Is the US Legitimizing Deligitimization?
I haven't actually read either Clinton's remarks or those of Gutman, the US Ambassador to Belgium and son of Holocaust survivors, but if reports are accurate, it seems that Clinton has decided to conflate religious practices with government policy. Whether ignorance or intentionally diminishing Israel's rightful claim as the only democratic government in their region. the remarks are powerful weapons for the delegitimizers. Almost as bad, it elevates the claims of those who maintain that the "Arab Spring' will lead to other democratic governments in the region, even though it won't be the kind of democracy defined by equal standing in the eyes of the law for ALL citizens. "After all, " they will say, "if Israel can have a flawed democracy, why can't we?" Clinton and Gutman have strayed from the traditional rules of diplomacy, and in my opinion not by accident. Can it be that neither of them read the chapter entitled, "You Can't Un-ring a Bell " , in Chris Matthews' book Hardball?