'Israel faces an international campaign to blacken its name' - Shlomo Cesana, Yori Yalon and AP

by Shlomo Cesana, Yori Yalon and AP

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says ongoing efforts to delegitimize Israel are "not connected to our actions but to our very existence," warns of challenges ahead • CIA Director John Brennan hails U.S.-Israel relations as "very, very strong."

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks during the weekly cabinet meeting in Jerusalem on Sunday | Photo credit: AP

Israel faces an "international campaign to blacken its name," aimed at delegitimizing its very existence regardless of its policies, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday. The international community disproportionately singles out the Jewish state for condemnation while remaining silent on major conflicts and human rights abuses in other countries, he said.

Netanyahu made the comments at a meeting of his new cabinet two days after a Palestinian proposal to suspend Israel from world soccer was dropped at the last minute. Netanyahu warned that such efforts to boycott Israel would continue. 

Palestinians accelerated their campaign to boycott Israel and Israeli-made products after peace talks collapsed last year.

"We are in the midst of a great struggle being waged against the State of Israel, an international campaign to blacken its name. It is not connected to our actions; it is connected to our very existence," Netanyahu said.

"It does not matter what we do; it matters what we symbolize and what we are. I think it is important to understand that these things do not stem from the fact that if only we were nicer or a little more generous -- we are very generous, we have made many offers, we have made many concessions -- that anything would change because this campaign to delegitimize Israel entails something much deeper that is being directed at us and seeks to deny our very right to live here." 

The prime minister said the Palestinian boycott is reminiscent of similar attacks the Jewish people faced in the past.

"Now, this is a phenomenon that we have known in the history of our people. What hasn't been said about the Jewish people? They said that we are the source of all evil in the world. All of these things are being said about us today as well. It was not true then and it is not true today. There is not a shred of truth to it," he said.

Netanyahu voiced his satisfaction with the failure of the Palestinian bid to have Israel suspended from FIFA, world soccer's governing body, but warned that Israel will face similar boycott efforts in the future.

Palestinians had pushed to get Israel banned because they said Israeli security restrictions limited the movement of Palestinian players, visiting teams and soccer equipment.

Israel accused the Palestinians of politicizing sports and insisted its security concerns are valid, especially regarding movement in and out of the Gaza Strip.

"We are not a perfect country; we do not pretend to be such, but they are setting standards for us that are both twisted and higher than those for any other country, any other democracy," he said.

Meanwhile, in an interview with CBS on Sunday, CIA Director John Brennan said that despite the diplomatic disagreements between Israel and the U.S., chiefly surrounding the emerging nuclear deal with Iran, there is still a "very very strong relationship between the United States and Israel on the intelligence, security and military fronts." 

"It's one of the great things, I think, about our system; there can be policy differences between our governments but the intelligence and security professionals know that we have an obligation to keep our countries safe and secure," Brennan said. 

Shlomo Cesana, Yori Yalon and AP

Source: http://www.israelhayom.com/site/newsletter_article.php?id=25859

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