On the eve of British Foreign Minister William Hague to Israel, an Israeli cabinet minister expressed dismay at the growing antagonism against Israel in the UK, as he attacked attitudes towards his country as “disguised anti-Semitism.’’
In an interview with The Daily Telegraph, Israeli Intelligence and Strategic Affairs Minister Yuval Steinitz, who is close ally of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, was asked if Britain was still a "friend of Israel".
He replied: "It's difficult to say. Traditionally we had good relations with Britain and currently we have good intelligence cooperation with Britain and it's very successful. But we are concerned about the relations, about what we see as some animosities, some incitement in Britain, in the media, made by NGOs against Israel. I hope we will be able to use Mr Hague's visit to improve relations."
He pointed to campaigns calling for boycotts of Israeli products, academics and universities – a movement which recently saw Prof Stephen Hawking, the renowned British physicist, withdraw from an annual conference hosted by Shimon Peres, Israel's president, in June “in protest at the occupation of the West Bank.”
Expressing "disappointment" at Prof Hawking's decision, Steinitz said: "I didn't hear that Prof Hawking or other British academics, who are so easily boycotting Israel, are boycotting other Middle East countries. Or if they have reservations about America invading Iraq, they so easily boycott American universities. So some Israelis feel that there is some kind of double standards.
"The fact that Israel is treated differently, the fact that some people can say so easily, let's do something against Israel, let's boycott Israel, let's boycott Israeli products, this is some kind of disguised anti-Semitism. In past times people said that they are against the Jews. Now, especially after the Holocaust, nobody says that they are against the Jews, but people are against the Jewish state."
The Israeli minister insisted that he was not accusing William Hague or other British ministers who had criticised Israeli settlements in the West Bank of anti-Semitism, saying this was a "legitimate view".
"Not every kind of criticism is anti-Semitism," he said. "I didn't say that any criticism of Israel was anti-Semitic or unfair even. If somebody has some criticism of Israel, this is one thing. The same person can also have some criticism of his own country.
"But if somebody is following criticism of Israel and becoming anti-Israeli, saying 'I'm ready to cooperate with Israel's enemies or boycott Israel, or Israelis or Israeli academia or Israeli institutions', this is something different."
He rejected the view in Europe that continued settlement building threatened to torpedo chances of a two-state solution with the Palestinians.
"I think those allegations about the settlements are fundamentally wrong. To come to Israel and say why are you doing this and this, this is totally wrong," Steinitz said. He cited the dismantling of settlements in Sinai in Egypt after the 1979 Camp David accords as proof that Israel would uproot settlers in return for genuine peace.