Israel Matzav

An ostrich can speak with his head buried in the sand

As some of you may recall, I do not particularly care for former foreign minister Shlomo Ben Ami. Unfortunately, because he still wears the tag of a "former foreign minister," when he says something outrageous it makes headlines. That happened again on Sunday.

With Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinadinnerjacket questioning the Holocaust on the one hand and threatening credibly to use nuclear weapons against Israel on the other hand, Ben Ami spoke up from his sandhill on Sunday, telling the Spanish parliament that

It's time for Israeli Jews to leave behind the mentality of the victim and the ghetto, and stop making comparisons between Hitler and Arafat, Saddam Hussein or even Ahmadinejad...

According to Ben Ami, being aware and putting the world on notice of the threats to our existence

is an obstacle to Israel's relationship with the international community and, even worse, "Give[s] legitimacy to some Palestinian comparisons between Israel and the Nazis...."

Ridiculous! As you might imagine, this has caused quite a storm:

Ben-Ami's statements caused a storm in the small Jewish community in Spain, and among Israel's Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The head of Spain's Jewish community, Jacobo Israel, emphasized to the Spanish Parliament that Israel is under existential threat by the Iranian regime.

The Foreign Ministry said that Ben-Ami's statements were enraging, particularly when made abroad by an Israeli Jew, speaking in the capacity of a former foreign minister.

Ben-Ami defended himself to the Yedioth Aharonoth newspaper Monday, saying "I believe in explaining things in a balanced manner, which is the only thing that lends credence to our cries against others...We must not interpret current events as a Shoah."

"The ability to critique ourselves is sometimes the best advocacy...I'm sorry that narrow-minded people, instead of promoting Israeli interests, are weakening Israeli advocacy," he said

If Ben Ami survives an Iranian nuclear first strike against us, will he then tell the world that this is like the Holocaust? Maybe even that won't be enough for him.

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 1:56 PM