ISRAEL HITS A HARD ROCK

ael-hits-a-hard-rock-2010-01-14
Thursday, January 14, 2010
Semih Idiz

Politicians often say and do stupid things. It seems part of
their calling. Turkey is a good example in this respect. But when
professional diplomats – whose calling is to diffuse, and not inflame,
crises – start to act stupidly, then this points to a systemic problem.

We always assumed Israeli diplomats to be of the highest caliber. At
least the ones we know are such. Israel’s Deputy Foreign Minsiter
Danny Ayalon has, however, proven this not to be the case every time.

His remarks in Hebrew to the assembled members of the Israeli media,
after he called Ambassador Oguz Celikkol to the Foreign Ministry
earlier this week to protest an anti-Israeli Turkish film, were enough
to make any sensible Israeli shudder with shame and wonder what kind
of people are running their Foreign Ministry.

Ayalon’s remarks, and the theatrical set-up he had prepared for
Celikkol, are part of diplomatic history now, so there is no need to
repeat them. Suffice it to say that even a spokesman for Ayalon’s own
extreme right "Yisrael Beitenu" party told Israeli media that Ayalon’s
political career was over. Others say his diplomatic career is too.

Ayalon’s behavior – obviously given the initial go ahead by Foreign
Minsiter Avigdor Lieberman – was not only amateurish in terms of
the childish theatrics it entailed: there was also a diplomatic
miscalculation involved.

Ayalon also committed the same mistake that Turkey committed at the
time over the rabidly anti-Turkish film "Midnight Express." He called
in Celikkol to protest the anti-Semitism of a Turkish TV series called
the "Valley of the Wolves."

Israel recently lodged a similar protest in Ankara over another
series called "Separation" and achieved partial results then. However,
the "Valley of the Wolves" was shot by a private company, just like
"Midnight Express."

The series called "Separation," on the other hand, which was also
offensive for Israelis, was done for the state-owned TRT. So the
government could intervene there because it has a legal right to.

Given Turkey’s democratic and legal system, there was no way the
government could stop the airing of the "Valley of the Wolves." Only
prosecutors could act. But, considering the new EU-orientated legal
changes and the general sympathy for the Palestinians in this country,
it is unlikely that they would.

By not seeing the subtle difference here, and by going after the
"Valley of the Wolves" the way it did, Israel in fact provided all
the advertisement the series needs. It was exactly the same with
Midnight Express.

When the Turkish government lodged formal protests over that film
in Western capitals where it was being shown, it got the same answer
everywhere: "This is a matter that the government can not intervene
in because of our democratic system."

More to the point, however, when it became public knowledge that
Turkey was protesting the film, public interest in it skyrocketed,
even winning it an Oscar in the end.

The makers of "Valley of the Wolves" are now doubly defiant, saying
that if this part angered Israelis, they should wait for the next
one for which they can start getting angry for already.

Some say they want to dramatize the "Goldstone Report." And why should
they not then want to capitalize on the publicity Israel will provide
them, no matter how reprehensibly racist and anti-Semitic their final
product may be?

For this writer, both the "Valley of the Wolves," and the mentality
that produces such racist rubbish have always been reprehensible.

Whether it is "Midnight Express" or a Turkish production makes no
difference.

But that is beside the point; Ayalon has generated all the publicity
the "Valley of the Wolves" needs.

Even the Americans behaved sensibly when a previous film version
of the "Valley of the Wolves" depicted American soldiers as wanton
killers of women and children in Iraq. They kept quiet and provided
the movie with as little publicity as possible.

In the background of all this is of course Prime Minister Recep
Tayyip Erdogan’s continuing harsh salvoes against Israel, which are
beginning to grate badly on Israeli and pro-Israeli nerves. He did
the same last week during the visit of the Lebanese Prime Minister.

Coincidentally, that came just as Ayalon was staging his amateur
theatrics in Israel, which incidentally had nothing to do with
Erdogan’s words, but concerned "The Valley of the Wolves."

Erdogan’s remarks, in which he accused Israel of attacking innocent
Palestinians, supported Iran’s nuclear program and sided with Lebanon
against Israel. The remarks merely made matters worse, of course.

It is clear that Erdogan’s sympathy for the people of Gaza – and his
open sympathy for Hamas – is clouding his judgment here as a leader,
even if his outbursts are causing much pleasure in the streets of
the Arab world.

Neither can one argue anymore that Erdogan is doing all this because
he is emotional. He seems to be pursuing a campaign aimed at reducing
ties with Israel to the benefit of Syria and Iran. Whatever the case
may be, he appears to be not too far away from achieving his aim.

It now remains up to Israel’s Deputy Prime Minister and Defense
Minister, Ehud Barak, to try and mend fences. Barak, who is known to
value ties with Turkey, will be in Ankara on Sunday.

The fact is, however, that Ankara has raised its stakes after Ayalon’s
antics. Of course Ayalon still remains defiant, even if he had to
formally apologize to Turkey in the end.

Israeli media quoted his office on Thursday as claiming that "Israel
will benefit from the manner in which Ayalon handled the crisis. The
result is that today Turkey will be more careful with its statements."

If these remarks are true, it is clear that Mr. Ayalon still has no
proper concept of the situation. He has caused a veritable flood
of statements from Turkey hitting at Israel in the hardest manner
possible.

In addition to this, if he thinks that "Turkey will be more careful
with its statements" in the future, then he hasn’t an inkling of a
notion about Erdogan.

At any rate, the whole world is now aware that a formal apology was
issued by him to Turkey.

Rather than continue making remarks that will most likely prove
to be untrue, he should ponder the reasons that forced him to
apologize to Turkey. That was clearly forced on him in order to save
already-strained ties with Turkey.

After all, Alon Liel, a former senior Israeli diplomat who knows
Turkey well, was quoted by the Financial Times on Thursday saying
that Israel needs Turkey more today than Turkey needs Israel.

The simple fact is that an Israel that is increasingly isolated in
the world could not risk loosing Turkey as well.