Israeli consul defends action in Mideast war
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By Brent Curtis Herald Staff - Published: January 16, 2009
Rutland is roughly 5,500 miles from the fighting in the Gaza Strip, but Nadav Tamir wasn't fooled by the distance.
"I know most of you are concerned about what's going on in the Middle East," the Israeli consul general to New England told a gathering of about 30 people at the Rutland Jewish Center on Thursday morning. "Many of us are worried and confused. We have relatives in combat or in range of missiles and we've all been devastated by images of civilians suffering in Gaza." The head diplomat completed a two-day tour of the Green Mountain State on Thursday with a breakfast address in Rutland followed by a meeting with Gov. James Douglas in Montpelier. On Wednesday night, Tamir was in Burlington.
The reason for his visit has been headline news for the last three weeks — Israel's military operation in Gaza where ground and air strikes have been carried out against Hamas forces in the narrow, Palestinian-controlled territory.
While Israeli officials have stressed that the strikes were carried out as measures of self-defense from Gaza-launched missiles lobbed into Israeli territory, reports and images of civilian casualties and urban destruction have led to criticisms and condemnations from some observers.
In his visit to Rutland on Thursday, Tamir's address wasn't aimed at Israel's critics, but rather its long-distance allies.
"There are good people in the world who are confused or think we are evil because they have no context or a different context about what's going on in Gaza," Tamir told the audience made up of the synagogue's membership and Rutland Mayor Christopher Louras. "We are a peace-loving people. The word 'peace' appears in Jewish prayers on almost every other page."
Even the Zionist movement to return to the ancestral Jewish homeland in Israel was undertaken with the intention of being "shaking hands" and maintaining good relations with the other nations and peoples of the Middle East, Tamir said, adding that the Israeli withdrawal from Gaza in 2006 was undertaken with the hope that Gaza would flourish and become a model for "self-determination."
But after the moderate regime in Gaza was usurped by Hamas, a group that Tamir described as a proxy of Iran with a mission to export that country's "radical ideology," the hope of peace with Gaza crumbled under incessant missile attacks from the territory, which became so common that Tamir said the international community barely took notice of Hamas' aggression anymore.
"It was like the Weather Channel in the international news," he said. "Some missiles today, more tomorrow."
It was only when Israel retaliated last month that the conflict made headlines again, he said, and the news he noted hasn't all been supportive of Israel's actions. But welcomed by the international community or not, he said Israel had to act in defense of its people.
"Our government knew if it didn't restrain itself, it would get into a bad situation and it wanted to do everything possible to avoid it," he said. "We knew when we started the fight, it was going to be ugly, but eventually we knew we had to do what any government's first responsibility is — to protect its citizens."
"Imagine living under conditions here in Rutland if rockets from New York were landing in the city," he added.
Adding to Israel's problems in the international court of opinions has been the difference in casualties between the two sides, which Tamir said is a reflection of the different value systems between Israel and its foes.
Israeli casualties from rocket attacks have been relatively light, he said, because the government has taken comprehensive measure to protect citizens with adequate bomb shelters and early warnings of attacks.
He charged that Hamas uses its people as human shields and puts civilians in harm's way to further its ends.
"For many Americans and Westerners, the concept that people would use their own civilians as shields is something that most people just can't grasp," he said. "But while we're busy protecting against casualties, they put people in harm's way. They count civilian deaths as a success for their cause … This is the situation you have dealt with in Afghanistan and Iraq. It's a different value system."
But while the Israeli government decided to act regardless of the consequences to its image, Tamir said harnessing international support and leverage for a diplomatic solution was essential for ending the conflict.
The consul said his country didn't undertake its military operation with the belief that force of arms could resolve the conflict.
Rather, he said the best hope of ending the fighting rests with the Egyptians, who are working to broker a long-term cease-fire that Tamir said would have to include monitoring of the tunnels leading in to Gaza. The consul said the Israeli government believes the tunnels have been used by Hamas to smuggle missiles and ammunition into the territory in the past.
"We don't have any lofty military goals. We're not in the regime-change business," he said. "We don't even think we can destroy Hamas' infrastructure. But while we're negotiating with the Palestinians for a cease-fire, the rockets are no longer shooting at us."
But Tamir did hint that a military solution may eventually be the only answer to the country that influences Hamas — Iran.
And while he said that the Israeli army is prepared to respond against Iran if that country develops nuclear weapons-making capability, he said Israel would much rather let another nation intervene.
"Overall, it's about Iran," he said. "Their nuclear capability is much more dangerous than the skirmishes with Hamas or Hezbollah. A dirty bomb being set off in America could be worse than 9/11. But it should not be Israel's decision to strike Iran. I believe that needs to be done by other powers."
Contact Brent Curtis at brent.curtis@rutlandherald.com.
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