Israel's diplomatic spring

[Solomon2]

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Israel’s diplomatic spring
It is springtime for Israeli diplomacy as governments around the world seek out closer ties with the Jewish state.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Russian President Vladimir Putin. (photo credit:GPO)

We are living at a time when preconceived notions are crashing down one on top of the other.

We thought that nothing would ever change in the Arab world. But the Arab world hasn’t merely changed, large portions of it have collapsed. And regimes that have so far survived are beating a path to Israel’s door.

We thought that American dominance in the Middle East would last forever. And today the US is withdrawing. Its withdrawal may be short-lived, or it may stay out for the foreseeable future. Whatever the case, Russia is already picking up the pieces.

That would be shocking enough. But even worse, as it has withdrawn, the US has turned a cold shoulder to Israel and its Sunni allies in a bid to build an alliance with Iran.

We thought that the European Union was the rising world power. We thought the euro was the currency of tomorrow.

Instead, Britain decided to bolt the EU and the euro zone is a disaster zone. European economic growth is sclerotic. European societies are coming apart at the seams under the crushing weight of failed monetary policies, over-regulation and mass emigration from the ruins of the Arab world.
Now we are witnessing the collapse of yet another preconceived notion.

For more than 20 years – indeed, since the initiation of the phony peace process with the PLO in 1993 – the who’s who of Israel’s chattering classes have told us that our growing diplomatic isolation is the result of our failure to make peace with the PLO. Everything will change for the better, immediately, they tell us, the minute we give up Jerusalem, expel hundreds of thousands of Israelis from their homes in Judea and Samaria, and hand security control of the Jordan Valley over to someone else.

But amazingly, despite the fact that there is no peace process, rather than suffering from diplomatic collapse, it is springtime for Israeli diplomacy as governments around the world seek out closer ties with the Jewish state.

And they aren’t coming to us, despite our supposed moral failings. They are coming to us because they admire us.

Exhibit A: Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Last week Putin delivered an address before the All Russian Historical Assembly about the importance of teaching Russian history to Russia’s citizens.

Putin used Israel as a model for how historical knowledge empowers a nation.

Putin said, “Israel... relies and develops its identity and brings up its citizens with reliance on historical examples.”

Putin’s use of Israel as a positive role model showed that Putin’s sudden courtship of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is not solely the product of strategic and economic interests.

He happens to admire Israel.

Next week Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will embark on a five-day visit to Africa. During the trip he will visit Uganda, Kenya, Rwanda and Ethiopia.

He may meet with additional heads of state during one of his stops. Netanyahu’s visit marks the first prime ministerial trip to Africa since Yitzhak Rabin visited in the early 1990s.

Africa isn’t Russia. But it is an important arena.

For nearly a century and a half, Africa has been the playing ground of world powers. In the 19th century, the European powers divided it up among themselves. In the Cold War, the newly independent states of Africa were sucked into the superpower competition as the US and the Soviet Union competed for turf through their African proxies.

Since the end of the Cold War, both world powers and regional ones have been drawn to Africa who view it as a convenient economic and strategic stomping ground.

Over the past decade and a half, China has emerged as the dominant economic player in Africa.

The Chinese move from state to state, building infrastructure in exchange for mining and petroleum contracts.

The US has opted not to challenge China’s economic dominance in Africa. The US’s nonchalance is either a function of indifference or of ignorance of the toll that China’s economic behavior will eventually take on US companies in Africa.

Case in point is Gabon. The West African nation is an oil power. According to business sources in Gabon, President Ali Bongo Ondimba is a pro-Western Muslim. He is interested in expanded trade ties to the US.

Ondimba’s electoral opponent, Jean Ping, a former senior UN official and former foreign minister, is oriented toward China. Yet, the US is allegedly supporting Ping over Ondimba due to dissatisfaction with the latter’s human rights record. If Ping is elected in August, US oil companies in Gabon are liable to see their contracts challenged.

Human rights and democracy promotion are major themes of US policy in Africa. Since the 1998 al-Qaida bombings of the US embassies in Tanzania and Kenya, counterterrorism has also been a major concern. During his presidency, George W. Bush established the US military’s Africa Command to run US operations in the continent.

However, as part of Obama’s policy of winding down the US’s war against terrorism, and following the US’s contribution to the overthrow of Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, the US has constrained its operations. Its minimalistic approach to fighting Boko Haram in West Africa and al-Qaida offshoots in East Africa makes clear that the US’s strategic disarray, after seven-and-a-half years of the Obama presidency, has not left Africa unaffected.

World powers are not the only players in Africa.

Regional powers are also on the scene. Iran, for instance, views Africa as a theater for expanding its influence over the Middle East. Last month The Wall Street Journal reported on Iran’s growing missionary presence in West Africa.

Iran and Hezbollah are running Islamic centers in Nigeria, Ghana, Tanzania and Cameroon, and they’re getting results. Whereas in 1980, a Pew Survey showed no adherents to Shi’ite Islam in Africa, today, 12 percent of Nigeria’s 90 million Muslims are Shi’ites. So are 21% of Muslims in Chad, 20% in Tanzania, and 8% in Ghana.

Much of the missionary work is being handled by Lebanese expatriates in West Africa. Many of these former Lebanese are suspected of having close ties to Hezbollah. Indeed, earlier this year, the US Treasury Department named three Lebanese nationals living in Nigeria as Hezbollah operatives.

During Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s tenure as Iranian president, Tehran expended enormous resources expanding and deepening its presence in Africa.

Among the fruits of his efforts was the Eritrean regime’s agreement to allow Iran to operate a naval base in the Horn of Africa. Iran’s cooperation with Sudan, and its use of Sudanese territory to ship advanced weapons to Gaza, reached new heights.

Iran’s Africa strategy took a major hit earlier this year, however. Owing to massive Saudi pressure, and, in all likelihood, massive payoffs, Sudan, Comoros, Somalia and Djibouti cut diplomatic ties with Iran in January. Sudan even joined Saudi Arabia in its campaign against Iran in Yemen. Eritrea reportedly permitted the Saudis to launch operations in Yemen from its territory.

This then brings us back to Israel, and Netanyahu’s visit to Africa.

In recent years, Israel has also been expanding its relations with African nations. Even South Africa, Israel’s greatest antagonist in Africa, indicated earlier this year that its hostility isn’t all-consuming.

In March, Foreign Ministry director-general Dore Gold paid a prolonged visit to South Africa where he was the guest of his South African counterpart.

South Africa aside, African nations from all over the continent view Israel as a rich source of technology and security expertise they are keen to tap.

They also view Israel as a rising economic power.

With an average economic growth rate of 6%, Africa is also an attractive market for Israeli companies across a swath of industries.

The most practical lesson from power politics in Africa is that for Africans, nothing is a done deal.

African states can cooperate simultaneously with competing outside powers and everyone benefits.

For instance, according to reports, Eritrea allows Iran, Israel and Saudi Arabia to operate on its territory simultaneously. In other words, there is no reason to ever consider anyone in anyone’s pocket, and no reason not to ask for what we want. We may get it.

In recent years, Israel has done this to our advantage in the diplomatic realm, long thought to be a lost cause.

Last September, a draft resolution at the International Atomic Energy Agency calling for Israel to open its nuclear sites to UN inspectors came up for a vote. It was defeated due to opposition from African states.

So, too, in late 2000, a draft UN Security Council resolution recognizing “Palestine” was defeated because Nigeria and Rwanda chose to abstain from voting. The African representatives’ action caught supporters of the resolution by surprise.

The Israeli leader most responsible for those successes was then-foreign minister Avigdor Liberman.

During his tenure at the Foreign Ministry, Liberman conducted two prolonged visits to Africa during which he visited seven countries, including Nigeria and Rwanda.

There is every reason to expect that during Netanyahu’s visit to Africa, Israel will expand and deepen its ties with Africa still further. And at some point, those deepened ties will result in further African support for Israel at the UN.

This returns us to our shattered accepted wisdom about Israel’s diplomatic isolation.

The view that Israel’s diplomatic fate is directly tied to its willingness to give up Judea and Samaria and Jerusalem is based on the Eurocentric view that the EU is the most important player in the diplomatic arena and that Israel cannot be successful unless Brussels supports us. For Israel’s elites, the fact that the EU is hostile to Israel is taken as proof that we are morally compromised and don’t deserve its support.

But as Israel’s diplomatic rise in Africa, Asia, Russia and beyond makes clear, the Eurocentric view is wrong. Israel needn’t waste its time and energy trying to appease the Europeans. Not only is it an exercise in futility, given Europe’s boundless and unhinged hostility. It is also unnecessary, given Europe’s economic weakness and political decay.

Due to our elite’s continued allegiance to the Eurocentric view, scant media attention has been paid to Israel’s diplomatic blossoming. Much of the public is unaware that far from being isolated, Israel is enjoying a diplomatic rise unseen since the end of the Cold War.

 

[Solomon2]

Israel: The Worst Of Times, The Best Of Times

July 5, 2016: Fatah continues promoting its “knife terrorism” campaign while Israel continues to cope with the mayhem. Since October 2015 there have been 250 “knife terrorism” attacks and these have left 36 Israelis or foreigners dead and nearly 500 wounded. The knife terrorism attacks and supporting violence (rock and fire bomb throwing and violent protests in general) have left 220 Palestinians dead, over 15,000 injured and nearly 2,500 under arrest. This makes the attackers angrier but not more effective. While the Fatah sponsored “knife terrorism” campaign is losing popular support among Palestinians it continues anyway. Many more of the attacks are by groups of young Palestinians in the West Bank. Thus there have been nearly 900 reported attacks involving stone throwing, over 340 using fire bombs and hundreds of other potentially fatal attacks that went unreported because no one was seriously hurt. Meanwhile poverty and corruption in Gaza and the West Bank, areas where Palestinians are in charge, continues to flourish. This suits Fatah, which proudly and publicly pays the families of dead attackers a reward while imprisoned attackers receive regular payments to their families. Some Western aid donors have cut or eliminated their contributions to Fatah over this financing of terrorists while most Western donors ignore the practice or insist it is not done with the money they contribute.

Fringe Benefits

The civil war in Syria and the growth of ISIL (Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant) has led Turkey to repair relations with Israel. Egypt and the Gulf Arabs have also improved their relations with Israel as a result of the Islamic terror threat. Turkey, Egypt and the Gulf Arabs all had developed links with Islamic terror groups over the years but by 2015 realized that Israel was a better ally and certainly less dangerous than Islamic radicals.

Even before Turkey expelled the Israeli ambassador in 2011 relations between the two countries had been going downhill since 2007, when the AKP (Islamic Justice and Development Party) won reelection and party leader (and Turkish president) Recep Tayyip Erdoğan decided to turn on Israel in order to increase influence in Arab countries. It soon became clear that this was not working out so well but the AKP leaders were not willing to back down. By 2011 Turkey had cut most of its extensive diplomatic, economic and military ties with Israel. It took four more years of Islamic terrorist violence inside Turley and isolation from Israeli economic and military cooperation, to change enough minds in the AKP (which is still Islamic).

After the Arab Spring uprisings in Syria turned violent in 2011 Turkey tolerated Islamic terrorists travelling to Syria via Turkish territory as long as this was to fight the Syrian government (Assad) forces. The Turks and the Assads had never got along well and since AKP came to power Turkey has been trying to support efforts by Moslems to “defend Islam” against heretics (like the Shia Iranians, Syrians and Lebanese), Israel and the West. But this backfired and now Turkey is trying to mend relations with Israel, Russia, Egypt and the West. At the same time, Turkey still considers the Assads a greater threat than ISIL or Kurdish separatists.

Egypt, after finding out the details of the Turkey-Israel reconciliation deal asked Israel to not respond to Turkish demands that Israel lift its Gaza blockade, at least not to the extent that it would help Islamic terrorists in Gaza to carry out more attacks (against Israel as well as Egypt). In general Egypt was opposed to Israel resuming diplomatic relations with Turkey because the Turks openly supported several of the Islamic terrorist groups in Egypt as well as the Egyptian Moslem Brotherhood, which tried to turn Egypt into a religious dictatorship in 2013. Israel worked out a compromise with Egypt and the Turks helped out by agreeing to cut ties to groups that support violence in Egypt.

July 4, 2016: In the north (Golan) fire from the Syrian side of the border hit and damaged the Israeli security fence. In response Israeli artillery fired on two nearby Syrian Army bases. When the fire from Syria is deliberate the Israelis always fire back, but if it appears to have been the result of fighting between government and rebels forces inside Syria, which is the cause of most bullets, rockets and shells crossing the border, there is a verbal protest but no artillery or air strikes in response. When it is unclear, the Israelis fire back.

In the south (Gaza) ten trucks carrying Turkish aid for the residents of Gaza were allowed in from the Israeli side. This is part of the reconciliation deal with Turkey. Such aid must be shipped to an Israeli port, where it will be checked for contraband and then loaded on trucks for movement to Gaza.

July 1, 2016: In the south (on the Gaza border) a rocket fired from Gaza hit a school. There were no injuries and not much damage. In retaliation Israeli warplanes hit four Islamic terrorist bases (including some belonging to Hamas) in Gaza.

June 30, 2016: In Egypt six soldiers were killed when they clashed with heavily armed smugglers on the Libyan border. Since late 2015 Egypt has sent a lot more soldiers and special operations troops to the Libyan border to deal with Islamic terrorists and smugglers who are using more innovative methods to get back and forth across the border. Sometimes this means more firepower, finding more obscure routes or a combination of both. Special operations troops are best suited to deal with this. Egypt wants to keep weapons and Islamic terrorists from entering Egypt and stop illegal migrants, some of them new recruits for ISIL in Libya, from crossing into Libya. Smugglers still get a lot of people and goods into and out of Libya using the fact that the 1,100 kilometer long border largely runs through thinly populated desert. The desert route is more expensive and many illegals cannot afford it.

Elsewhere in Egypt (Sinai) a Coptic priest was shot dead. ISIL later took credit for this. Egyptian Islamic radicals, many of them let out of prison after the 2011 revolution, are increasingly calling for violence against Israel and non-Moslems in particular. This includes the Egyptian Christians, mainly the Copts, who converted to Christianity more than 500 years before the Islamic invaders arrived in 639. Copts are still over ten percent of the population. The stubbornness of the Copts in refusing to convert to Islam has led to centuries of persecution. By 300 AD most Egyptians were Christians, nearly all of them belonging to the local Coptic sects. When the Moslems invaded threats and incentives were used to encourage conversion to Islam. By 1000 AD Moslems were the majority in Egypt. Ever since, Egyptian Moslems have sought, often with violence, to convert the remaining Egyptian Christians. Some converted, but increasingly over the last century, Copts have simply fled the country. This is accelerating as it becomes obvious that the new government cannot or will not halt the growing persecution of the Copts. It’s not just ISIL, even more moderate Islamic radicals like the Moslem Brotherhood, regularly organize attacks (often non-fatal) against Copt communities. This is often part of a growing effort to forbid Copts (or other Christians) to build new churches.

June 29, 2016: Israeli police revealed that an Arab-Israeli man had been arrested in Turkey earlier in the month for trying to get into Syria and join ISIL. The Arab-Israeli man was returned to Israel where he was arrested and recently indicted. Police believe that between 40 and 50 Arab-Israelis have actually made it to Syria and joined ISIL.

June 28, 2016: In Egypt (Sinai) the air force carried attacks on five ISIL camps or bases. When ground forces arrived they determined that at least 30 Islamic terrorists had been killed and even more wounded. The air strikes were carried out to prevent planned ISIL attacks from taking place. No word on civilian casualties.

June 27, 2016: Israel has agreed to lease Germany five Heron TP UAVs. What is interesting about this deal is that it includes allowing the Germans to operate their Heron TPs from Israeli bases. Germany used Heron UAVs in Afghanistan and trained their operators in Israel until 2011. Several other NATO countries, plus India, have bought or leased Heron UAVs.

 

[Solomon2]

In first, Tanzania to open embassy in Israel
Netanyahu hails ‘milestone’ summit with East African leaders in Uganda
BY TIMES OF ISRAEL STAFF July 5, 2016, 12:36 am

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu meets with leaders from Africa, in Entebbe, Uganda, on July 4, 2016. (Kobi Gideon/GPO)

Tanzania told Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday that the East African country would be opening an embassy in Israel for the first time.

Foreign Minister Augustine Mahiga gave Netanyahu a letter from Tanzanian President John Magufuli in which Dodoma’s intention to establish a permanent envoy was expressed.

Bilateral ties between Israel and Tanzania were severed following the 1973 Yom Kippur War. Relations were reestablished in 1995, but Israel still conducts its relations with Tanzania via Nairobi in Kenya. Tanzania has reportedly expressed interest in reopening a mission in Israel multiple times in recent years.

Netanyahu was taking part in a multilateral meeting in Entebbe, Uganda, with the presidents of Uganda, Kenya, South Sudan and Zambia, Ethiopian Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn, and Mahiga.


Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu meets with African leaders in Uganda on July 4, 2016. (Kobi Gideon/GPO)

The prime minister called the summit a “milestone,” marking “monumental change in the relations between Israel and Africa.

“I believe Israel is the perfect partner for the countries of Africa,” Netanyahu said in a statement. “We think that Israel now is the best partner that the countries of Africa could have, and it’s something that is dear to our hearts.

“I believe in Africa. I believe in your future and I believe in our partnership for this future,” Netanyahu said. “We want a better future for you, a better future for all of us, and we think we can be your perfect partners.”

Odd couple Israel and Egypt enjoying ‘best times ever’
Though the Jewish state remains deeply unpopular on Arab street, Israeli envoy says Cairo, Jerusalem see ‘eye-to-eye’ on region
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BY BRIAN ROHAN July 5, 2016, 2:10 am 2

CAIRO (AP) — Blast walls, sandbags, and guards with machine pistols manning checkpoints ring the Israeli diplomatic compound in the leafy Cairo suburb of Maadi.

But inside the Embassy, which doubles as Ambassador Haim Koren’s residence, you’d hardly notice any of the animosity traditionally felt by the Egyptian masses, for all the upbeat assessments of the future.

On a recent night at the compound, some two dozen Egyptians came for an iftar dinner, the traditional breaking of the fast during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, which ends Tuesday. But the vast majority of them — including a cook wearing a Star of David T-shirt — were embassy employees.

“This is one of the best times we’ve ever had” in terms of cooperation between governments, said Koren, a veteran diplomat and fluent Arabic speaker posted here since 2014. “There’s good cooperation between the armies, we have understandings about the Sinai Peninsula, and basically, we see (eye-to-eye) on development of the region.”


In this Tuesday, June 21, 2016 photo, Israel’s Ambassador to Egypt, Haim Koren, stands inside the residence at the Embassy compound in the Cairo suburb of Maadi, where he has been posted since 2014. After decades of wars followed by years of uneasy peace, Israel has emerged as a discrete but key ally to Egypt’s President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi, who along with powerhouse Saudi Arabia and the Emirates has sought to define friend and foe together in the region during troubled times. (AP Photo/Brian Rohan)

After decades of wars followed by years of an uneasy peace, Israel has emerged as a discreet ally to Egypt’s President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi, along with powerhouse Saudi Arabia and smaller, wealthy Gulf Arab countries.

Sissi, who as army chief overthrew his elected but divisive predecessor, the Islamist Mohammed Morsi in 2013, was heavily supported by those Gulf states. He has helped Israel further isolate the Hamas organization ruling the Gaza Strip, the tiny slice of Palestinian territory wedged between Egypt and Israel. Hamas had close ties with the former Egyptian leader and is rooted in Morsi’s Muslim Brotherhood.



Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi in Cairo on April 17, 2016 (AFP/Khaled Desouki)

Israel often praises Sissi for his tough stance on terrorism, and considers him a key ally in what it sees as a shared battled against Islamic extremists.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Sissi often speak on the phone. Last May, Netanyahu welcomed what he described as Sissi’s “willingness” to help advance the peace process with the Palestinians, after Sissi said that Egypt’s relations with Israel could be warmer if it made peace with the Palestinians.


Egypt’s ambassador to Israel Hazem Khairat with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem, February 29, 2016. (Prime Ministers Office)

“We have common enemies in the sense of terrorism, or if you like, radical Islamic terrorism, emerged from the same root no matter if it happens to be Hamas or the Muslim Brotherhood, ISIS, Jabhat al-Nusra or al-Qaeda,” Koren said. Sissi “understood quickly that we are all in the same boat,” he added.

Israeli military officials believe that despite ideological differences, Hamas in Gaza is cooperating with extremists affiliated with Islamic State or other armed groups in Egypt’s neighboring Sinai region. They praise Egypt’s crackdown on Hamas’s cross-border smuggling tunnels, which had been a main conduit for weapons into Gaza, and say the Egyptian military is doing an admirable job in a fierce battle against IS militants in Sinai.

Israel has allowed Egypt to move heavy weapons like tanks, artillery and attack helicopters into the restive Sinai Peninsula to fight extremists including a local Islamic State affiliate, overlooking provisions in the landmark 1979 peace treaty between the two countries. The two sides also are considered to have close intelligence ties.


Egyptian President Anwar Sadat,left, U.S. President Jimmy Carter, center, and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin clasp hands on the north lawn of the White House as they sign the peace treaty between Egypt and Israel, March 26, 1979 photo credit: AP/Bob Daugherty

But the relationship remains complex. Israel closed its embassy in Cairo during the tumult that followed the 2011 uprising against longtime autocrat Hosni Mubarak, when outraged crowds attacked it over the killing of five Egyptian policemen by Israeli forces chasing militants in the Sinai. It didn’t reopen its embassy, now at the residence further from the city center, until September 2015.

Leading figures across Egypt’s political spectrum still reject full normalization of Egyptian-Israeli relations, with many professional associations and labor unions banning members from visiting Israel. Last year, parliament voted to expel a contentious member after he had dinner at the embassy, and in the uproar that ensued, one newspaper published a photo of Koren with devil’s horns superimposed on his head.


Palestinian masked supporters of the Islamist Hamas movement take part in a demonstration in Rafah in southern Gaza Strip in August 2014. (photo credit: AFP/SAID KHATIB)

Attempts at outreach to the Egyptian people can also backfire: Earlier this year a new Arabic-language Facebook page set up by the embassy was flooded with insults and anti-Semitic comments, with some likening Jews to pigs and others calling them killers over the long-running conflict with the Palestinians — a popular hot-button topic in Arab countries.

“Our aspiration is to come closer to the Egyptian people,” through cultural policy and social media, Koren said. “But we understand, it’s a long process, there’s a long way to go. That’s why the stability of Egypt is important, and also the success of its economy.”

Koren himself ventures outside his diplomatic compound only under heavy guard. His family remains back in Israel, and he frequently returns home.

Spokesmen for the Egyptian Foreign Ministry and presidency did not respond to request for comment on the topic, underlining its sensitivity. But jets carrying Israeli officials arrive regularly at Cairo’s international airport, where they are sometimes whisked away in official cars.

Egyptians who travel to Israel, even for religious pilgrimages, face scrutiny from their own state security forces, as do individuals entering the embassy compound, in the foreigner-friendly suburb of Maadi.

Koren said that despite the successful free trade areas for manufacturing known as QIZ zones, “it’s going very slow” with regard to developing Israeli expertise in sectors that could benefit the Egyptian economy, such as agriculture, irrigation and solar power.

“Media here used to say that we were poisoning the seeds of the vegetables,” for example, he said. Over the years a variety of myths have been perpetrated in the media — from attractive, HIV-positive women being sent to Sinai to infect Egyptian men, to sharks imported into the Red Sea to scare off tourists.

One boost to the relationship is Israel’s lack of any official commentary on human rights issues, unlike some Western nations or sometimes the United States, Koren said.

“We are not interfering in those domestic issues,” he said. “We don’t think it’s our role to educate or to preach for any kind of way that someone should run Egypt or any other country.”

 

[haviZsultan]

Solomon is obsessed with proving Israel as the knights-chancellor of the world in nobility. Good luck to him because most people today realize the brutish tactics and aggression of the current Israeli state.

 

[Chinese-Dragon]

Israel has a lot to offer the world, especially in terms of high end technology.

Water management technology being the most interesting one for countries like China.

 

[Solomon2]

In Africa, Lion King Bibi begins to outroar the Palestinians
Offering high-tech and security know-how in return for diplomatic support, Netanyahu was welcomed like a superpower chief

BY RAPHAEL AHREN July 8, 2016, 2:52 pm
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ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia — A life-size stuffed lion greets visitors to the National Palace in Addis Ababa, lying on a red carpet adorned with Stars of David. Always aware of a good frame, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu did not pass up on the opportunity to have his photograph taken with the lion on the sidelines of his meeting with Ethiopian Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn Thursday morning.

A few hours later, the country’s president, Mulatu Teshome, took his Israeli guest down to the palace garden, where they gazed at real lions. Netanyahu is the first statesman to have been allowed to get so close to the animals; even US President Barack Obama wasn’t granted this honor during his recent visit.


Posing for the cameras with President Teshome, as two lions strolled in the background, Netanyahu said the occasion gives new meaning to the verse “They were swifter than eagles, stronger than lions” (2 Samuel, 1:21).

In Africa, Netanyahu could be forgiven for feeling like Lion King Bibi. During his four-day tour this week to Uganda, Kenya, Rwanda and Ethiopia — which required unprecedented security arrangements, including special forces and armored personal carriers brought from Israel on Hercules planes — he was treated like the chief of a global superpower.


Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Ethiopian President Mulatu Teshome watch lions at the presidential compound in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, on July 7, 2016. (Kobi Gideon/GPO)

In Entebbe, Nairobi and Kigali, he was received and bid farewell at the airport by the countries’ heads of state. They spared no effort to make him feel welcome: red carpets, white gloves, military marching bands, national anthems, honor guards, gun salutes and girls handing flowers to the first lady.

The capitals of Kenya, Rwanda and Ethiopia were adorned with large posters featuring photos of the Israeli prime minister — some alongside the local leader, some all by himself.


A poster welcoming PM Netanyahu to Kenya on the streets of Nairobi, July 5, 2016 (Raphael Ahren/Times of Israel)

“It’s a very, very high profile visit,” said the anchor of a Ugandan news channel during a live broadcast Monday that followed almost every step Netanyahu took in the country. “It’s not every day that an Israeli prime minister visits Uganda.”

The next day, at a meeting of Evangelical supporters of Israel in Nairobi, a shofar was blown to mark the momentous occasion — the first visit of an Israeli prime minister to sub-Saharan Africa in three decades, and the first ever to Kenya. “He’s a hero in our eyes,” a local Zionist declared.

Netanyahu’s relatively underwhelming 12-minute address Thursday to lawmakers in Addis Ababa — in Africa’s oldest parliament — garnered a somewhat less enthusiastic response than his controversial anti-Iran deal speech at the US Congress last year. But his African adventure was a walk in the park compared to the lion’s den he’s grown accustomed to entering in Washington and in capitals across Europe. In Africa, no one’s much bothered by new housing units in East Jerusalem or controversial legislation to rein in left-wing NGOs.

New alignments
As Netanyahu noted in speech after speech, and briefing after briefing, many parts of the continent want to get closer to Israel, mostly because they are interested in two things: Israeli technology — especially in the fields of agriculture, water and cybersecurity — and Israeli security know-how.

Africa and Israel have had a rollercoaster past, but in an age of escalating terrorism many leaders in this continent have concluded that they can no longer afford to show a cold shoulder to the Jewish state. Netanyahu stressed the point at his press conferences; his hosts readily echoed the message.

If Africa has much to gain from Israel, Jerusalem in return expects the continent to help Israel break out of its international isolation. But it’s not only Israel’s prowess in high-tech and counter-terrorism that have enabled the new romance with Africa. It was the Arab Spring and the crumbling of hitherto powerful states that allowed for the realignment.

“We think that the world has changed,” Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta said Tuesday at a joint press conference with Netanyahu. “Global problems that we now share are different than what they were some 30 years ago. And we need to partner with each other. We need to deal with the security threats we have together.”


A poster announcing PM Netanyahu’s visit to Ethiopia on the streets of Addis Ababa, July 7, 2016 (Raphael Ahren/Times of Israel)

As he landed Friday morning in Tel Aviv, Netanyahu could claim several concrete diplomatic achievements: Tanzania announced its intention to open its first-ever embassy in Israel; the leader of a (yet unnamed) Muslim African nation that does not have diplomatic ties with Israel spoke to him by phone and agreed to meet in the near future; and several East African countries publicly promised to push for Israel to be granted observer status at the African Union. For years, African leaders have said they support Israel’s bid to regain observer status, but they had made no previous public commitments to make it happen.

Israel lost its observer status at the AU in 2002 and recent efforts to regain it failed mainly due to objections from South Africa. But the organization’s chairmanship, currently held by a South African, is changing in a few months, and this could provide Israel with a golden opportunity to rejoin the group.

Regaining observer status at the AU “has very great significance for us,” Netanyahu said Tuesday in Kenya. “Africa is a continent with 54 countries. The possibility of changing their position and their attitude toward Israel is a strategic change in Israel’s international standing.”

Remaking the international balance
Specifically, Netanyahu is bidding to change the balance of power in the way the world relates to the Israeli-Palestinian issue. The Palestinians, frustrated by decades of deadlock, have in recent years tried to internationalize the conflict. Blocking this effort was a central goal of this week’s mission to Africa.

While Israel’s traditional allies — the US and Europe — pressure Israel to make peace with the Palestinians, organizing international peace summits and threatening sanctions, Netanyahu sees Africa as a potential savior. If they vote as a block, Netanyahu’s thinking goes, they can help break the Arabs’ automatic majority in international forums such as the UN.


Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu meets with President of Rwanda Paul Kagame, in Kigali, Rwanda, on July 6, 2016. (Kobi Gideon/GPO)

“It might take a decade, but we will change the automatic majority against Israel. That’s something that has never been possible in the past,” Netanyahu told the traveling press on Monday night as his plane headed into Kenya.

“My goal is to talk directly and seriously with the Palestinians. But that’s impossible because they are escaping to international forums where they have an automatic majority,” he said the next day at a briefing in Nairobi. Rather than to negotiate directly with Israel, the Palestinians choose to unilaterally turn to international bodies to advance their statehood bid, the prime minister lamented.

His policy to expand Israel’s foreign ties, he argued, “will lead to a situation in which the Palestinians will no longer have this shelter and will have to discuss with us on a bilateral basis, something they refuse to do it as long as they have the international refuge.”

The ultimate goal, Netanyahu told reporters Thursday, is to create a counterweight to the traditionally Israel-critical Non-Aligned Movement — in the shape of a new “movement aligned with Israel.”

The prime minister knows his vision of all or most African nations voting with Israel won’t be realized tomorrow. It’s part of a long-term strategy the fruits of which might become visible only years from now — or even decades. But his visit to this continent underlined that Netanyahu has decided to make a determined effort to tap into the vast potential Africa holds for Israel. And as he made clear to the Israeli journalists who traveled with him through Africa, he’ll be back.


Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu meets Prime Minister of Ethiopia, Hailemariam Desalegn, in Addis Ababa, on July 7, 2016. (Kobi Gideon/GPO)

Raphael Ahren is the diplomatic correspondent at The Times of Israel

 

[Nilgiri]

Israel has a lot to offer the world, especially in terms of high end technology.

Water management technology being the most interesting one for countries like China.

Yah, they are involved in this too with India w.r.t the latest drip irrigation and water management methods.

and looks like one of the usual butthurt crowd has already arrived and claims to talk for "most" people

 

[Solomon2]

Israel's UN delegation hoping for Security Council seat
Analysis: After Israel's ambassador was appointed to head a UN committee and an Israeli professor was re-elected to another, Israel's mission to the organization has set its eyes on a Security Council seat in two years.

Itamar Eichner|Published: 09.07.16 , 14:23

When Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu appointed Danny Danon as the permanent representative to the UN, many raised an eyebrow and called the choice surprising. In retrospect, some now admit that appointing a skilled and cunning politician with a direct link to the Prime Minister's Office managed to open quite a few doors and bring about many achievements for Israel in the United Nations.

Recently, Danon was elected to head the UN's Legal Committee, one of the General Assembly's six permanent committees that deals with sensitive topics in international law. Danon's election, which had the support of 109 states out of 193, was especially surprising because of the intense campaign waged by the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, including the Palestinians and the Iranians, against his appointment.

This is the first time since Israel joined the UN in 1949 that its ambassador heads one of the permanent committees, and there are those who are calling this achievement "historic."

Danny Danon at the UN General Assembly (Photo: Shahar Azran)

A short while later, the Israeli delegation attained a further achievement. Prof. Yuval Shany, dean of the Faculty of Law at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, was elected to his second term on the UN's Human Rights Committee in Geneva. The committee comprises 18 experts from different countries and is responsible for the compliance with the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights in different countries.

"The fact that I come from Israel and know the dilemmas related to balancing human rights and security needs gives me a certain advantage," said Shany. "I believe that it gives my opinions on these topics a lot of weight on the committee."

While all the members are professionals in their fields, the election process is highly political. Shany won widespread acclaim for his performance in his first time, yet he still ran into difficulties when he asked to be re-elected with 40 Muslim states opposing his appointment. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Israeli delegation to the UN ran a long campaign to persuade as many countries as possible to support him, and Shany himself also met with representatives of more than 100 countries and held multiple receptions and lectures. The decision, in the end, came down to a single vote, at least in the first round.

The vote that led to Danon's appointment in the UN

The Israeli delegation is not resting on its laurels and is already preparing for its next—and most ambitious—goal: a seat on the Security Council in two years. The Western European and Others Group, of which Israel is a member, is expected to select two non-permanent members to join the council in 2019–2020. Currently, three are competing: Germany, Belgium, and Israel.

The Germans' seat is practically guaranteed, so the true fight will be with Belgium. Israel begins this battle at a disadvantage of some 40–60 votes from Muslim, Arab and anti-Israeli states. "It's realistic," claims Danon. "Until recently, Israel was treated as the UN's whipping boy, but we've proven that good work can lead to important victories."

 

[Nilgiri]

Israel's UN delegation hoping for Security Council seat
Analysis: After Israel's ambassador was appointed to head a UN committee and an Israeli professor was re-elected to another, Israel's mission to the organization has set its eyes on a Security Council seat in two years.

Itamar Eichner|Published: 09.07.16 , 14:23

When Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu appointed Danny Danon as the permanent representative to the UN, many raised an eyebrow and called the choice surprising. In retrospect, some now admit that appointing a skilled and cunning politician with a direct link to the Prime Minister's Office managed to open quite a few doors and bring about many achievements for Israel in the United Nations.

Recently, Danon was elected to head the UN's Legal Committee, one of the General Assembly's six permanent committees that deals with sensitive topics in international law. Danon's election, which had the support of 109 states out of 193, was especially surprising because of the intense campaign waged by the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, including the Palestinians and the Iranians, against his appointment.

This is the first time since Israel joined the UN in 1949 that its ambassador heads one of the permanent committees, and there are those who are calling this achievement "historic."

Danny Danon at the UN General Assembly (Photo: Shahar Azran)

A short while later, the Israeli delegation attained a further achievement. Prof. Yuval Shany, dean of the Faculty of Law at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, was elected to his second term on the UN's Human Rights Committee in Geneva. The committee comprises 18 experts from different countries and is responsible for the compliance with the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights in different countries.

"The fact that I come from Israel and know the dilemmas related to balancing human rights and security needs gives me a certain advantage," said Shany. "I believe that it gives my opinions on these topics a lot of weight on the committee."

While all the members are professionals in their fields, the election process is highly political. Shany won widespread acclaim for his performance in his first time, yet he still ran into difficulties when he asked to be re-elected with 40 Muslim states opposing his appointment. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Israeli delegation to the UN ran a long campaign to persuade as many countries as possible to support him, and Shany himself also met with representatives of more than 100 countries and held multiple receptions and lectures. The decision, in the end, came down to a single vote, at least in the first round.

The vote that led to Danon's appointment in the UN

The Israeli delegation is not resting on its laurels and is already preparing for its next—and most ambitious—goal: a seat on the Security Council in two years. The Western European and Others Group, of which Israel is a member, is expected to select two non-permanent members to join the council in 2019–2020. Currently, three are competing: Germany, Belgium, and Israel.

The Germans' seat is practically guaranteed, so the true fight will be with Belgium. Israel begins this battle at a disadvantage of some 40–60 votes from Muslim, Arab and anti-Israeli states. "It's realistic," claims Danon. "Until recently, Israel was treated as the UN's whipping boy, but we've proven that good work can lead to important victories."

Hope India supports you (behind the scenes mostly I would assume).

Is this the first time Israel is trying for a seat?

 

[Solomon2]

Hope India supports you (behind the scenes mostly I would assume).

Is this the first time Israel is trying for a seat?

According to Wikipedia, yes.

 

[Solomon2]

Paraguay president to visit Israel seeking expanded ties
With collaboration growing in agriculture and other fields, Asuncion looks to up exports, tech cooperation

BY JTA July 8, 2016, 5:34 am

Paraguayan President Horacio Cartes (Flickr/Agencia de Noticias ANDES/CC BY-SA 2.0)​

RIO DE JANEIRO — President Horacio Cartes of Paraguay will visit Israel to discuss several cooperation agreements between the two countries.

Cartes will meet Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Reuven Rivlin during his mid-July visit to talk about bilateral interests in the areas of agriculture, technology and education, the Ultima Hora newspaper reported Monday.


“The visit will help us strengthen our cooperation,” Israeli Ambassador Peleg Lewi told La Nacion. “We have been doing a lot of work together, which we wish to expand to other areas such as innovation and high technology.”

Paraguay exports $190 million to Israel annually in soy, beef, charcoal and other products, according to official data from 2015. In Israel, 40 percent of the meat consumed is Paraguayan. Israel is one of the highest paying markets for Paraguayan beef.

Last month, Israel delivered drip irrigation systems to Paraguayan small farmers as a result of technical collaboration process with local cooperatives.

In March, Cartes was awarded the Shalom Prize by the World Jewish Congress for “contributions to building coexistence.”

Two months earlier, Israel had donated food and assistance kits to help Paraguayans displaced by massive flooding in the region, the worst in half a century.

The Israeli Embassy in Asuncion was reopened last year after the closure in 2002 along with 15 other diplomatic missions around the world because of budgetary constraints.

Paraguay is home to some 1,000 Jews in a population of nearly 6.7 million people.

 

[Solomon2]

• Wednesday, July 13, 2016
• 
  Elder of Ziyon

What the Arab nations know (Renato)

A comment by Renato on my article yesterday about how Arab and Muslim nations are not fulfilling their pledges to Palestinian Arab donor conferences sums up the situation nicely:

What I really think is that, in the end of the day, as Professor Yisrael Aumann shows in his great interview with EoZ, people usually are rational and make rational decisions - sometimes their rationale is debatable, but still makes sense to them.

After decades supporting "the most important cause in the world, the Palestinians", Arab leaders can't simply stop supporting them overnight, no matter how much the villas in Ramallah upset them. Ahmed Average would freak out, as his air-thin skin gets hurt by the slightest butterfly passing in the neighbouring country. So, to stick to the honor/shame demands, they appear to be champions of "Palestine", while deeds (and pockets) go where real world priorities lie.

Muslim leaders are fully aware that:

a) linkage/intersectionality/etc is crap

b) Palestinian "leaders" are too corrupt even for kleptocractic standards

c) Palestinian intransigence hasn't lead to any concrete gains other than PR stunts

d) Hamastan and Fatastan are independently ruled, and the rulers can't agree on even the most basic stuff

e) When left alone, Israel not only doesn't harm Muslims, she actually helps them

f) Jews are perfectly capable of keeping agreements and even improving on them, as Egypt and Jordan prove. They relinquished on stuff like tanks in Sinai and Tiran back to Saudi Arabia!

g) Muslims and Israel have a surprising number of shared enemies

h) The Internet has made it increasingly difficult for Muslim rulers to blame everything on Israel

With this in mind, it gets increasingly self-evident that Israel is not their problem. What is clear is that wasting money on "Palestine", which will end up in kleptocrats pockets anyway, makes less and less sense.

Therefore, Muslim nations are - slowly but surely - putting their money where their priorities are. Sure, keep the speeches for PR and internal consumption, but their deeds increasingly show that the situation is changing.​

 

[TaiShang]

With the warming relations with the Sunni Islamic world, Israel now becomes a Middle Eastern country, albeit a strong one. Interesting to see the warming relations with Turkey, Egypt and, even closer ties with Russia.

Obama's mismanagement of the Syrian crisis might have played a role in this.

It appears, US needs Israel more than Israel needs the US (in the Middle East), because, well, Israel is in the Middle East. This is their home turf.

Obama should not have let the Sunni solidarity grow so stronger against popular anti-Shia'ism. Israel, amid this rise of extremism in Sunni world, could not have remained indifferent, after all, it shares a common history and many cultural/religious traits with the orthodox Islamic world.

Interesting developments, indeed.

I do not see Israel losing, in this game. It basically pulled Turkey to its own line, secured Gaza's pariah status, probably will very soon will ensure Hamas is entirely outlawed by its own backers such as Turkey.

The couple of billion dollars it receives from the US will more than compensated by the ongoing energy projects with Turkey, Cyprus etc.

 

[Solomon2]

[Google translation from original French]
Cooperation: Guinea and the State of Israel restore diplomatic relations
www.guinee24.com - 07/21/2016 6:16 p.m. - Company


After forty-nine (49) years, the Republic of Guinea and the State of Israel reconnect diplomatic relations, like many other African countries, in order to develop and strengthen the bonds of friendship and cooperation between the two countries on the basis of universally recognized principles of international law, according to a statement from the Press Office of the Presidency of the Republic (BPP).

In this context, the ambassadors' credentials and the practical aspects of cooperation between the two States on the basis of their interests for peace and understanding among nations, will be further discussed through normal diplomatic channels, the statement said.

AGP

 

[duago]

Hilarious speech by Ugandan President at Israel Entebbe Raid commemoration | J-TV

ps
"If you had come to take over Uganda, then we would be fighting you now." Without even meaning to, he summarized the whole problem in Palestine.