Israel has once again shown the world how it deals with those who dare to criticize its actions, by publicly embarrassing Vice-president Joe Biden whilst on a peace-keeping trip to Israel.
Biden has expressed strong condemnation of the plan by Israel to expand a Jewish neighbourhood on occupied Palestinian land in East Jerusalem, yet also “pledged strong support for the Israeli government”
However, within hours of pledging his support for Israel, an official announcement was made confirming that approval had been given to the expansion program.
Israeli officials claimed the announcement was “accidental” and not designed to coincide with Biden’s visit. Eli Yishai, Israel’s interior minister, was quoted as saying “There was certainly no intention to provoke anyone and certainly not to come along and hurt the vice-president of the United States,”
If there is one thing we have learnt about Israel over the years, it has one of the most efficient propaganda machines in the world, and it is hardly likely to make a mistake like this.
Clearly, Israel intended to send a message to Vice-president Biden and the United States, and that message was “We can do whatever we like, and there is nothing you can do about it!”
Former Israeli Prime Minister, Ariel Sharon, made that point even more clearly in October 2001, when he was quoted as saying “Don’t worry about American pressure on Israel. We, the Jewish people, control America, and the Americans know it.”
A similar incident occurred when Turkey criticized Israel over their military offensive in Gaza. In January of this year, Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon summoned the Turkish ambassador to Tel Aviv and made him sit in a lower chair than those of his own and three other Israeli officials confronting the Turkish envoy. There was no Turkish flag at the meeting, he was refused a handshake, and spoken to in Hebrew.
Even the British government is not immune to Israeli “control” and is planning to change a law that will protect Israeli officials from being subjected to a “citizen’s arrest,” a situation that has prevented certain officials from visiting the UK.
This “control” may of course have something to do with the high proportion of Jews seen in government, both in Britain and the United States, whose representation far exceeds much larger minorities.
Whilst there is nothing wrong in having members of a government that include people from different religions or origins, we must be sure that their loyalties are for the country that they represent at all times. In the United States there are many politicians in the administration that hold dual nationality (Israeli and US passports). If there was a major dispute between Israel and the United States, which side of the fence would they choose?
It seems odd that US and British governments have created laws to provide equality in the workplace, so that a certain percentage of ethnic minorities, gays, disabled people etc. are guaranteed a job, yet completely abandon this policy for government appointments.
The fairest system would be to form a government that provides a proportional representation of the inhabitants of that country, so that every group has a voice that matches their size. It might also be a good idea to insist that government representatives have but one passport, to avoid any conflict of interest.
Unfortunately, Israel has gained an unfair advantage over others, by using historical events to their advantage and applying pressure from extremely influential positions. They are one of the main instigators in calling for action against Iran and their alleged desire to obtain a nuclear weapon, yet have illegally obtained hundreds of their own.
No one wants to see Israel or the Jewish people treated unfairly, but there is no reason to allow Israel special privileges either. To allow this situation to continue will only cause global problems in the future, and inevitably create hardships for Israel as well.