Gaza assault ruining Israel's image worldwide

Recently a European ambassador stationed in Israel, a great friend of Israel, told his Israeli colleagues, "I understand why you embarked on the operation in Gaza, and many of my colleagues also understand and even support it, but a few days ago you started to cross red lines." The ambassador continued, reiterating his support and his love for Israel. "We too would like to damage Hamas, we too would not sit by quietly if they were firing rockets at us," he said. "It was clear to us that innocent people would be hurt in any operation in Gaza, and we were prepared to accept that up to certain limit, but in the past few days it seems that your action is getting out of control, and the harm to civilians is tremendous." The straw that broke the camel's back for that ambassador was the Red Cross report from Gaza that small children had been found wounded, near the corpses of their mothers, under the ruins of their homes, and other reports of civilians on the verge of dying in places ambulances could not reach because of the fighting. "The international organizations in Gaza are talking about 200 dead children," he said. "I don't know how to explain these things to myself, never mind to my government," added the ambassador. "Your action is brutal and you don't realize how much damage this is causing you in the world. This is not only short term. It's damage for years. Is this the Israel you want to be?" A similar message also came across in a conversation that President Shimon Peres had with the delegation of European foreign ministers who came to Jerusalem a week ago. Benita Ferrero-Waldner, the European Union Commissioner responsible for External Relations and European Neighborhood Policy, said to Peres: "You have the right to self-defense, but what is happening in Gaza is beyond all proportion. I am telling you, Mr. President, Israel's image in the world has been destroyed." As a result of the humanitarian disaster that Israel has created in Gaza, the European Union and Israel have put negotiations on upgrading their ties on hold. Ramiro Cibrian-Uzal, the EU commission's ambassador to Israel, told reporters in Jerusalem that bilateral relations between Israel and the 27-nation bloc "cannot proceed as business as usual". In a newspaper interview, EU Aid Commissioner Louis Michel called the Israeli offensive "totally disproportionate" and in breach of international humanitarian law. A group of non-governmental organizations called on the Spanish prime minister's party to recall the Spanish ambassador from Tel Aviv to protest Israel's "war crimes". "The fact that there are no (upgrade) activities goes down to the situation on the ground," an official for the Czech presidency of the EU said on Wednesday. One senior EU diplomat said this week that European leaders would face a public outcry now if they firmed up a tentative plan to meet Israeli leaders at a summit in the coming months. In the Middle East, reaction is even stronger. Syrian President Bashar al-Assad noted that Israel's assault on Gaza is "sowing seeds of extremism and terror around the region". A statement carried by Saudi Arabia's state news agency SPA declared the Saudi leadership's position that "the extermination Israel is launching upon the Palestinian people in Gaza has denuded Israeli leaders of humanity and places their policies in the ranks of racist extermination." Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, until recently Israel's champion for reconciliation between the two peoples, called Israel's assault on Gaza "aggression against our people," and claimed that Israel's intention is to "wipe out our people over there". Jordanians from King Abdullah II on down–more than half of them of Palestinian descent–widely fear that instead of reaping long-term rewards for helping stabilize Iraq and counter Iran's regional aspirations, their country will be forced to deal with shattered hopes for the Israeli-Palestinian peace process it has supported for more than a decade. Jordan's hopes that a Palestinian state would quell festering radicalism among Arab youth has faded in the smoke and flames of Israel's onslaught. Salah Bashir, Jordan's foreign minister, said in an interview last week that "we were promised very clearly that there would be a two-state solution by the end of the year . . . [t]his chaos in Gaza actually nullifies the investment that the U.S., Europe and every peace-loving nation in the world has put into the peace process." In Latin America, Colombian President Evo Morales announced Wednesday he was breaking relations with Israel over its invasion of the Gaza Strip and said he will ask the International Criminal Court to bring genocide charges against top Israeli officials. Morales told the country's diplomatic corps that the Israeli attack "seriously threatened world peace". Venezuela also has broken off diplomatic relations with Israel due to the Gaza offensive. The decision by President Hugo Chavez's socialist government comes more than a week after it expelled the Israeli ambassador in Caracas and seven embassy staff members. A Foreign Ministry statement said Wednesday that Venezuela "has decided to break off diplomatic relations with the state of Israel given the inhumane persecution of the Palestinian people." In the US, a senior Israeli diplomat described how he is repeatedly asked in media interviews about Israel's war crimes in Gaza, or about the disproportionate response to the Qassams. "The harm to civilians in Gaza is causing huge damage that will only increase each day the operation continues," the diplomat said. The "Durban 2" World Conference against Racism, scheduled for April in Geneva, will provide a test to determine the extent to which Israel's standing as a democratic country that respects human rights has been damaged. Israel has announced, along with the United States and Canada, that it will boycott the conference. The United Nations Human Rights Council, which is organizing the conference, has tried to assure Israel that it will ensure the conference will be balanced. But as the assault on Gaza continues, "Durban 2" increasingly appears to be a Waterloo for Israel in the war for international favor.