Fine British hypocrisy: where would the world be without it?

Arnold/Frimet Roth
This Ongoing War
08 March '11

http://thisongoingwar.blogspot.com/2011/03/8-mar-11-fine-british-hypocrisy-where.html

Her Majesty's government expelled a diplomat in Israel's London embassy about a year ago for what the Brits complained was illicit use of British passports by the government of Israel via its secret service. The story went that the passports were part of an elaborate plot, entirely successful as it turned out, to permanently end the career of a very high profile Hamas terrorist with a great deal of blood on his hands. Australia expelled an Israeli diplomat too in the same connection.

The British Foreign Office through its minister, David Milliband at the time, said the government of the UK "takes this matter extremely seriously. Such misuse of British passports is intolerable. It presents a hazard for the safety of British nationals in the region. It also represents a profound disregard for the sovereignty of the United Kingdom. The fact that this was done by a country which is a friend, with significant diplomatic, cultural, business and personal ties to the UK, only adds insult to injury. No country or Government could stand by in such a situation."

Such nice round vowels.

We're visiting the UK briefly today for our work. The news media here are reporting on a slightly embarrassing chapter in which "a British diplomatic team, including six soldiers believed to be SAS, have been freed two days after being detained in eastern Libya... [though] this was no covert military mission. Its aim instead was to reach out to opposition groups in the east and gain a better understanding of what was happening on the ground. The role of the soldiers was to protect the diplomat involved - a regular practice in war zones and hostile environments."

So the mission was friendly, not at all covert, certainly not military, and just ignore those SAS men over there.

But here's the more interesting part. According to the BBC, "They were held after going to an agricultural compound when Libyan security guards found they were carrying arms, ammunition, explosives, maps and passports from at least four different nationalities, witnesses told the BBC. The witnesses said the men had denied they were carrying weapons."

Passports? Four different nationalities? The British? Surely not.

So here's how we see it. A successful and elaborate effort to eliminate an abhorrent killer of children was accomplished with no loss of life other than the life of the jihadist himself, through - according to various unconfirmed reports - foreign passports were abused, and Israel which is presumed to have been behind it all, was publicly disgraced via the expulsion of its diplomats from two civilized and friendly countries.

Britain, by contrast, is now exposed as having engaged in a form of back-channel diplomacy with parties in a country (Libya) where, for years, it and members of its royal family and the leadership of one of its most vaunted educational institutions have humiliated themselves for years through forelock-tugging and incomprehensible steps like releasing a convicted terrorist airplane bomber. The effort comprehensively failed, and is now revealed to have included abusing the passports of, we presume, friendly countries. Melanie Phillips expresses the hopes of all right-thinking people when she comments: "We trust most earnestly that none of those was an Israeli one."

We say, so where are the cries for political resignations, self-examination, apology? If it's reasonable for the UK to do this, then should not the same courtesy, or at least the benefit of the doubt (there was not the slightest shred of published evidence connecting Israel to last year's passport story) be extended to countries whose battle with the terrorists is conducted at a far more intense and existential level?

Or should we just learn to live with double-standards of this kind? From our friends.

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Mote, meet beam

Melanie Phillips
The Spectator
06 March '11

http://www.spectator.co.uk/melaniephillips/6758839/mote-meet-beam.thtml

Following claims in March 2010 that Israeli Mossad agents had used cloned British passports on a clandestine mission, the then foreign Secretary David Miliband raged:

Such misuse of British passports is intolerable

and that Israel had displayed

a profound disregard for the sovereignty of the United Kingdom.

Today we learn that the six SAS soldiers detained (and now released) in Libya

were held after going to an agricultural compound when Libyan security guards found they were carrying arms, ammunition, explosives, maps and passports from at least four different nationalities (my emphasis).

We trust most earnestly that none of those was an Israeli one.

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International Outrage, Please

Noah Pollak
Contentions/Commentary
30 June '10

There are stories in the news right now that in most of their themes are similar to stories that recently set off waves of condemnation and hysteria in much of the world, especially in the delicate global conscience of “the international community.”

In the Gaza Strip, many of the residents have been left without electricity because of a fight that shut down the Strip’s power plant. Palestinians are suffering, with nothing to relieve the daytime heat and the nighttime darkness — but the world yawns.

In a nearby part of the Middle East, an unprovoked and disproportionate attack against civilians destroyed a building and damaged others. The EU has not called for an investigation, and currently the UN Security Council has not been convened to discuss this act of war. Remarkably, this aggression is not even mentioned on the front pages of British newspapers, which normally cover attacks on civilians in this region with great attentiveness.

Also in the Middle East, a repressive regime is razing the homes of a persecuted minority. According to reports, 90 percent of the buildings owned by this minority group have been destroyed in these acts of discrimination and ethnic cleansing. Surprisingly, the UN secretary-general and the Obama administration — which have both publicly and repeatedly criticized Israel for legally demolishing buildings that were constructed in violation of zoning laws — have said nothing about this grave offense.

(Read full post)

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An Intelligence Agency Misused Passports: OMG!

Alan M. Dershowitz
Hudson New York
02 March '10

The complaints leveled against Israel by European countries and Australia, regarding the alleged misuse of passports by the Mossad in the assassination of Mahmoud al-Mabhouh, ring hollow and smack of blatant hypocrisy. Whoever did kill Mahmoud al-Mabhouh—whether it was the Israeli Mossad or someone else—clearly did have their agents use stolen or forged passports. Big deal.

Every good intelligence agency uses stolen and forged passports. The British have been especially adept at this means of spycraft. No country that uses fake passports in their intelligence operations has the moral authority to complain about the alleged misuse of passports in this case. The only ones that have a legitimate grievance are those individuals whose passports may have been misused without their knowledge.

I guess it’s the job of foreign ministries to complain publicly when other nations do what they themselves do secretly. Hypocrisy is, after all, the homage that vice pays to virtue. I’m reminded of the famous scene in Casablanca, when officer Renault declares, “I’m shocked, shocked to find that gambling is going on in here!” A croupier then approaches Renault, and hands him a roll of currency: “Your winnings, sir.”

The hypocrisy in this case seems even more blatant than usual. Is it because Israel is the alleged offender, and the world has gotten accustomed to singling out Israel for double standard condemnation?

(Read full article)
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