Israel appeals to white solidarity

It is common for Israeli apologists to ask why Israel has become such a symbol of imperialism. The implication is that this is due to antisemitism. An alternative explanation is to note just how transparent Israeli support for racism is, not just against Palestinians but in general.

Here's the latest. Breaking the Silence, an Israeli organization of former Israeli soldiers that publicizes the atrocities committed regularly by the IDF through soldier testimonies, receives funding from a number of European governments, including the U.K., Spain and the Netherlands. That is great. The Israeli government is not happy, which is understandable. The Israeli Foreign office is now using is friendly relations in the Netherlands to try to cut the funding of the group.

According to sources familiar with the situation, Dutch Foreign Minister Maxime Verhagen - considered one of Israel's staunchest supporters in the European Union - did not know that the embassy in Tel Aviv was funding Breaking the Silence. He learned about it after the organization's funding sources were published in an article in The Jerusalem Post.

Sources say Verhagen reproached senior figures in the Dutch Foreign Ministry upon learning this and gave instructions to launch an internal investigation on the matter. It showed that the embassy in Israel gave Breaking the Silence 19,995 euros to help put together its 2009 report, which discusses Operation Cast Lead and was released earlier this month.  (Haaretz, July 26, 2009)

Nobody should be surprised that Israel has plenty of European politicians willing to do their bit to help cover up its crimes. What is interesting is the logic of Israel's appeal to the Dutch Foreign Minister.

According to a senior Israeli official: "A friendly government cannot fund opposition bodies. We are not a third world country."

There you have it. States of white people can fund "oppositional" groups in states of dark people, but not in other states of white people. Everybody understands this global demarcation, but only Israeli diplomats are unselfconsciously racist enough to express it so blatantly.