An Israeli man blows a shofar while children unfurl a flag at Teddy Stadium (Photo: AP)
It’s a bit embarrassing for the Israelis to claim to have caught two employees – albeit maintenance men rather than, say, political advisers – of the Foreign Office working for Hamas in Jerusalem as gun-runners.
As I reported in today’s paper, the two were arrested on suspicion of supplying guns to two Hamas operatives who seem to have had a far-fetched idea of firing rockets at a football stadium – far-fetched in the sense that they did not actually have any rockets. Hamas HQ of course has its own rockets in Gaza, so it’s not entirely clear what the full story is.
It’s particularly embarrassing because supporters of Israel, including academics, are currently on a mission to present London as “the Mecca of delegitimisation” as one report put it, “delegitimisation” being the favoured term at the moment to describe anti-Zionist stand-points.
Israel has had a lot to think about in the last couple of years in this regard. Tony Blair, as I have said before, followed British tradition of left and right by being a pro-Israel prime minister, standing against a more pro-Palestinian Foreign Office. Gordon Brown seemed to cut that link and after its fierce condemnation of the Israeli navy over the Mavi Marmara affair in May, the Conservative government has moved even further in the same direction.
Since then, the head of Mossad in London has been kicked out over the Dubai Hamas hit in January, when cloned British passports were used by the killers.
In return, Israel snubbed William Hague back in November, cancelling a strategic dialogue with him over security after he had already arrived. The complaint there was that Britain hadn’t repealed its international jurisdiction war crimes laws that enable human rights groups to lodge prosecutions against visiting foreign leaders, including Israeli ones.
It’s all pretty bitter – and until you have been to Israel, most non-specialist readers won’t know just how bitter. We have this feeling that historically we are friends with the Israelis, even if we disagree with some of their recent policies, but the anti-British rhetoric there is often comparable to any of any other bits of our former empire.
On the latest episode, though, not much appears to be being said, in Israel at least, and the stress is on the “lack of connection” to the two men’s employment at the Consulate. No complaints, so far, about how on earth two alleged terrorists ended up evading vetting (though I suppose the Israelis have as much reason to be embarrassed as anyone since this is partly their responsibility).
Could it be that there is a reconciliation on the way? A Sunday Telegraph story suggested that Mossad was to be allowed back into the fold.
This was poo-pooed by the Right-wing Israeli security website Debka-file, but I have to say when I spoke briefly to William Hague during his visit to Abu Dhabi with the Queen at the end of November he was almost ferocious in his insistence that policy towards Israel had not changed one iota under his watch. We shall see.
Israelis don't blame the British because 2 of their East Jerusalem's employees revealed to be Hamas terrorists. Most of the Israelis like British culture and Britain as a state, speak somehow English, but are astonished and disappointed to see the biased way that the British elite overlook over Israel and the Arab-Israeli conflict. The universities, the established church, the theatrical and publishing worlds, the voluntary sector, significant elements within the Foreign Office, members of Parliament across the political spectrum, as well as the media have overwhelmingly signed up to the demonization and delegitimization of Israel. The others, the rest of the elite which oppose that stand, keep silent.
ReplyDelete