‘Israel is not isolated — it is highly sought after’

By Shlomo Cesana, ISRAEL HAYOM

Not afraid to make far-reaching decisions. Deputy Foreign Minister Tzipi Hotovely

On the face of things, Israel’s standing in the international arena has never been worse. The media and other outlets, mainly from the left side of the political spectrum, are telling us that the world actively wants us to settle the conflict with the Palestinians and that the international arena is getting behind the Palestinian demand that Israel withdraw to the 1967 borders. They constantly remind us that there are no international embassies in Israel’s capital — Jerusalem. They note that the U.S. and the EU consistently condemn Israeli construction and sovereignty in Judea, Samaria and Jerusalem. Certain organizations talk about imposing sanctions on Israel and blast our policies as a matter of routine.

But does all this truly reflect Israel’s standing in the world? Is Israel really as isolated, rejected and unwanted as they say, because of its current policies toward the Palestinians? Well, we asked Deputy Foreign Minister Tzipi Hotovely these questions, who didn’t seem the least bit perturbed.

“Israel is not isolated or rejected,” she says, speaking to Israel Hayom at her office in Jerusalem. “Quite the opposite, actually. The media has a focus problem — they always focus on the problems and the familiar rather than highlighting positive achievements. If you ask the average Israeli about our relations with the world, they will recite the very narrow view of the ties with Europe — a very vocal relationship primarily because of the EU’s tendency to condemn the building of every home beyond the Green Line. The average Israeli is also aware of the Israeli-American relationship over the last year, which revolved around the deep conflict surrounding the Iranian issue. But that is a mistake.”

With the help of a few charts, Hotovely presents a very different picture — of flourishing commerce and active diplomatic relations with 80% of the world’s nations, all suggesting that Israel is not at all isolated, neither diplomatically nor economically. “Today, Israel is holding the U.S.’s hand on one side — a very strong ally — and on the other side the hands of India, China and Japan,” she says, underscoring Israel’s international dealings.

“In my capacity as deputy foreign minister I have traveled to Japan and to Vietnam, and I discovered a very different discourse there than the one in Europe,” she goes on to say. “In the East, the discourse is about what Israel contributes to the world, and not about what Israel does wrong. Israel can indeed contribute greatly: It can provide solutions to enormous problems in the fields of air pollution, farming, water management and medicine, to name a few.

“Our experience suggests that Israel is not a leper; it is highly sought after. There is a lot of warmth coming in Israel’s direction from countries that, for years, were aligned with the Arab world. These countries have become fans of Israel, and, as I said, seek our friendship. In the Far East Israel is seen as a superpower. A country unparalleled in its work ethic. They want to learn from Israel about entrepreneurship.”

Q: So the problems are mainly in Europe?

“In Europe there has also been a shift. The French know that global terrorism tops their agenda right now. Suddenly the Palestinian issue has become negligent, though they will never stop obsessing about it. These days, when you meet the prime minister at the climate change summit in Europe, the main topic of conversation is how to fight terrorism and how to use Israel’s cyber know-how to fight radical Islamism.

“So with all due respect, the notion of what the world is concerned with, and what is at the center of the world’s focus, is anachronistic. It is the old way. We have now entered a new era in international discourse. It is all about global solutions in medicine, agriculture, cyber warfare and technological innovation.”

Q: So you’re saying that we have no problems. We are a “light unto the nations.”

“I’m not ashamed to use that phrase. We have moved past the founding stage, when we enjoyed the world’s sympathy because of the Holocaust and because we were a people that rose out of the ashes and established a state. We are not in that place anymore; we are no longer a nation of victims. We have to change the way we think both in the context of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and in the context of the threat posed by the Arab world and Iran. We are not the victim. We are an independent, strong, democratic country with a powerful military. We are a state that produces Nobel Prize winners and that has struck economic stability. We just don’t know how to appreciate that.”

Q: But still, Israel is under continuous assault from the representatives of almost all the nations at the U.N.

“The U.N. has the Security Council, and there, when we try to shoot down harsh resolutions like the attempt to expose Israel’s nuclear policy or the attempt to recognize a Palestinian state, we have a degree of success. We are able to stop these moves.

“On the other hand, there are the General Assembly and the Human Rights Council and UNESCO, where decisions are 100% political. There, the automatic Arab League majority works against Israel. For example, the Human Rights Council has members like Syria and Iran that preach to Israel. We present injustices there, but there is a Palestinian push to turn these bodies into propaganda tools in a fierce battle over the historical narrative.”

“The settlement enterprise is not a stain”

In the absence of a foreign minister (Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu retains the foreign portfolio), Hotovely is the senior-most official in the Foreign Ministry. Netanyahu also appointed his close confidant, Dore Gold, to serve as director general of the ministry. Together the three of them, Hotovely, Gold and Netanyahu, work as one — a refreshing change from the conflict-ridden history of the ministry.

Hotovely describes the support that she enjoys from the prime minister and lists the three main changes she has incorporated at the ministry since assuming the deputy minister role. First she decided to play up Jerusalem to VIPs who visit Israel. Second she decided to highlight Israeli topics in the course that trains future diplomats. Third, she distributed a document, formulated after consultations with well-known legal experts, that states that Israel is not an occupier in Judea and Samaria.

“Since the 1990s, the Foreign Ministry has been operating under the precept that Israel is engaged in a peace process and that at the end of the negotiations we would arrive at an agreement,” Hotovely explains. “The Israeli motto was ‘our hand is extended in peace,’ but while we were relaying positive messages, the other side was busy engaging in anti-Israel propaganda.

“In order to counter that, we have to present our side in this land. The settlement enterprise is not a stain. It is something to be proud of. Israel has been building beyond the Green Line all these years under government-propelled initiatives. Construction is carried out only on land confirmed as not being privately owned. There is a Supreme Court overseeing things, so it is all in accordance with the law.”

Hotovely admits that “they didn’t love talking about the legality of the settlement enterprise in the Foreign Ministry,” but the document that she formulated and that has been distributed to all Israeli diplomats around the world contains Israel’s current official stance: There is no occupation.

“Under international law, the territories were not occupied. When Jordan seized these territories, they did it in violation of international law, with the express intent of attacking and destroying us. In contrast, we just restored our control over these areas, so no one can claim that we seized them from a foreign entity. Jordan was a not a sovereign entity, and if anyone was an occupier it was the Jordanians.”

Hotovely plans to continue pushing the Foreign Ministry’s new, clear message. She notes that the Palestinians’ true wish is to see Israel gone. “According to them, and all the historians agree,” she says, “the occupation is over all of the State of Israel. It is the occupation of 1948. Three [Israeli] prime ministers offered to retreat to the 1967 borders, but were rejected.

“Former U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice wrote in her book that [Palestinian Authority President] Mahmoud Abbas explained to her that he rejected these offers because ‘what will I tell 4 million refugees?’ So obviously the struggle is not over borders, but over the very existence of the State of Israel.

“The Palestinians are perpetuating the refugee problem. There is a U.N. body that handles the plight of all the refugees around the world. These refugees cannot inherit refugee status [from their parents]. Only the Palestinians have a special U.N. institution that handles the refugees’ legacy — UNRWA — which grants refugee status six generations into the future. Therefore, it is rather clear why there is no peace agreement. Today, if you ask any Israeli why there is no peace agreement, they will tell you it is because we didn’t make enough concessions.”

Hotovely knows that most people aren’t very well versed in the legal aspects of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. “People absorbed the political discourse over the years, but they were never aware of the legal discourse,” she explains. “When you confront them with the facts, that Israel did not occupy, that there never was a Palestinian state, their responses boil down to, ‘So what is the solution for the Palestinians?'”

Q: So what is the solution? The world looks at us and sees us controlling another people.

“The Europeans come here, and the only thing they care about is the blockade on Gaza. I remind them that in 2005 we withdrew [from Gaza] in a painful uprooting and retreated to the international border. They reply: ‘But you maintain military control, maritime control, you control Gaza.’ My answer is that the blockade is in place for reasons of self-defense, because if they had maritime access, everything that gets sent in from Iran would explode in Sderot.

“You have to understand, as long as Hamas controls Gaza and maintains contact with Iran, which is doing everything in its power to destroy us, the situation in Gaza will remain as it is. When I meet with visitors from Europe and elsewhere in the world I ask them: ‘Can you promise us that what happened in Gaza won’t recur in Judea and Samaria [if Israel withdraws]?’ They sit there, embarrassed, and say no.”

“Diplomacy is not surrender”

Indeed, Judea and Samaria is an entirely different story than Gaza. “They have autonomy,” the deputy minister notes. “The State of Israel does not interfere in what happens there in the towns. They complain that their homes get raided at night and that there are checkpoints? Stop the terrorism then. When there is a threat, Israel defends itself without territorial limitations.”

Q: How are you trying to change the discourse in the world?

“I tell them that the Palestinian Authority doesn’t have a right to independence, that it enjoys the support of the world and that the Palestinians receive more foreign aid than any other entity in the world. The Foreign Ministry researched it. They received more money than was given out under the Marshall Plan at the end of World War II and much more money than the world is currently investing in helping the refugees from Syria.

“I ask them: ‘What have the Palestinians done with all the money? Where is the money?’ Well, the answer is that the money went into funding terrorism or funneled into private corruption. I have taken it upon myself to stress this issue to visitors. The objective is to open the eyes of the decision makers in Europe: If you care about money, follow the money.

“Not only have you created an industry around peace, you have created a failing society devoid of any positive vision. The only thing motivating the Palestinians is incitement against Israel. That is why I tell our diplomats that we need to take the incitement issue and turn it into a tool of stopping the funding.”

Q: How would you answer the question, “What is diplomacy?”

“Diplomacy is not surrender. It is a place where you maintain your principles and strike alliances according to your interests. This job, deputy foreign minister, gives me the opportunity to hear Prime Minister Netanyahu doing it the right way in meetings with senior statesmen.

“You should see him. He gets the message about Israel across with admirable conviction. He maintains his nationalist camp’s principles in a courageous manner. He confronts people with the facts, and they sit across from him, embarrassed. They don’t have answers to his challenging questions.”

Q: In conclusion, is Israel doing well today?

“We are in an age of prosperity. It is important to look at Israel from wider angles, not just as a country that is constantly at war. These days it is the West, the free world, that is constantly at war. They have been on the defensive for a long time, ever since radical Islam declared war [on the West].”