Schlaglicht Israel Nr. 04/10 Aktuelles aus israelischen Tageszeitungen 23. Februar – 08. März 2010 1. Stellung Israels in der internationalen Gemeinschaft Mehrere Ereignisse führten dazu, dass in den israelischen Medien in den letzten Wochen immer wieder von einer Kampagne zur Delegitimierung von Israel in Europa und Amerika die Rede war. Dazu gehörten neben dem Goldstone-Bericht, die in Kanada initiierte„Apartheid-Woche“, Boykott­aufrufe und Störungen bei Vorträgen von israe­lischen Repräsentanten an amerikanischen und britischen Universitäten Das Ministerium für Information und Diaspora versucht indes mit einer eigenen Kampagne, israelische Bürger in den Kampf um das Ansehen des Staates einzuspannen. Auf der Website der Behörde sollen Israelis geschult werden, wie sie im Ausland für ihre Heimat werben und für mehr Verständnis sorgen können. The apartheid libel “The sixth international Israeli Apartheid Week kicked off on Monday, promising 14 days of Israel­bashing in about 40 cities around the world, mostly on college campuses.[…] If left unchallenged, proponents of the apartheid analogy are liable to stifle free speech and trample open debate on campuses by using intimidation and bullying tactics. They recently prevented Ambassador Michael Oren from finishing a speech at UC Irvine, and on the same day in Cambridge they interrupted Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon.[…] The apartheid libel can be traced to Soviet totalitarianism. Building on deep-seated anti­Semitism dating from the czarist era, the Soviet Union launched a ferocious anti-Israel campaign in the wake of Israel’s victory in the Six Day War in an attempt to squash Zionism and with it other national liberation movements that threatened to challenge blind loyalty to the Soviet Republic. Equating Jerusalem with Pretoria also served the Soviets in gaining influence in Africa and aligning the Third World against the US and other western states that supported Israel.[…] Israel’s representatives need to perfect the craft of hitting back diplomatically –‘to delegitimize the delegitimizers,’[…]. Part of that task is knowing the despicable history of the apartheid libel, understanding whose interests it serves and, most importantly, protecting free speech against those who would deny it.” JPO 02.03.10 I envy the people who hate Israel “Determined to take our fate into its own hands, Israel, at its highest level, has decided that the job of delegitimizing the Jewish state must not be left to foreigners and amateurs. Showing itself desperate to be a pariah state, Israel will now get it done on its own.[…] From shunning Richard Goldstone to snubbing Turkey, the process of delegitimizing Israel from within was going too slowly.[…] A quick follow up was needed: embarrassing the United States. In a gratuitous move breathtaking in its haughtiness, its ignorance of and disrespect for the United States and the American Jewish community, the Foreign Ministry[…] elected this week to boycott a meeting with five U.S. Congressmen visiting Israel. I have come to envy the people who hate Israel, because they cannot feel the tragedy in the phenomenal possibility, the depth and breadth of humanity that is going to waste here.” Bradley Burston, HAA 05.03.10 What a hutzpa “One of the most important documents about the delegitimization process against Israel was recently published by the Reut Institute. It reported that over the past year, Israel has been the subject of a campaign of unprecendented force – which reached 1