Israeli Foreign Minister's audacity of dope

[Just after posting this, I heard that Minister Lieberman is resigning in the face of a criminal indictment... but the Czechoslovakia argument remains a common refrain among right-wing Israelis. And Lieberman will probably get re-elected in the January 22 elections and remain a force in the Knesset.]

Regarding concessions to the Palestinians, Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman said this week that European governments must know that Israel "will not be a second Czechoslovakia." Really??

The Foreign Minister's umbrage aside, his choice of analogy was truly baffling. Czechoslovakia, after all, was a weak, artificial proto-state, formed out of the negative space after World War I obliterated the Austro-Hungarian Empire. In 1939, Adolf Hitler forcibly ANNEXED the Sudetenland region of Czechoslovakia, claiming it as a German heartland. At the now-infamous Munich conference, the European powers effective handed the Sudetenland over to Adolf Hitler, the regional juggernaut, in a failed bid to placate Germany's lust for conquest. Over the months that followed, it became evident that the appeasement of Munich was the international community's gateway to the Holocaust.

Since 1967, Israel has used similar terminology and actions by "annexing" East Jerusalem and the Golan Heights. Right-wing Israeli politicians have perennially called for "annexing" all or part of the West Bank, pointing to the large Jewish settler population as a justification. And if there is a regional hegemon today, based on military and economic might, it is Israel and not the Palestinians.

So... If we're applying the Munich-Czechoslovakia model to Israel and the West Bank, who would be Czechoslovakia and who would be Hitler? The perverse answer to such a question is why it's so shocking that any Israeli politician would apply the Czechoslovakia model. Israel is NOT the Third Reich, so why use an example where the aggressor was a powerful country annexing lands where its people are settled, at the expense of the weaker rump state?

There are many valid arguments for why Europeans should be more supportive of Israel and harder on the Palestinians, especially the terrorist elements. But "Czechoslovakia" is nothing but a shrill play of the Holocaust card, hoping that no one will notice it is utter nonsense. So far, especially with Israeli elections a few weeks down the road, that bet is paying off.

Berlin might give Washington some hope

Fifty years ago, the Berlin Wall went up, blocking East and West Germans from crossing the dividing line left from the end of World War II (which Germany lost). By the time my parents drove us across Europe ten summers later, East German guards were sticking mirror-ended spars under our car to make sure we weren't smuggling anyone out to the West. (Of course, as I grew up, I would learn exhaustively about the Holocaust, but that's for a separate post.)

The next time I'd see anything like that was on Capitol Hill following 9/11, in Washington, DC, of all places (we had won WWII). The deserted expanse of public spaces, where cars once roamed freely, may be of necessity, but it's still jarring. Our architecture, after all, follows the dual American ethos of automobile access and public participation.

I used to aspire to work in government, because it seemed like a worthwhile experience (despite the constant complaints by federal workers who are free to join the private sector at any time). Since 9/11, the added incentive is just to be able to enter buildings without waiting for clearance and being escorted around like a tourist (even when I am a tourist).

Frankfurt attack raises many flags

Last Wednesday's attack on U.S. personnel at Frankfurt Airport is cause for concern. Obviously, the loss of two American airmen is painful in itself, along with the two injured. But there are other reasons to worry, or at least to wonder.

Germany is the lynchpin of U.S. force projection in Europe, Afghanistan, and the Middle East. Most of those attacked were members of a "security team" and the suspected shooter is a Kosovar Muslim. Although he may have acted on his own impulses, there are just enough coincidences to be not so coincidental.

This evokes several potential interests, including Balkan-Russian nationalist tensions and Iranian backing for Balkan Islamists. The victims were connected to the U.S. intelligence and security network, so this was not just some random transfer of "boots on the ground". Did the Kosovar just get lucky, or was he pointed in the right direction by someone looking to test U.S. readiness or just exact some specific revenge?

Dramatic change is sweeping the Middle East, and it's not clear who stands to benefit -- United States, Russia, Iran... Muammar Qaddafi himself was behind a few attacks on U.S. personnel in Germany and elsewhere in Europe, but that was a quarter-century ago. Very little in Europe or the Middle East happens by chance, which may be why so many of their citizens employ conspiratorial motives to explain American behavior.

Timing, location, targeting, method -- these are important clues, and it's likely many of the intended audience have already received and understood the message. The rest of us will have to just... move along.

Israel's diplomatic service is out of service, and it shows

Israelis have a tradition of claiming the world doesn't accept a Jewish State, but the current reality is the other way around. And it's starting to produce real consequences. The cause is a strike by Israel's career diplomats, whose compensation is... pathetic. It's not even on a par with employees of the Defense Ministry or the Mossad (whose agents, incidentally, may end up being Israel's only effective official presence overseas). The technical term here is "bubkes". It doesn't help that morale is at an all-time low within the Foreign Ministry, with longtime diplomats returning home to resign -- not just strike -- over money or out of frustration. None of this happened all at once, it's been brewing and bubbling over for months.

How bad is it? This week, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev canceled a visit to Israel because the government could not guarantee his arrangements. But President Medvedev did not cancel his visit to the Palestinian Authority, where yesterday he used the occasion to publicly reaffirm Russia's Soviet-era recognition of a Palestinian state. Remember, Russia is not just another country -- it's a recovering superpower, a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council, and one-quarter of the Mideast Quartet that oversees the Israeli-Palestinian peace process. In recent weeks, Israel had faced a diplomatic challenge as Argentina, Uruguay, Chile (homes to three of the largest Jewish diaspora communities) and other Latin American nations recognized Palestine without waiting for a final agreement between the parties. By comparison, Russia's reaffirmation of a Soviet policy could be a crisis for Israel.

By the way, German Chancellor Angela Merkel also had to cancel her visit for next week. All these visits and events take months or years to vet and plan.

Israelis spent so many decades deriding the United Nations as "Um Shmum" that most still haven't realized how much progress has been made by their courageous and inventive delegates. The latest step forward was to be a meeting, hosted in Israel, of the UN Economic Commission for Europe: A big... deal. Dozens of countries were coming in to address the issue of alternative energy, a field in which Israel excels. Canceled. Wasted. Humiliated.

There's plenty of public arguing over who needs to give in on the wage issue, the employees or the government. I have met very few Israeli diplomats who were not exemplary, dedicated professionals (and I'm not about to list the exceptions here!). It's a sad turn of events on a human scale, but at a politically delicate moment, when Israel needs to fall back on its reserves of good will and put its best face forward, it finds itself masked and blindfolded, and exposed. Whatever agreement can be worked out, it needed to be yesterday -- literally, yesterday.