No, it's not to treat Turkey (and other countries) more diplomatically. It's how we should be responding to diplomatic insults, antisemitic and anti-Israel acts and statements by other nations.
First of all, Israel must recognize that most, if not all, of our "close friendships" with other nations are very one-sided. We consider them great friends and they just like our tourist and import money. If our business is good for their economy their palms are open, but their hearts are closed. The Israeli mentality just doesn't get it. This is a very dangerous syndrome. It just causes more abuse, diplomatic slights and worse.
Ayalon's juvenile staging of his meeting with the Turkish Ambassador by sitting himself "higher" is just another example of why he isn't suited for a high ranking position in Israel.
We must stop accommodating and accepting diplomatic and cultural slights and actions. Each one must be reacted to in a serious way. Let's start with the disgraceful fact that foreign countries don't recognize Jerusalem as Israel's Capital City. The foreign embassies are in the Tel Aviv area. In response, we must relocate our embassies to other cities in those countries. If our Capital City is slighted, then it must be clear and obvious that we'll do the exact same thing to every other country.
When foreign cultural icons exhibit antisemitic and anti-Israel acts, we must react with threats of withdrawing our ambassador and do it if the offending object isn't stopped and withdrawn. Only when we begin to respect ourselves will others do so.
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu should have protested the antisemitic Turkish TV program and not delegated it to Ayalon.
It's all up to us, but it's not about being "nicer." It's about self-respect.
5 comments:
I just commented similarly elsewhere in 2 sentences or less.
Everything you said!
Shy, I'm glad we agree!
For Stupid Jews.... a refresher course in national honor is needed. No one is going to respect Israel if the country doesn't respect itself. Danny Ayalon probably handled the form of the protest in a clumsy manner but he should and could have made his point. And a threat is only as good as one's resolve to back it up. An empty threat threat impresses no one.
What's odd about this situation is that Turkey had been benefiting from a lot of our business. But as our relationship with them has deteriorated over the past year, Israeli tourism to Turkey dropped precipitously. It was a perennial favorite destination for so long!
Maybe it just shows that they dislike us even more than they like our shekels!
NormanF, so sadly true.
funjoel, since when is antisemitism a result of logic?
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