Global ire at Har Nof terror won’t reduce criticism of building over ’67 lines
Leaders from countries as improbable as Turkey and Bahrain slammed the synagogue murders. But that won’t help when it comes to settlements
Raphael Ahren is a former diplomatic correspondent at The Times of Israel.
Reacting to the brutal terror attack at the Bnei Torah synagogue in Jerusalem, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu scolded the international community Tuesday night for failing to properly condemn the massacre.
“The world sees this slaughter but, to our regret, does not demand that the Palestinians stop the wild incitement against Israel that is the root of the conflict,” he said at a press conference. “I call on all heads of state in the civilized world — I want to see outrage. I want to see condemnation, a deep and uncompromising condemnation of these murders of Israelis, of Jews.”
He accused world leaders of deeming Jewish blood cheaper than that of non-Jews, and lamented that, as opposed to denouncing the Palestinians, states were inclined to hand them a prize in the form of unilateral recognition of Palestine.
In truth, however, many senior international figures had preempted his call by hours, condemning the attack and the incitement that ostensibly inspired it.
Some did it more tastefully and compellingly than others. The European Union’s new foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini, for instance, did not make many new friends in Netanyahu’s circles with her lackluster statement.
Tuesday’s attack “can only harm any step forward towards peace,” she stated, adding that this act of terror “is condemnable by all means.” She then briefly expressed “heartfelt condolences to the families of the victims,” before discussing possible reasons and consequences of the attack.
“The lack of progress towards the two-state solution will systematically ensure the next round of violence,” Mogherini predicted, which sounded to some like a case of accusing the victims. The time has come to make compromises, she exhorted both Israelis and Palestinians. “The absence of a credible political framework is used instrumentally and leads to further hardening of ideological and religious stands.”
Others were much more empathetic. Dan Shapiro, the US ambassador to Israel, for example, termed the deadly assault on Jews at prayer “a barbaric new low in the sad and outrageous history of such attacks,” adding that murdering worshippers in a synagogue “is an act of pure, unadulterated evil.”
Secretary of State John Kerry was similarly forceful. “Innocent people who had come to worship died in the sanctuary of a synagogue,” Kerry said, his voice quavering. “They were hatcheted, hacked and murdered in that holy place in an act of pure terror and senseless brutality and murder. I call on Palestinians at every single level of leadership to condemn this in the most powerful terms. This violence has no place anywhere.”
Denunciations poured in from far and wide, from Sweden to Spain, from France and Canada, even Turkey.
Romania expressed “its deep regret for the loss of lives and shows full solidarity with the Israeli people in these tragic circumstances.” Japan “strongly deplore[d]” the attack and “expresse[d] its heartfelt sympathy for the victims.” Russia “strongly and unequivocally condemn[ed] this act of terror,” stating that the murder of civilians “is “an inhuman crime” regardless of the killers’ motives.
Charlie Flanagan, the foreign minister of Ireland — not a country known for its pro-Israel stance — stated: “I condemn absolutely the horrific attack on the Har Nof synagogue in Jerusalem and express my deepest sympathies to the Israeli victims of this brutal and senseless terrorist act and their families.”
Even Khalid bin Ahmed Al Khalifa, the foreign minister of Bahrain, a country with which Israel has no diplomatic ties, criticized “killing innocents in a Jewish synagogue,” calling Tuesday’s attack a “crime.”
Netanyahu asked the world to condemn the attack, and he got what he wanted. But it’s no great stretch to issue a statement when innocent worshippers are massacred.
If he expects the international community to change its policies vis-à-vis the conflict because of what happened, however, he will likely be disappointed.
Just hours after the Spanish Foreign Ministry condemned the Har Nof attack, the Congress of Deputies, the country’s lower house, almost unanimously adopted a non-binding motion calling on the government to recognize a Palestinian state if the sides reach an agreement — wording less problematic than similar motions passed elsewhere, but still an ironically timed push against Israel.
The Assemblée Nationale in Paris will vote on a similar resolution on November 28, and it seems likely that it will succeed there as well. Parliaments in London and Dublin have already passed motions urging their governments to recognize Palestine; Sweden this month officially did just that.
Building houses for Jews in the West Bank, meanwhile, cannot be compared to brutal Palestinian terror, but the sad truth is that the former will dependably draw condemnations too, no matter how terrible the latter.
As history has shown, Israeli announcements of new settlement construction will inevitably be followed by widespread indignation from the international community — regardless of terrorist outrages against Jews on the streets of Israel.
Last week, the Jerusalem Local Planning and Building Committee approved 178 new homes for Arabs in neighborhoods including Ras al-Amud, Jabel Mukabar and Wadi Joz. Almost nobody paid any heed to that. But on Wednesday — as the last victim of the Har Nof attack, Druze policeman Zidan Saif, was laid to rest — the Committee approved the construction of 78 new homes in Ramot and Har Homa, two East Jerusalem Jewish neighborhoods located across the pre-1967 line.
Netanyahu can brace for the criticism. As recently as Monday, after all, the EU had declared that it “deeply deplores and strongly opposes” plans for new projects beyond the Green Line, particularly in Har Homa and Ramot.
