If Israel goes down, we all go down

If Israel goes down, we all go down
http://www.worldjewishcongress.org/en/main/showNews/id/9401

Anger over Gaza is a distraction. We cannot forget that Israel is the West's best ally in a turbulent region

By José María Aznar

For far too long now it has been unfashionable in Europe to speak up for Israel. In the wake of the recent incident on board a ship full of anti-Israeli activists in the Mediterranean, it is hard to think of a more unpopular cause to champion.

In an ideal world, the assault by Israeli commandos on the Mavi Marmara would not have ended up with nine dead and a score wounded. In an ideal world, the soldiers would have been peacefully welcomed on to the ship. In an ideal world, no state, let alone a recent ally of Israel such as Turkey, would have sponsored and organized a flotilla whose sole purpose was to create an impossible situation for Israel: making it choose between giving up its security policy and the naval blockade, or risking the wrath of the world.

In our dealings with Israel, we must blow away the red mists of anger that too often cloud our judgment. A reasonable and balanced approach should encapsulate the following realities: first, the state of Israel was created by a decision of the UN. Its legitimacy, therefore, should not be in question. Israel is a nation with deeply rooted democratic institutions. It is a dynamic and open society that has repeatedly excelled in culture, science and technology.

Second, owing to its roots, history, and values, Israel is a fully fledged Western nation. Indeed, it is a normal Western nation, but one confronted by abnormal circumstances.

Uniquely in the West, it is the only democracy whose very existence has been questioned since its inception. In the first instance, it was attacked by its neighbors using the conventional weapons of war. Then it faced terrorism culminating in wave after wave of suicide attacks. Now, at the behest of radical Islamists and their sympathizers, it faces a campaign of delegitimisation through international law and diplomacy.

Sixty-two years after its creation, Israel is still fighting for its very survival. Punished with missiles raining from north and south, threatened with destruction by an Iran aiming to acquire nuclear weapons and pressed upon by friend and foe, Israel, it seems, is never to have a moment's peace.

For years, the focus of Western attention has understandably been on the peace process between Israelis and Palestinians. But if Israel is in danger today and the whole region is slipping towards a worryingly problematic future, it is not due to the lack of understanding between the parties on how to solve this conflict. The parameters of any prospective peace agreement are clear, however difficult it may seem for the two sides to make the final push for a settlement.

The real threats to regional stability, however, are to be found in the rise of a radical Islamism which sees Israel's destruction as the fulfillment of its religious destiny and, simultaneously in the case of Iran, as an expression of its ambitions for regional hegemony. Both phenomena are threats that affect not only Israel, but also the wider West and the world at large.

The core of the problem lies in the ambiguous and often erroneous manner in which too many Western countries are now reacting to this situation. It is easy to blame Israel for all the evils in the Middle East. Some even act and talk as if a new understanding with the Muslim world could be achieved if only we were prepared to sacrifice the Jewish state on the altar. This would be folly.

Israel is our first line of defense in a turbulent region that is constantly at risk of descending into chaos; a region vital to our energy security owing to our overdependence on Middle Eastern oil; a region that forms the front line in the fight against extremism. If Israel goes down, we all go down. To defend Israel's right to exist in peace, within secure borders, requires a degree of moral and strategic clarity that too often seems to have disappeared in Europe. The United States shows worrying signs of heading in the same direction.

The West is going through a period of confusion over the shape of the world's future. To a great extent, this confusion is caused by a kind of masochistic self-doubt over our own identity; by the rule of political correctness; by a multiculturalism that forces us to our knees before others; and by a secularism which, irony of ironies, blinds us even when we are confronted by jihadis promoting the most fanatical incarnation of their faith. To abandon Israel to its fate, at this moment of all moments, would merely serve to illustrate how far we have sunk and how inexorable our decline now appears.

This cannot be allowed to happen. Motivated by the need to rebuild our own Western values, expressing deep concern about the wave of aggression against Israel, and mindful that Israel's strength is our strength and Israel's weakness is our weakness, I have decided to promote a new Friends of Israel initiative with the help of some prominent people, including David Trimble, Andrew Roberts, John Bolton, Alejandro Toledo (the former President of Peru), Marcello Pera (philosopher and former President of the Italian Senate), Fiamma Nirenstein (the Italian author and politician), the financier Robert Agostinelli and the Catholic intellectual George Weigel.

It is not our intention to defend any specific policy or any particular Israeli government. The sponsors of this initiative are certain to disagree at times with decisions taken by Jerusalem. We are democrats, and we believe in diversity.

What binds us, however, is our unyielding support for Israel's right to exist and to defend itself. For Western countries to side with those who question Israel's legitimacy, for them to play games in international bodies with Israel's vital security issues, for them to appease those who oppose Western values rather than robustly to stand up in defense of those values, is not only a grave moral mistake, but a strategic error of the first magnitude.

Israel is a fundamental part of the West. The West is what it is thanks to its Judeo-Christian roots. If the Jewish element of those roots is upturned and Israel is lost, then we are lost too. Whether we like it or not, our fate is inextricably intertwined.


José María Aznar was prime minister of Spain between 1996 and 2004.

"The Three Terrors" - brilliant!

Israel Readjusts Ties To Turkey

Israel Readjusts Ties To Turkey
http://thebulletin.us/articles/2010/06/04/news/world/doc4c09acf01bdfc651255579.txt
By DAVID BEDEIN, Middle East Correspondent
Friday, June 04, 2010
JERUSALEM - Numerous Israeli companies have begun either to sever or to suspend their commercial relations with Turkey in the wake of the flotilla to Gaza.

Dafna, a clothing company, canceled its plans to build a production factory in Turkey and decided to stop importing fabric from Turkey. “The incidents of the flotilla this week were the straw that broke us,” said yesterday Zvika Levinson, one of the owners of Dafna. “We wanted to transfer a production line to Turkey, but now there’s no chance. Our trade in fabric with Turkey has also dropped to zero. I’m in the process of looking into new markets in Taiwan and Eastern Europe.”

Eran Siv, the chairman of the Association of Renovation Contractors and the owner of Even Siv, which imports stones and other raw materials from Turkey to be sold in Israel, has decided to stop all activity with Turkey and canceled a scheduled business trip there. “I import from a Turkish supplier a very popular stone, which is intended mainly for swimming pools. In the wake of the new tension, I canceled the orders and I placed them instead with an Egyptian stone supplier. I won’t let the Turks make money on our backs.”The veteran construction company Almogim has also decided to stop buying construction materials from Turkey.

Gandi Gurevich, the CEO of Almogim, said that that decision had begun to crystallize in recent months in response to the worsening of relations and the displays of Turkish anti-Semitism, but a final decision was only made this week. He said that Almogim used to buy toilets, sinks, bathtubs, bath tiles, marble and other products from Turkey. Now, he said, no Turkish-made products would be bought to be installed in any new construction projects; instead, those products would be purchased in Eastern Europe and the Far East.

A large energy company also decided this week that it would scale back its activity in Turkey. The CEO, who agreed to speak on condition of anonymity because of a company branch in Istanbul, said yesterday, “We’ve recalled our representative from Turkey. Most of our new activity will be directed from now on towards Greece because of the political climate.”

The Israeli fashion company, Discrete, imports viscose fabric from Turkey. Yaakov Ganai, the director general and owner of the chain, said, “For the moment, I haven’t decided on an absolute termination of work, but I definitely understand that there is a serious problem and I am very leery of flying to Turkey in the shadow of the crisis, and my business obliges me to get an impression of the products and to have frontal working relations. I’m trying to figure out a different solution.”

Chairman of the Israel-Turkey Chamber of Commerce Menashe Carmon said, “We’ve stopped a few projects in real estate, research and development and energy. Israeli companies that are considering establishing factories in Turkey and partnerships are now going to think twice; there is an enormous volume of future activities that are now going to be either reexamined or are going to be stopped.

The refinery in Haifa is also liable to suffer as a result in the deterioration of relations with Turkey. The refinery reported yesterday that between seven and nine percent of its volume of projected sales in 2010 was earmarked for the Turkish market. On Tuesday, a spokesman for the refinery said, “Sales activities in Turkey in the various areas of activity are proceeding regularly.” The refinery is preparing itself to find alternative markets.

Israel recalls its Heron drone operators from Turkey

Israel recalls its Heron drone operators from Turkey
http://www.panarmenian.net/eng/world/news/49944/Israel_recalls_its_Heron_drone_operators_from_Turkey
Israel has recalled its Heron drone operators from the southeast Turkish city of Batman, where they had been training Turkish officers on the unmanned aircraft. The action occurs in the wake of the deadly May 31 attack on the Mavi Marmara and ensuing diplomatic crisis between the two nations, pulsemedia reports citing Zaman Turkish edition.
In 2005, Turkey agreed to purchase 10 Heron drones from Israel at a total price of nearly 190 million dollars. Following a delay of over 2 years, 6 of the promised aircraft were delivered to Turkey earlier this year.
According to Zaman, the removal of the Israeli operators at this particular time, before the Turkish officers have completed their training, appears to be driven by more than mere concern for the operators’ safety.

Worker Committees Boycott Turkish Products

Worker Committees Boycott Turkish Products

According to a new survey, Israeli workers unions will not purchase gifts this year for workers that were made in Turkey .
Last year the worker committees spent NIS 2 billion on such gifts.

Unions call for boycott of Turkish goods

Unions call for boycott of Turkish goods
http://www.jpost.com/Israel/Article.aspx?id=177993

Turkey Boycotts Holocaust Conference in Jerusalem

Turkey Boycotts Holocaust Conference in Jerusalem
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/news.aspx/138030