Israel Update for January 2010

Back To The Table?

While violence was flaring in Gaza, Israeli media reports claimed that Defense Minister Barak was holding two days of clandestine talks with Mahmoud Abbas in Amman Jordan. The PA leader was there before heading to Egypt to meet with President Mubarak. Later in the month, Abbas met with American envoy George Mitchell, as did Israeli leaders. However the discussion produced very little, said Israeli media reports. This came after PM Netanyahu angered Abbas by stating during a tree planting ceremony in the disputed territories that Israel will retain some of the land it captured in the 1967 Six Day War as part of any final peace deal.

President Obama expressed unhappiness with both Israeli and Palestinian leaders during an early January interview with Time magazine. He said Netanyahu "found it very hard to move with any bold gestures," adding that Abbas "has Hamas looking over his shoulder." Israeli analysts had warned early last year that the new American leader was making a serious mistake by raising the peace poll so high in the air, noting that neither Netanyahu nor Abbas could politically afford to move forward at this time.

Crisis Growing With Turkey

Israel's flaying diplomatic relations with Turkey became further strained in January after Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon summoned Turkey's ambassador to complain over harsh anti-Israel comments made by Turkish Prime Minister Recep Erdogan, and to protest a television programme broadcast in the Muslim nation in early January that portrayed Israeli security agents as evil baby stealers. Titled "Valley of the Wolves", the programme was screened on state television with the apparent approval of government authorities. It depicted Israeli Mossad agents as murderous thugs who wantonly kill innocent children.

The offensive programme was broadcast shortly after Erdogan-who strongly denounced Israeli leaders over their conduct of last year's Cast Lead military operation-issued a scathing assault on the Netanyahu government's ongoing campaign to prod world powers to enforce stronger economic sanctions against Iran, designed to force the Shiite regime to curb its ongoing nuclear programme. The Turkish Premier said the United Nations should at least exert the same level of pressure upon Israel over its presumed nuclear weapons programme as it has so far done with Tehran.

Erdogan further added to growing tensions by reportedly telling Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri and President Michel Suleiman during their January 11 visit to Ankara that Israel is preparing to attack Lebanon in the coming months.

The Turkish leader was echoing Syrian dictator Bashar Assad, who sent a similar message to Hizbullah leaders one week before. Assad averred that the IDF will launch a major assault upon Lebanon in May. Erdogan told the visiting Lebanese leaders that "Israel is compromising global peace by fighting the Palestinians, using Lebanon's air space and waters, and for not disclosing its nuclear capabilities," adding that "Israel has never denied it has nuclear weapons. In fact, it has admitted to such. Those who are cautioning Iran must also caution Israel."

When in office, former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert did indeed tell a German magazine that his country possesses nuclear weapons, which raised a firestorm at the time in Israel. However Israeli officials point out that the two programmes are hardly equal, given that the Jewish state is a vibrant democracy allied with the West, and has never threatened any particular country with annihilation. On the other hand, Iranian leaders constantly proclaim that Israel will soon be completely wiped off of the Middle East map, clearly implying the use of such mass destruction weapons.

On The Couch

The Turkish ambassador, Oguz Celikkol, was summoned to the Foreign Ministry on January 11 with the approval of Netanyahu and Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman. However neither senior official apparently realized in advance that Ayalon planned to deliberately place the Turkish diplomat in a lower seat than his own during the terse meeting-considered an insult in many eastern cultures. On top of that, a miniature Turkish flag was not placed next to the Israeli flag on a table between the two diplomats. It is normal protocol for the visiting diplomat's flag to also be displayed at such meetings.

The moves might have gone fairly unnoticed, or at least not commented upon, had Ayalon not pointed out in Hebrew to Israeli journalists covering the meeting that Celikkol was seated lower than him. The remark was soon shared with the ambassador by other Turks in the room who understand Hebrew, prompting the diplomat to take umbrage. He was formally recalled to Ankara the next day by Erdogan, who was said to be incensed over the perceived diplomatic slight.

Turkish officials demanded an immediate apology from Jerusalem for the "humiliating slight." This prompted the Foreign Ministry to issue an unusually blunt statement saying that "Turkey is the last country that can preach morality to Israel." Political analysts said the statement reflected real anger in Israeli government offices and in the country's security services over both the insulting television programme, which many considered openly anti-Semitic, and the equation of Israel with Iran.

At the same time, Ayalon and Lieberman came under sharp criticism from opposition politicians and pundits for exacerbating the growing diplomatic rift with Turkey, which has been Israel's closest regional ally for many years. This prompted Ayalon to issue a written apology, at the request of both Netanyahu and President Shimon Peres, who stepped in to try and stop the latest diplomatic hemorrhaging. Ayalon replied that he had not intended to insult the Turkish ambassador, and also pointed out that he had often lobbied on Turkey's behalf when he served as Israel's ambassador to Washington.