This is all over the news down here in Latin America. There is a real possibility this could spread. I will update--based on open source information ONLY--as I am able.
UPDATE: Ecuador has now also recalled its ambassador.
UPDATE 2: El Salvador has now recalled its ambassador.
UPDATE 3: The Israeli MFA has officially responded with this statement:
UPDATE: Ecuador has now also recalled its ambassador.
UPDATE 2: El Salvador has now recalled its ambassador.
UPDATE 3: The Israeli MFA has officially responded with this statement:
Israel expresses its deep disappointment with the hasty decision of the governments of El Salvador, Peru and Chile to recall their ambassadors for consultations. This step constitutes encouragement for Hamas, a group recognized as a terror organization by many countries around the world.
Israel expects countries who oppose terrorism to act responsibly and not to hand terrorists a prize. So far, every time Israel accepted plans for establishing a ceasefire and restoring calm, it was countered by Hamas’s sustained rocket fire. El Salvador, Chile and Peru would have been much better advised to promote the international move intended to assist Israel in its efforts to defend innocent civilians and instate a durable ceasefire with the demilitarization of Gaza.
Hmm, keep diplomatic relations or survive. Decisions, decisions.
ReplyDeleteExactly, Matt, in a nutshell.
ReplyDeleteUnbelievable. Truly unbelievable.
My 2 cents - Israel must continue and finish what they started in a decisive way. World opinion be damned. It's not these politicians/diplomats/talking heads who have their very existence at stake.
I just turned on the tv so see what's new and that gawd-awful Shepherd Smith, was saying "I wonder how many new terrorists this action in Gaza has created?". I turned it off. From what I've read online, I see overwhelming support for Israel, like never before. I think it's meaningful, not just anecdotal. The anti-Semitic bias of the media isn't working quite as well anymore. Good.
ReplyDeleteI also notice much more pro-Israel talk than I have in the past. I think it is part of everything else that is happening. People are getting too fed up to remain silent anymore.
DeleteAwful news today:
ReplyDelete3 IDF soldiers killed in booby-trapped UNRWA medical clinic
The three troops, part of the elite Maglan unit, were taking precautionary measures in efforts to limit damage to the structure before eliminating the tunnel, when the explosives detonated in the small building.
The troops had sent in sniffing dogs and a small robot to minimize damage to the structure, located in Khan Yunis, but explosives rigged to the building detonated, toppling part of the building on top of the soldiers.
Fifteen soldiers were injured. IDF soldiers evacuating the wounded came under fire from Palestinian fighters. All of the fatalities and injured were eventually brought back to Israeli territory.
This after "rockets were found in a third UNRWA school (and returned to Hamas).
I saw that story too. IDF soldiers killed by a bomb, at a UN clinic, at the opening of a terrorist tunnel.
ReplyDeleteAnd Israel is the problem. Yes, Israel has decency in an indecent world. Can't have that.
Apparently it wasn't an UNRWA clinic. The Palestinians used an UNRWA sign to delude the IDF into thinking it was an innocent clinic. Though the way UNRWA has been behaving, the IDF should consider all UN installations as enemy installations and act accordingly.
DeleteYou missed out Brazil who also recalled its ambassador.
ReplyDeleteThe comment from the AJC head David Harris says it all:
On Tuesday, four of the five members of the Mercosur trade bloc, made up of Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay, and Venezuela, issued a statement condemning Israel during a summit in Caracas for “disproportionate use of force.”
Paraguay did not sign the statement.
David Harris, the executive director of the American Jewish Committee that is active in Latin America, said that it was astonishing that the Mercosur statement did not even mention Hamas.
Harris said “the notion that Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay would issue a joint statement with Venezuela voicing concern about human rights anywhere would be laughable, if it weren’t so terribly tragic. Caracas has been one of the main defenders of Syrian President [Bashar] Assad, who is responsible for some 170,000 deaths and millions of refugees, and is a staunch ally of Iran, the principal state sponsor of terrorism in the world, including at least two deadly attacks in Argentina in 1992 and 1994.
Shame!”
I wonder how many countries have withdrawn their ambassadors from such luminary countries as Iran, Syria, Iraq or Turkey. Not to mention the viciously antisemitic and anti-West Venezuela and their south American pals.
ReplyDeleteWhat game are they playing at? Do they think they are going to earn brownie points? From whom? Besides Iran and Turkey most of the Arab world are united against Hamas and are quietly encouraging Israel (although G-d forbid they should do so in public. Heads might explode. And that gets messy).
Are they playing a diplomatic game? Or are they just viciously antisemitic?
This is not a rhetorical question. Maybe Jourdan on the spot can explain this because, although its the common behaviour whenever Israel has the temerity to defend itself, it is still incomprehensible to me.
Annie - I can explain it, having lived and worked in Latin America for many years now, but I'm afraid the answer won't be satisfactory. There are three things going on in combination here:
ReplyDelete1) Political Culture Driven by Emotion, Emotional Images.
Almost every picture of the conflict here is the usual gaggle of wailing old women or pained young men carrying a blood-stained drape covered body, next to a building which has obviously been bombed. Latin culture does not analyze causes; it reacts to events. Dead young people + grieving mothers = bad.
2) Racial Envy and Hatred
Latins deeply despise the readily observable fact that a few White nothern Europeans who barely survived their first few Winters in the Americas developed the world's premier power, while their much more robust colonization plans have resulted in, for the most part, dysfunctional societies with inept governments, massive corruption and out-of-control crime. Like most human beings in the world, they ascribe this to the racism and bad acts of the Gringo, including his European friends and, yes, Israel (which they view as a White country). This also fits in with the overly-emotional culture. Brown dead people + White people with guns = Bad.
3) Idolization of the Indigenous
Connected to the above, is the modern Latins self-identification with the Indigenous, along with the usual adoration of all things indigenous as noble, serene, spiritual and just. For example, the Mexicans think of themselves as Aztecs, the Guatemalans as Mayans and the Peruvians as Incans. They view the smaller brown Palestinian people as Middle-Eastern equivalents. Dead noble indigenous + While colonizers = double extra bad.
They, even at the highest, most elite levels, have NO understanding of Islam in the slightest and to the extent they know anything about Jews is the typical stereotypes, i.e. good with money, shrewd businessmen. The Jewish communities here are very small. Only about 3,000 in Peru. Overt anti-semitism as such is very, very rare. Peru has had Jewish ministers and even a prime minister, there are Jewish folks elected to congress, no one makes a big fuss about it. When a country is massivel, monolithically Catholic (97%), minority religions just don't matter.
That is what is going on.
In a word, the political culture in Latin American is NOT Spanish, as is so often thought, but FRENCH, of the school of the early French Revolution, of the school of Jean-Jacques Rousseau.
There you have it. It's sad, but true.
This culture has many, many good things about it, not the least of which is the amazing work ethic and devotion to family, but, to be blunt, it's like a bunch of countries run by hormone-addled high schoolers.
Thanks for the analysis Jourdan. It's fascinating!
DeleteYes, thanks for the analysis. It explains a lot. This part surprised me:
DeleteIn a word, the political culture in Latin American is NOT Spanish, as is so often thought, but FRENCH, of the school of the early French Revolution, of the school of Jean-Jacques Rousseau.
Jourdan, thank you for that excellent analysis and explanation! It's what I've been feeling in an amorphous way but not been able to express fully. I'm so glad you put it into clear words.
DeleteIt also explains the automatic anti-Israel sentiment in almost every international forum, particularly the UN and all its alphabet soup of agencies, and all the do-gooder NGOs who can't bear it that Israel forcefully defends itself rather than rolling over and dying.
Reading El Comercio, Peru's leading daily, this morning, I see there is an editorial cartoon on point. The image is a flying saucer with two aliens aboard, with the Earth in the background.
ReplyDeleteAlien One: Kamlu, tenemos representante en este planeta?
(Kamlu, do we have an ambassador to this planet?)
Alien Two: Asi es,commandante.
(Yes, commander)
Alien One: Llamelo inmediatamenta a consulta.
(Recall him immediately for consultations.)
Jourdan, surely that one has to go on a bulletin board somewhere in the office... just too perfect...
DeleteIt is a good one, eh?
ReplyDeleteANNIE and other interested parties should know that Israel's ambassador here in Peru is doing just amazing work; he is everywhere at the same time, arguing calmly, keeping his head, keeping his reason. It's not working, for the reasons I set forth above, but his professionalism and ability are admirable and stand in sharp contrast to our "public affairs" personnel, who tend to be know-it-all Ivy League harpies.
Well, even if it's not working, it is good to know that some in positions of power know the real score and have the cojones to speak publicly about it.
DeleteThanks Jourdan for that good news. Indeed Israel's spokesmen and amabssadors have excelled themselves this time around. The gov't made sure that all its spokesmen speak English (and French, German, Spanish etc.) well. They also made sure to give immediate, relevant and clear responses to all the terrible accusations made against it - not that that has had the slightest impact on the awful media coverage of the war.
DeleteI was INFURIATED when I read in the execrable Guardian that "Israel broke its own self-declared ceasefire by bombing a UN school, killing an 8 year old". Not ONE mention that Hamas fired rockets from that said school a moment before. Not ONE effort to put Israel's side. They are so blatantly biased it is almost laughable.
Almost. Because that kind of article is essentially incitement to violence against Israel.
and then they are "shocked! shocked!" when the violence translates into anti-Jewish pogroms in the high streets of Paris and London. Well, what did they THINK would happen after writing such lies?
@Jourdan, in particular, but all of you, will be interested to note that Former South American leaders pan the Latin American criticism of Israel.
DeleteA group of former leaders from across the globe, including the former presidents of Peru and Uruguay, are lambasting the Latin American countries that recalled their ambassadors in Israel in the wake of Operation Protective Edge. In the process they issue a passionate defense of Israel’s Gaza policy.
“The manipulation of information in Latin America regarding the current conflict in Gaza not only intoxicates the citizens, but inspires wrong and reprehensible policies,” the former leaders say in an open letter.
The open letter is signed by former Peruvian president Alejandro Toledo and former Uruguayan president Luis Alberto Lacalle, along with former Italian foreign minister Giulio Terzi, former Spanish industry minister Carlos Bustelo, former US ambassador to the United Nations John Bolton and others.
...
The former world leaders appeal to all Latin American governments to return their ambassadors to Israel and “demonstrate your solidarity, not cheap demagoguery, with the one fighting to put an end to terror, but using all the restraint in the world — Israel.”
Unfortunately they are former leaders. Sigh... I'm glad they spoke out though. There are some people who do listen to their wisdom.
Yes, they are former leaders but I think it's still significant that they spoke out. Not like the cowardly Ortega and others of his ilk. I believe there are plenty of people in So. & Central America who yearn for the truth and are ready to hear it.
DeleteFormer President of Peru Alejandro Toledo's wife is Jewish and he is well-known here for support of Jewish and Israeli causes. Unfortunately, the complex real-estate deal for which he is under official investigations, and may end up in jail for, has a strong Israeli angle as well.
Delete