A CYNICAL USE OF MORALITY
By Haaretz Editorial
Ha’aretz
pages/1064446.html
Feb 16 2009
Israel
Two outrageous new developments have worsened the already tense
relations between Israel and Turkey. Gen. Avi Mizrahi, the head of
the Israel Defense Forces’ Ground Forces issued a tongue-lashing to
Turkey’s prime minister to remind the country of past atrocities. It
goes without saying that as an army man, Gen. Mizrahi is not tasked
with formulating Israel’s foreign policy, nor does he appraise other
countries. But even more grievous is the liberty he took to denounce
and preach morality to a strategic ally, causing a stir in relations
between Israel and Turkey.
At the same time, Israel’s Foreign Ministry pulled out a long
worn-out card, threatening to label the massacre of Armenians in
1915 as genocide. It is hard to believe that the Foreign Ministry
had a sudden attack of morality regarding the Armenians. For years
the ministry has avoided adopting the word holocaust or genocide
regarding the massacre of Armenians, not only because Israel seeks
to preserve its exclusivity over the word holocaust. Mainly, it
knows that adopting the word genocide in the Armenians’ case would
be tantamount to a diplomatic showdown with Turkey, one that would
in all likelihood result in a severing of ties.
This time the Foreign Ministry apparently decided that the Turkish
prime minister’s blunt statements about Israeli policy deserve a
fitting Israeli response, or at the very least the threat of such a
response. The debate is not whether to define the killing of Armenians
as genocide or a holocaust. This is a moral issue that obligates us to
re-examine history and offer a value-based judgment. The criticism is
aimed at Israel’s trying to make political use of the Armenian issue to
"punish" Turkey for daring to be so insolent as to condemn the military
operation, whose results are a matter of controversy even in Israel.
Advertisement
Turkey is one of Israel’s most important allies even if its prime
minister does not always express an understanding of our policies or
resorts to insulting language. The Foreign Ministry’s main efforts
should thus be geared toward containing the dispute and restoring
the relationship to its proper course. If Israel seeks to alter its
stance on the question of the murder of the Armenians, it would be
wise to do so at a more appropriate time, from a worthy position
of morality and not as a way to make threats. It shouldn’t happen
whenever a disagreement erupts with Turkey.
As for Gen. Mizrahi, perhaps the chief of staff should let his
subordinates know when they are overstepping the bounds of their
authority. In a different era, one would have expected the general
to be relieved of his duties because of his comments.