Israel can't ignore int'l opinion, statesmen say
Former Minister Shlomo Ben-Ami claims international community cares more about Israeli-Palestinian conflict because Jews are involved. 'This is a western-Arab conflict,' says former ambassador
Daniel Edelson
When almost every nation –from the Czech Republic and Turkey to France – asks to become involved in Israeli and regional affairs, it begs the question: Why is the world so curious about Israel?
The phrase "international opinion" is bounced around among decision-makers and the public alike, but does it mean we're really on the map or merely slaves to the idea of being 'a light among nations'? Is the average citizen in Norway or Canada really interested in events in Gaza or Sderot?
"It perhaps doesn't interest the individual citizen, but it definitely interests the elites in these nations, the urban intellectuals: the press, authors, academics," Professor Shlomo Ben-Ami, a former acting foreign minister, told Ynet. "This is less due to the horror an average person feels when witnessing death and gore on television and more because Israel is involved in the matter."
"I always asked the Palestinians if they truly believe that the world takes an interest in them. After all, when Arabs kill Arabs, it doesn't provoke worldwide protests. If the Egyptians or Jordanians were attacking them, would anyone in the world be up in arms?"
"Only when Jews are involved does public interest rise, and this is because there is a deeply entrenched global syndrome regarding Jews," Ben-Ami stated.
According to the former minister, this is not anti-Semitism per se but rather related to a centuries-old relationship between Jews and the rest of the world. "Prior to Israel's independence, we walked around the world with a kind of moral immunity because of all of the wrongs that had been done to us," he explained.
"When the world sees that we are involved in a conflict in which innocents get hurt, it releases some tension because, 'see, it also happens to them.' The world's desire to assuage their guilt (regarding centuries of mistreating Jews) is so vast that it causes them, more than once, to jump to dangerous conclusions," added Ben-Ami.
"Why are they so quick and hasty to use a word like genocide? Because they want to pay us back in kind." Ben-Ami said, recalling how Nobel winner Jose Saragamo had referred to Operation Defensive Shield as 'Auschwitz' during a visit to Jenin. "How can someone even speak in such terms?" he asked.
"In Sri Lanka's crisis, some 70,000 people were killed – more than all of the fatalities during all of Israel's wars combined. The world is barely aware of (the crisis Sri Lanka). There's a lot of cynicism and double-speak when it comes to us," he said.