by Judith Bergman
Israel owes no one any explanations for defending itself against those who wish to destroy it.
Israel
always plays nice. For decades, we have been allowing those who demonize
and delegitimize Israel to cross our borders and do their dirty work
against us on our own soil.
The Palestinian village
of Bil'in has become one very real symbol of this kind of "activist
tourism," where anti-Israel foreign activists gather to provoke fights
with the Israel Defense Forces in order to gain propaganda footage for
the international media.
The reasoning behind
Israel's welcoming policy is that we are a democracy, and we will allow
even those who wish us nothing but harm to benefit from our democratic
policies. But the real reason is more likely a fear of the international
backlash that denying entry to Israel-haters would elicit. Whatever the
case may be, the policy has always been a big mistake. As a sovereign
nation, Israel should be free to turn anyone it wishes away at the
border.
However, the policy
finally appears to have been put to rest, at least as far as the
boycott, divestment, and sanctions movement is concerned. On Sunday,
Israel's Interior and Public Security ministers declared that they
planned to establish a taskforce aimed at expelling BDS supporters and
preventing their entry into Israel. According to the press release,
dozens of organizations inside Israel are actively collecting
information to promote boycotts and international isolation. The new
taskforce will be responsible for identifying such efforts and combating
them.
Much like the NGO law,
which is compelling NGOs to divulge any foreign funding, this effort is
likely to outrage the usual suspects in the international media and NGO
community. Israel's answer to this should be a polite "mind your own
business." Israel owes no one any explanations for defending itself
against those who wish to destroy it. As Public Security Minister Gilad
Erdan said: "We must not allow boycott activists to enter Israel. This
is a necessary step given the maliciousness of these delegitimizing
activists who work to spread lies and to distort the reality of our
region."
This is a logical and
natural move, and it should have been implemented as soon as the BDS
movement surfaced. We have bent over backward so far to accommodate the
so-called international community and its "concerns" that frankly our
backs are about to break.
We should also expect
an outcry from the European Union and several of its individual member
states. Many of the organizations that promote BDS are sponsored to a
lesser or greater degree by the EU, one or more of its member states
(particularly Germany and the Scandinavian countries), or both, bringing
into serious question whether these organizations are truly
non-governmental in the first place.
It will doubtless be
embarrassing for the EU to see its activists expelled and returned home.
And rest assured: Those who will scream the loudest will be those who
wished most fervently for the destruction of Israel. Thus, the new
policy is likely to have the welcome side effect of outing those
European nations that have truly been working against us by funding
organizations that are deeply hostile toward Israel.
The presence of
foreign, hostile activists operating on Israeli soil collecting
information to use against us in the international arena is not only
unique to Israel (show me one other country where such operations are
systematically put into place with substantial financial backing from
foreign governments), but also an embarrassing disgrace for these
foreign, mainly European, governments, that are betraying their
obligations under international law to engage with Israel only through
diplomatic and legal channels.
Israel must demand a
clear answer as to why these supposedly friendly nations support
anti-Israel efforts. Is it customary for countries that cooperate and
enjoy full diplomatic relations to engage in hostile activities against
each other behind each other's backs? The question is simple and has an
even simpler answer.
Judith Bergman is a writer and political analyst living in Israel.
Source: http://www.israelhayom.com/site/newsletter_opinion.php?id=16889
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