Chutzpah is a Yiddish word that means shameless audacity. Soon, it may have a synonym: to do a Lieberman. Avigdor Lieberman, the right-wing caricature who is foreign minister in the cabinet of Benjamin Netanyahu, is taking his first steps on the international stage with trips to Italy, France, the UK and the Czech Republic, and he is making waves even before landing on European soil. According to one of his senior officials, Europe is in danger of making itself irrelevant and losing its seat at the peace process table if its criticism of Israeli policies continues.
And what are these policies that Israel is so intent on protecting from European criticism? Mr Lieberman and Mr Netanyahu have already pronounced the end of the Annapolis process, and reiterated both their opposition to a two-state solution and their support for illegal settlements. All these positions further alienate the Palestinian people and irritate not only the Europeans but also, it seems, the Obama administration, which has repeatedly affirmed its support for a two-state solution and a viable Palestinian state. In essence, the Israeli warning to Europe is intended to pre-empt and discourage public and private criticism of the most intransigent Israeli policies as early as possible, thus locking the US and Europe into an uncompromising position on the Palestinians.
This is reminiscent of Israel’s campaign against any overtures to Hamas in the wake of the 2006 elections, which Hamas won: but we have all moved on since then. Israel must surely understand that its image and position have suffered badly from its catastrophic Gaza campaign this year. European public opinion has never been particularly supportive of its adventures, and sympathy for the Palestinians is growing. European governments will certainly not drop their support for a secure Israeli state, but they will be hard pressed to justify complete alignment with Israel’s hardline positions. Israel has chosen to endanger its once improving relations with the European Union for dogmatic reasons, perhaps because it thinks it can afford to while guaranteed unconditional US support. But that, too, seems a risky proposition.
Israel’s deliberate strategic blindness may be recipe for catastrophe. Sadly, Mr Lieberman seems not to be the man to open his eyes to this reality.
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