Netanyahu is losing Israel friends

 The provocation referred to in a previous blog post has had repercussions. 

A little history. In the early 2000s, peace talks between Ehud Barak, the then Labor prime minister of Israel, and the Palestinians led by Yasser Arafat, broke down. The root cause, according to this even-handed article, was the parties' mutual suspicion. To my mind, though, the armed intrusion into the al-Aqsa mosque in September 2000 by Ariel Sharon, leader of the opposition in the Knesset, ratcheted up the violence between Israelis and Palestinians. The mosque is not only one of Islam's holy sites, it is in theory under the control of a body independent of government. So the incursion was not only an affront to Muslims, it was also illegal. What is known as the second intifada resulted. The wave of violence created a mood of fear and uncertainty in Israeli voters which has lasted, leading to a succession of nationalist governments from 2001 onwards. This was clearly Sharon's intention.

Whether the same calculation was in the mind of Itamar Ben Gvir, when he visited the mosque a few days ago, is doubtful. Ben Gvir is the extremist who has been appointed head of national security in the new government of Israel led by Benjamin Netanyahu. More likely, it was a personal flaunting of his new-found power and that of his ultra-nationalist friends. Either way, it has antagonised one of Israel's few Arab allies, Saudi Arabia. (It must be admitted that the Saudis have been onside with Israel largely because of their common bond with the USA and also because Sunni Saudi Arabia wants to reduce the power of Shi'a Iran, as does Israel.) Jordan, who had care of the mosque until the 1967 Six Day War, and Egypt have also protested what they see as a violation. Christian memorials have also been desecrated, according to UN Palestinian ambassador Riyad Mansour: "The attack is not only against our holy sites on Al-Aqsa mosque and Haram al-Sharif. You've seen by now that there are crosses over graveyards being trampled upon and attacked by extreme settlers. This is a toxic environment." 

Israel needs friends, maybe not now, but certainly in the future. She has the protection of the USA at present, but the States' status as the dominant world super-power will not last forever.