Friday, October 04, 2024

Israel's offensive approach to international relations

As usual, Israel's reaction to UN chief António Guterres failure to do exactly what Israel wants is excessive, combative and tone-deaf.

It seems that Guterres did not condemn Iran strongly enough or quickly enough (he actually did condemn it the next day, as it happens). But Israel's Foreign Minister Israel Katz summarily declared Guterres persona non grata, banning the top diplomat from visiting Israel, and saying that "anyone who cannot unequivocably Iran's heinous attacks on Israel, as nearly all the countries of the world has done, does not deserve to set foot on Israeli soil".

Israel has never been a big fan of the UN, which has regularly castigated it for its illegal occupation of parts of Palestine and its apartheid treatment of Palestinians. As always, it calls any  criticism of the state of Israel "antisemitism", even when it's not, because it (quite rightly) sees that as the quickest and easiest way to shut down the conversation and get what it wants. 

Israel is a very young state, but that is no reason to use childish temper tantrums as a political tactic. Right now, you'd think that it needs all the support it can get, but accommodation and compromise is not the Israeli way. Its allegations of antisemitism and prejudice are, by and large, red herrings.

Given its approach to foreign relations, it's no big surprise that Israel has so few friends, and what friends it does have are grudging ones, largely due to the threats of being labelled antisemitic.

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