin addressing all this? One doesn’t: easier to invoke anti-Semitism – and if need be, even downgrade relations or call back an ambassador or close an embassy.
The key issue here is not Israel’s angry clatters or annoyed actions. The issue is: is the world doing enough? Is Ireland doing enough? The actions taken to date – as mentioned above – have managed to publicly irritate Israel, once every few years. But these actions, to date, have failed to defend the rights of Palestinians, failed to save Palestinian homes or protect Palestinian life, failed to end Israel’s impunity.
Dispossession and oppression of Palestinians, a policy to maintain Jewish supremacy, entire Palestinian communities wiped out, gradual ethnic cleansing, tens of thousands killed, blanket impunity, apartheid – all these are hard facts
For sure, more action would mean more friction with Israel. In the words of Frederick Douglass, more than 150 years ago, “power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and it never will.” It remains just as true now: Israel will concede nothing without a demand. The world has yet to make that demand.
A closed embassy is an effort to bully and distract. So be it. But the priority for Ireland – and for other people seeking a just life for all people in Israel/Palestine – shouldn’t be the diplomatic etiquette of relationships with an apartheid regime. It should be the necessary, effective, steps towards Palestinian freedom. And nothing less.
Hagai el-Ad is based in Jerusalem and is the former executive director of B’Tselem, the Israeli Information Centre for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories. He tweets at @HagaiElAd
