'Israel should drop apologetic tactics, admit it is at war'
sabato 8 agosto 2009 English 1 commento
Haaretz, August 8, 2009by Cnaan Liphshiz
Israel should drop its apologetic advocacy and admit it's fighting a war.
This is the message that Italian legislator Fiamma Nirenstein impressed upon members of the new Knesset lobby that she recently helped create, which aims to "strengthen ties between Israel and European parliaments."
Nirenstein, a staunch supporter of Israel and a legislator for the party of Italian President Silvio Berlusconi, was the driving force behind the formation last month of Israel's European Forum of the Knesset (EFK).
The new body - whose dozen-odd members include Tzipi Livni, Shaul Mofaz, Daniel Ben-Simon and other notable lawmakers from across the political spectrum - is meant to serve as a counterpart for the European Friends of Israel, an umbrella organization for some 1,000 pro-Israel legislators from all over the continent.
But while the European body - in which Nirenstein plays a central role - aims to better Israel's image in Europe, the Jewish Italian journalist and lawmaker has a different vision for the new Israeli counterpart.
The hostility that some Israelis feel toward Europe, she says, "is not hostile enough when one considers how hateful some European institutions are of Israel." She says she expects the members of the new body to come to European forums and "attack ferociously those who call to demonize Israel."
Apologetic tactics, she told Haaretz at her home in Gilo, Jerusalem, won't work. "You Israelis must have courage to say you are at war and how much it costs you," she proposed, despite the militaristic image of Israel that this may reinforce.
That is the tactic she says she would like to see used in countering the findings of the UN's Goldstone Commission on alleged war crimes in Israel's winter offensive in Gaza - "the new Knesset forum's first major test."
Israel also needs to "attack" EU funding for NGOs that "promotes bias and prejudice," she avers.
In fluent Hebrew, she explains that she has for many years divided her time between Israel and her native peninsula. With her Israeli husband, news photographer Ofer Eshed, she raised a son in Jerusalem during the time of frequent bus bombings in the 1990s. Their neighborhood was hit by a mortar round during the second intifada.
These experiences, along with her European background, have afforded Nirenstein, 63, some understanding of both Israelis and Europeans, she says. She adds that she has acquainted herself with Arab culture while traveling extensively throughout the Middle East as a journalist for Italy's most prestigious publications.
"Europeans can't really understand a problem that involves terrorists shooting and then hiding behind civilians," she argues. "They just can't put themselves in those shoes." Declaring that Israel is at war for its right for self-determination as a free society would have a greater impact than explaining the human shield predicament, Nirenstein proposes.
"You have to realize that Israeli society has something Europe longs for," she says. "Europe is lost. It longs for a society of values defending its people, for a society which is still able to produce three children per couple. But you have to have the courage to say that you are different than Europe."
This will naturally highlight the things that set Israel apart from Europe rather than what unites the two cultures, she concedes. "But pretending you are not at war is just a lie."
The Arabs, she observes, have no problem admitting they are at war. "I sat with a Hamas leader in Gaza not long before a helicopter took out the organization's co founder, Abdel Aziz al-Rantissi," she recalls with a faint ironic smile. "I have covered Camp David to Annapolis. I know them. I know that Israel has no partner."
With funding from Pro-Zionist European Jews and non-Jews, the new Israeli forum Nirenstein helped create will seek to shift more attention away from the Palestinian issue to the threat posed by Iran.
As deputy chairperson of the Italian parliament's foreign affairs commission, Nirenstein has had limited success in prompting Berlusconi's government to intervene to block involvement of Italian firms in Iranian projects.
According to recent reports in Iranian media, Tehran is very close to signing a major deal with Italian industrialists for processing natural gas in deposits.
"I feel bad about the gas deal," she says. "Germany and Italy are Iran's two leading trading partners." Opposition to this may be more successful now, she says, after the post-election riots in Iran "gave the world pure certainty that the regime in Tehran is a tyrannical and illegitimate entity even to its own people."
"MKs launch new alliance with European parliaments"
Jerusalem Post, August 3, 2009
by Carrie Sheffield
Seeking to combat a perceived growing anti-Israel trend in Europe, Knesset leaders have joined a new alliance intended to strengthen ties with European parliaments.
Funded by wealthy patrons within European Jewish circles, the alliance is seeking to lower the rhetorical temperature on the Palestinian issue and heighten awareness of a potential Iranian nuclear threat, which has been downplayed by many European leaders.
Last week, the lobbying group European Friends of Israel (EFI) launched the European Forum of the Knesset, a coalition spearheaded by MK Yohanan Plesner (Kadima) with the blessing of Knesset Speaker Reuven Rivlin (Likud).
"I welcome you from the bottom of my heart," Rivlin told European diplomats and ambassadors gathered at the Knesset for the inaugural meeting of the alliance. Rivlin acknowledged Israel's somewhat troublesome relationship with Europe, but asserted, "The right not to agree between two friends is very important, so long as everyone understands the opinion."
The Knesset alliance is the next step in EFI's growing relationship with Europe. The organization is headquartered in Finland and maintains offices in Spain, Germany and Belgium. EFI sponsored a policy conference in Paris last year, and a spokeswoman said the new Knesset alliance would help deepen the growing outreach.
MK Tzipi Livni (Kadima), former foreign minister and head of the opposition coalition in the Knesset, was also on hand to welcome the European guests.
"There is a huge gap between Israel's image in Europe and vice versa," Livni told them. "I could say that this is less important, but unfortunately there is a connection between public opinion and decision makers. Therefore, we need to work together in order to make the Israeli values be more familiar to the public in Europe."
Livni said Israel's was located in a "difficult neighborhood," that required a stringent approach.
"Any sign of weakness or lack of determination in order to stop Iran, this can lead to kind of a domino effect of states trying to appease Iran in the understanding that Iran is going to be a regional power in the future," Livni said. "Let's understand together that time works against us, that there is a very small window in terms of time and the determination of the international community in stopping Iran or avoiding a nuclear Iran. It's not an Israeli problem, this is a problem of the entire region and the world."
Fiamma Nirenstein, a Jewish member of the Italian parliament, also addressed the diplomats, who represented a range of countries including Sweden, Lithuania, Germany and Austria.
"What we're in front of is a wave of ant-Semitism," Nirenstein said. "We need very much to establish this relationship now, and quickly."
Nirenstein condemned European financing of pro-Palestinian organizations that she said sowed "seeds of war and not of peace." Uzi Rabi, a Middle East lecturer at Tel Aviv University, condemned European investment in Iran, saying it encouraged Iran to maintain the status quo in its uranium enrichment program.
Rabi singled out Russia, Germany, Switzerland and Austria - to which an Austrian diplomat objected, saying a 22-billion-euro deal between Iran and Austrian energy giant OMV was nixed amid pressure in 2007 - as problematic players in refusing to divest from Iran.
"If somebody is going to have that kind of a huge deal with Iran in terms of energy, gas, whatever, this gives [Iran] the feeling that they can go on doing whatever," Rabi said. "If Europe could reduce the amount or the volume of financial transactions with Iran, that could be kind of a sign that Europe is giving some kind of momentum for declarations from Washington."
MK Majallie Whbee (Kadima), deputy speaker of the Knesset, told the gathered diplomats that he understood they were facing troubling demographic trends in maintaining traditional ethnic majorities due to what he called the "Islamization of Europe."
"It's not easy to come to any organization, especially the European parliament, to feel that you are in the minority," said Whbee, who is Druse. "I am one of the minorities in the parliament so I know how you are feeling. Please, be balanced when you are dealing with the issues of Israel and the Israelis."
lunedì 10 agosto 2009 16:24:46
Yes. So true. We could probably help if we admitted that the U.S. has been the target of an Iranian war for thirty years. But nobody will say that. Let alone act on it.