Blame EU Sanctions on Obama

By MARTIN SHERMAN, JPOST

In its recent decision to impose sanctions on Israeli activity across the pre-1967 lines, EU bureaucracy is merely acting as a pawn, albeit neither unwitting nor unwilling, for malicious domestic forces within Israel.

It is indeed not a simple matter for me as an Israeli citizen to call on foreign governments…faith-based organizations, unions and citizens to suspend cooperation with Israel. I am convinced that outside pressure is the only answer. I consequently have decided to support the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement that was launched by Palestinian activists.

– Neve Gordon, “Boycott Israel,” Los Angeles Times, August 20, 2009

It’s difficult and painful, almost impossibly so, for an Israeli to call for such a boycott…The change won’t come from within. Change will only come from the outside. The call for an economic boycott has become a patriotic requirement.

– Gideon Levy, “The Israeli patriot’s final refuge: boycott,” Haaretz, July 16, 2013

The European Union’s decision to boycott the settlements struck the Israeli government like a bolt of lightning on a clear blue day; it’s a shame that there are some on the Israeli Left who longed for this day and blessed the EU decision.

– Dan Margalit, “A yellow star for settlers,” Israel Hayom, July 17, 2013

Last week the EU dropped an allegedly unexpected bombshell, when it announced, with exquisitely poor timing and impeccably poor taste (on the fast of Tisha Be’av, one of the most solemn days in the Jewish calendar, commemorating the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem), that it was suspending any involvement in economic, social or academic ventures with Israeli institutions situated across the pre-1967 lines. The new punitive resolution, which reportedly could cost Israel billions of dollars, is to go into effect in 2014.

Righteous indignation

Unsurprisingly, the odious EU initiative provoked a spate of protests from Israeli officialdom and numerous right-of-center commentators. They aptly berated the Europeans for their egregious double standards, condemned their blatant anti-Israel bias, and denounced the discriminatory boycott as a reflection of the longstanding and loathsome European tradition of Judeophobia, indeed of Judeocide

However, as compelling and cogent this censure might be, to a large degree, it misses the point – or at least misses identifying an even more insidious factor which, to a large measure, underlies the EU decision.

This is the array of domestic elements in Israel that are pleased as punch at the EU decision. For as vindictive as it may be, they see in it the vindication of their political views, and proof positive of the position they have been advocating over the years, despite its repeated rejection at the polls.

This group includes a diverse collection of ideo-political persuasions – from hardline radical post-(read “anti-”) Zionists, to allegedly pro-Zionist left-of-center activists – who, despite the mountain of accumulating evidence as to its disastrous infeasibility, still doggedly (read “obsessively”) cling to their cherished delusion of a two-state-solution. There is, however, one common denominator shared by all: A pathological – almost visceral – aversion to the Jewish communities across the pre- 1967 line in Judea-Samaria, and their residents, usually pejoratively referred to as “settlements” and “settlers,” respectively.

“My prediction” revisited

Almost two months ago I wrote a column titled “My prediction: Please help prove it wrong.”

In it I cautioned: “It is important to note the metamorphosis that has taken place in the rationale of the two-state doctrine…[W]ithdrawal from the territories across the 1967 Green Line is now no longer presented… as a measure designed to attain a peace accord with the Palestinians…Today, territorial retreat is being promoted as a stand-alone moral imperative which must be aspired to, no matter what the peace negotiations with the Palestinians achieve. Or don’t.”

Given this ideo-political backdrop, I warned that the specter of economic sanctions would soon be brandished against the “settlers” and “settlements” in Judea- Samaria: “As the growing specter of international…sanctions looms ever-larger and more menacing, public concern will be harnessed to fan the flames of resentment toward the designated cause of these potential punitive measures – the continued Jewish presence across the 1967 Green Line. Although radical post/anti-Zionist elements will continue their [overt] support for the BDS (Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions) movement, [others] will not publicly call for such steps against Israel. Privately, however, they may well let it be known that they feel that tangible threats thereof might have a valuable role to play.

“They will write articles and give interviews in the mainstream media, warning that such penalties are imminent, thereby signaling to foreign governments that such action is, in their eyes, understandable, even, regrettably, appropriate. As such threats become more credibly conveyed and are seen to be more tangibly imminent, they will be brandished domestically… and increasingly portrayed as an unwarranted and avoidable punishment brought down on the general public by a handful of recalcitrant, radical ideologues.

“Then, a well-orchestrated campaign to discredit the residents of the Jewish communities of Judea and Samaria will begin. They will be portrayed as the source of economic burden and physical danger to the rest of the population living within the pre-1967 frontiers…”

Before our very eyes

Appallingly, this is precisely the reality that is beginning to materialize before our very eyes, far more rapidly than even I imagined.

Just hours before the announcement of the EU decision,Haaretz’s Gideon Levy exhorted the Europeans to penalize all Israelis for the sins of the “settlers,” proclaiming: “A European boycott would not stop at products made in West Bank settlements.

“There’s no reason it should. The distinction between products from the occupation and Israeli products is an artificial creation. All of Israel is immersed in the settlement enterprise, so all of Israel must take responsibility for it and pay the price for it.”

With undisguised relish, Levy urges: “Economic boycott was proven effective in South Africa. And it can happen here too. Israel’s economy will not withstand a boycott.”

It would be a grave error to dismiss the views expressed by Levy as marginal or unrepresentative of large swathes of Israel’s left-of-center so-called “intelligentsia.”

For the Haaretz columnist is hardly a figure who is marginalized or shunned by mainstream society.

Quite the opposite, he is a welcome and frequent guest on radio and television programs, given roles in widely viewed docu-dramas and feted by many for his alleged “journalistic courage.”

Perverse masochistic discourse

Of course, given the perverse masochistic tenor of the public discourse in Israel, where self-flagellation is not only the order of the day, but a badge of moral merit, it takes very little courage to express the views that Levy expounds. It entails no penalty, either professional or personal. If anything quite the reverse.

The collegial embrace extended him by much of the establishment is reflected in the unwritten subtext that defines both the fundamental credo and the acceptable code of conduct of large segments of the allegedly “intellectual” mainstream.

So while Levy might be a little more acrimonious than most, the views he expresses are hardly dichotomously dissimilar to many of those of his more reticent and less flamboyant colleagues.

Thus, the seasoned and sober Moshe Arens described “the reaction of much of the Israeli media” as “amazing,” characterizing it as “the usual Israeli spin doctors on the Left, weaving a tale to convince the Israeli public that Judea and Samaria, the Golan Heights and much of Jerusalem had to be abandoned.”

Not all those who approve of the EU decision can applaud it openly, because of the official positions they hold. They are therefore compelled to publicly feign shocked disapproval, while surreptitiously rubbing their hands with glee.

Allow me to cite boycott-enthusiast Gideon Levy – and leave you to draw your own conclusions: “When Justice Minister Tzipi Livni warns about it [the boycott] spreading and calls as a result for the diplomatic deadlock to be broken, she provides proof of the need for a boycott. She and others are therefore joining the boycott, divestment and sanction movement. Welcome to the club.”

Apologetics abound

In the Israeli media, apologetics for the EU resolution abounded. Thus, with clearly discernible relief, David Newman, dean of the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences at Ben-Gurion University (no real surprise there), crowed: “This time no amount of back-room lobbying and pressure was able to delay the decision any longer. The EU and many of its member countries were simply fed up with the continued lack of progress on the peace front, and with what they see as the blatant promotion of policies aimed at strengthening the occupation.”

Others expressed not only sympathetic understanding of the EU measures, but varying degrees of commendation.

Haaretz’s Amira Hass, arguably the only person who can match Gideon Levy for unrestrained vitriol and venom in her criticism of Israel and her profound opprobrium for any manifestation of Israeli strength, cooed that the European decision “allowed [Mahmoud] Abbas to consent to renewed negotiations [and] tell his skeptical, cynical public that the decision was made from a position of Palestinian strength – not weakness – as the EU measure shook Israel from its complacency.”

In a disturbingly similar tone, Brig-Gen. (res.) Shomo Brom surmised approvingly that “one of the factors that influenced the Israeli side [to renew the negotiations] was the exclusion of the occupied territories from agreements with the EU. In contradiction to the spokespeople of the Israeli government, it is plausible to assume the European measure acted to aid the negotiations and not undermine them. The government of Israel was terrified at the possibility of the extension of the delegitimization of Israel as a result of its rejectionist image” (translated from the Hebrew).

It should be mentioned that Brom is a senior research associate in the Institute for National Security Studies (INSS), which is in the forefront of promoting a manifestly imbecilic proposal for unilateral withdrawal from virtually all of Judea- Samaria, regardless of the outcome of any negotiations – underscoring my previous observation that such withdrawal is no longer considered a measure to attain peace, but as a stand-alone moral imperative in and of itself.

A darker shade of black

The EU decision was manna from heaven for the anti-settler elements in Israel

But it was not sheer luck that brought them this windfall. It was the culmination of years of effort, in which numerous Israelis clamored relentlessly for the imposition of sanctions on their own country, something that curiously never induced them to eschew pocketing generous salaries-cum-benefits paid them from the coffers of the odious state they urge others to boycott.

They have been consistently unsuccessful in having their anti-settlement rather than pro-peace–views endorsed at the polls by the Israeli electorate.

Harnessing punitive coercive action from foreign sovereignties to compel the elected government to bend to their will is the only avenue left open to them.

Consequently, they have spent great effort in choreographing the discourse and preparing (read “inciting”) public opinion so that the stage would be set for the kind of measures taken last week.

Without such like-minded exhortations, it is unlikely the decision of bureaucrats in Brussels, who had scant support from senior political echelons, would have materialized.

In this sense, the EU is merely acting as a kind of pawn – albeit neither unwitting nor unwilling – for malicious domestic forces within Israel.

Accordingly, while I have no argument with those who point to the virulent anti- Israel animus that pervades much of Europe and agree with Isi Leibler that “this EU policy is utterly perverse,” that perversity pales into insignificance when compared to the malevolence of many Israelis toward their compatriots across the pre-1967 lines.

They are a far greater danger to the country than the bureaucrats in Brussels.

Unless they are stopped, Israel will find itself in a truly perilous position. Then there will be little left to do, other than apportion historical guilt – and, as in the past, attend the needless funerals for which they will be responsible.

Martin Sherman (www.martinsherman.net) is the founder and executive director of the Israel Institute for Strategic Studies. (www.strategic-israel.org)

July 27, 2013 | 23 Comments »

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23 Comments / 23 Comments

  1. Salubrius Said:

    The first step on the road to reeducation of the Israeli left is the Knesset approval of the Levy Report.

    what justification does the GOI give for not doing this?

  2. Salubrius Said:

    It will not be easy to convince the left of this.

    In my view it is the overwhelming mass of the Israel and jewish diaspora population that is ignorant of the truth of your facts. many of those on the right and middle are ignorant. The main culprit for the ignorance and disinformation are the successive GOI who have never raised the issue in any seriousness and now the libel has become the basis for the EU sanctions. Israeli and Diaspora jews need to pressure the GOI but first they need to be apprised of the facts. I believe that NGO’s in Israel and the diaspora should specifically take up this task and that Lawfare should be a major component initiated in Israel and relevant states bound by the relevant law. One rich jew who backed a US political candidate for 100 million could do a lot to help the effort. the lawfare would bring the light of the media as and indirect source of education. Any such cases brought would likely get media attention from the global press.

  3. It is necessary to educate the left that the Jewish occupation of Judea, Samaria and East Jerusalem since 1967 is no more immoral than my occupation of my home since 1964. That is because I own it. The best descriptive for the current status is “liberated”, not “occupied” nor “disputed”. The IDF was incorrectly advised by Theodor Meron in 1967 that its status was that of a belligerent occupier. The view justifying this status is based on Article 43 of the 4th Hague Convention of 1907 that assumes that land being occupied has a legitimate sovereign. It is not applicable because Jordan was illegally occupying it after an aggressive invasion in 1948. Nor were Jews illegally transferred to that territory by Israel. They went there of their own initiative, for economic, religious or patriotic reasons, or to return to their home in an area from which they were expelled in 1948 by the Jordanians. No Arab country recognized Jordanian sovereignty over Judea, or Samaria or East Jerusalem. In any event Jordan has given up its claim. Only Britain and Pakistan recognized the claim.
    The so called Palestinian People were invented by the Soviet dezinformatsiya in 1964. See: Brand, Soviet Russia Creators of the PLO and the Palestinian People. http://wwwthink-israel.org/brand.russiatheenemy.html

    The Jews have exclusively owned the political rights to all of Palestine west of the Jordan River since 1920. See: Brand, Roots of Israel’s Sovereignty and Boundaries under International Law: In Defense of the Levy Report http://www.think-israel.org/Brand.allegedoccupation.html.

    It will not be easy to convince the left of this. That is because the illegality of Israel’s position of being conceived in sin has by now become a poetic truth and can’t be dented by facts, reason or logic. Much of this is due to the Government of Israel who wants to change “occupied” that by now has become a pejorative term, to a wishy washy “disputed” instead of to “liberated” which is the better descriptive of the current status. If the Mafia, by threats of violence or actual violence tries to take your property away in the US to you refer to the status of the property as “disputed” or to the claim as extortion?

    The first step on the road to reeducation of the Israeli left is the Knesset approval of the Levy Report.

  4. @ bernard ross:

    I don’t believe Quigley is a Irish Trotskyite living in Spain. He uses to many American phases in his post. I think he is some nerdy colege freshman sillting in an empty dorm room with nothing to do.

  5. Felix Quigley Said:

    Well the Israeli ruling class will not fight because they fear their own people more than they fear the international Antisemitic capitalists.


    Got news for you buddy the Ruling Class in Israel are Capitalists.

  6. yamit82 Said:

    European Union expresses concern over Israeli directive to suspend contact with Europe on matters related to Judea, Samaria and Gaza.

    Isn’t this what suggested,do as you wish,people will scream but then they accecpt you. It’s the Scarlett O’Hara approach. You just have dig your heels in and ride out the reprecussions.
    And Yamit 82 & Ross, what ever makes you “giddy” tickles me plumb to death,yawl

  7. Felix Quigley Said:

    the Israeli ruling class will not fight because they fear their own people more than they fear the international Antisemitic capitalists.

    dont you mean this the other way around?

    Felix Quigley Said:

    Yamit and Ross are wetting their pants now in excitement

    I just checked: not wet…………..yet.
    Felix Quigley Said:

    Yamit and Ross use every chance to prop up this corrupt capitalist elite in Israel.

    you’re way off base.

    I can’t figure out what your point is?

  8. “The Israeli patriot’s final refuge: boycott,”

    The subject title should have read: “The Israeli kapos final refuge: boycott“.
    They’re NOT patriots! Patriots don’t want to see half their countrymen killed, and don’t ever shill for the enemy!

  9. From themarxistblog.com

    The most important issue in Egypt was to stop the Muslim Brotherhood from continuing in power. Remember that the faulty leaders of the Revolution more or less handed power to the Muslim Brotherhood on a platter. That leadership was so bad they hardly understood what they were doing or what was the real danger, which was always from the Muslim Brotherhood.

    Obama is backing the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt to the hilt and so is the EU.

    But hey, wait a minute, is the EU and the US also not backing the Muslim Brotherhood (Fatah/Hamas and the Palestinian State farce) in Israel, in that the term now used everywhere in the world “Palestinians” is just another name for the Jihad against Jews in the Middle East.

    What are the “Palestinians” anyway? Up until 1948 if you said you were a Palestinian you would definitely have been taken for a Jew.

    The “Palestinians” is a new phenomenon and those who have really studied history (but most haven’t) know that the “Palestinians” is not based on a nation but on opposition to the Jews getting a foothold in the lands of Islam.

    In fact as we speak the Egyptians are showing the way to the Jews. The great masses of Egyptians who keep on fighting in Tahrir Square turning out in millions after millions are taking the fight to the Muslim Brothers.

    But in contrast to that apart from a few the Jews in Israel have STOPPED FIGHTING and have done so long ago.

    Lesson to all Jews support and be inspired by the Egyptians in Tahrir Square

  10. Yamit82 says this to Ross

    This will make you Giddy!!!

    So what are these two getting giddy about? That Israel is making some noises towards Ashton and Yamit and Ross are going to wet their pants in excitement.

    The problem is that it means nothing because the Israeli ruling class are not going to fight anybody on the international scene.

    And why is this? Why won’t they fight?

    Well the Israeli ruling class will not fight because they fear their own people more than they fear the international Antisemitic capitalists.

    Israel today is all about money, all about making profit and the thing to understand is that all those Judaism sages locked away in their rooms reading the Bible have no say and no power, no more power than they had in the events of the Holocaust from 1939 to 1945

    But Yamit and Ross are wetting their pants now in excitement over this move by Yaalon

    And so Yamit and Ross use every chance to prop up this corrupt capitalist elite in Israel.

    But they do so while pretending to be oh so militant. Like hell they are!

  11. The Settlers are for the Post-Zionists (many of whom are of German/Austrian ancestry see
    * Examples
    below)- what the OstJuden were for the German Jews – the reason for German Antisemitism. If only we didn’t have those Polish and Hungarian Jews with their beards and long black caftans the Germans would like us. Well, in reality, Hitler and his German compatriots were just as contemptuous of the assimilated German Jews of Mosaic persuasion. This Stockholm syndrome, or to keep up to date, using Dr. Kenneth Levin’s terminology, the Oslo syndrome is what impels the Post-Zionists on their fearmongering/cheerleading EU sanction campaign.

    * Examples Yariv Oppenheimer Chairman of Peace Now, Haaretz Schocken Publishing Family – Salman Schocken, a wealthy German-Jewish Zionist who owned a chain of department stores in Germany, bought Haaretz in 1937. His son, Gershom Schocken, who became the chief editor in 1939 and held that position until his death in 1990. Until August 2006, the Schocken family owned 100% of the Haaretz Group, but then the German publisher M. DuMont Schauberg acquired 25 percent of the shares. The deal was negotiated with the help of former Israeli ambassador to Germany, Avi Primor. This deal was seen as controversial in Israel as DuMont Schauberg’s father, Kurt Neven DuMont, was member of the German Nazi party, while his publishing house promoted Nazi ideology(see Wikipedia),
    Haaretz Columnist Gideon Levy, whose father, Heinz (Zvi) Leowy, was born in the town of Saatz in the Sudetenland etc.

  12. It’s difficult and painful, almost impossibly so, for an Israeli to call for such a boycott…The change won’t come from within. Change will only come from the outside. The call for an economic boycott has become a patriotic requirement.

    – Gideon Levy, “The Israeli patriot’s final refuge: boycott,” Haaretz, July 16, 2013

    What about Israel needs to be changed? It is not Israel which needs change, it is the muslims. So who is using economic pressure to get muslim countries to drop their misogynistic, anti-infidel sharia laws?

  13. @ Ted
    @ yamit82:
    Top EU official says Europe needs Israel
    an interesting article on EU sanctions which links peace talks with Iran war and GCC
    http://www.jpost.com/Features/Front-Lines/Diplomacy-Top-EU-official-says-Europe-needs-Israel-321107

    He said that the “new international context,” especially the specter of a nuclear Iran, may be a new element that can lead to success where other such attempts have failed.
    “You have new a new international context that could create a political momentum for a solution,” he said. Asked to elaborate, he explained that the Arab states – like Israel and the West – do not want Iran to achieve nuclear capability. “There is a broad possible unspoken coalition” he said.
    But what is the connection to the Palestinian issue? “Things often interconnect,” he said, hesitant to elaborate any further. “I think there might be some Arab countries – because of the Iran question now – who might be more cooperative in international affairs, and who can perhaps be helpful this way [on the Israel-Palestinian issue].”
    “I do not know whether that momentum is enough,” he added.
    “But let’s try. If you say at the very beginning that it will fail, then it will fail.”

    This is what I have been talking about for months regarding under the table understandings regionally re the GCC war against Iran and possible understandings between the GCC and Israel re the pals. The GCC may be weakening and leashing Syria, Hezbollah and Hamas to lessen blowback to Israel in the event of Israel attack on iran. Possibly Israel moves cautiously to see how they work it out: that each phase is step by step. I think this goes back before the faux pals state, the Gaza cease-fire. I think these comments are important and accurate. This is the first time I have seen it alluded to in totality in print. There have been bits and pieces printed as seemingly unrelated events but a cooperative venture(subject to success)in total has not been mentioned. This can explain many things including the way and timing of the “peace process” unfolding step by step. perhaps as the GCC conclude their step then Israel takes its step.

    Ted: PS I posted this on the wrong page and it went to moderation, I meant to post it on this page instead of the other page(debkafile)

  14. rfelsted Said:

    Incredible that anti-Zionist Jew haters like “Justice Minister” Tzipi Livni are found in national positions of authotity

    they are not found, they are intentionally appointed to those positions with a specific purpose. why would BB appoint as minister a party with few votes to such an important position? Her positions of negotiating peace agreements and justice minister indicate BB’s agenda as being to the left of what he knows people expect of him. Perhaps he seeks a fig leaf to cover his deception. The only other reason that makes sense is that he was pressured by the US to place her in those positions and if that is true then one must wonder if he is subject to the same blackmail and extortion that other corrupt leaders have succumbed to e.g. sharon,peres,barak,olmert,etc. when they schemed to have israel swindled of her land.

  15. “this EU policy is utterly perverse,” that perversity pales into insignificance when compared to the malevolence of many Israelis toward their compatriots across the pre-1967 lines. They are a far greater danger to the country than the bureaucrats in Brussels.

    I agree. the same reason that legitimizes Jews in YS is the same legitimacy which justifies Tel Aviv. If one accepts that YS for Jews is illegitimate then one must also accept that Tel Aviv is illegitimate. The whites in africa being driven out after generations of residency have few supporters and are considered colonials to be run out. If Jews consider the settlers of YS to be the same then they should not be surprised that their “occupation” of Tel Aviv gets the same treatment. The same world that has found jews to be illegitimate in YS are already questioning the legitimacy of Israel as a nation. Jews spit in their own face and then whine about the mess. Livni and friends, are such Jews.

  16. Beautifully written explanation of how Israel is harmed more from within than from outside forces.

    Incredible that anti-Zionist Jew haters like “Justice Minister” Tzipi Livni are found in national positions of authotity (I prefer the more accurate appellation of “Injustice Minister” to describe better the role she plays in Israel).

    As in the US a minority of self-righteous freedom haters are at the helm.