[T]here is no double-standard at work here, and comparisons with
states whose behavior may be worse miss the point. Israel's actions are
not being judged against the conduct of a Sudan or Burma, but by the
standards that people in the West apply to all democracies. It is the
standard Americans expect of allies who want to have a "special
relationship" with us. It is the standard Israel imposes on itself when
it tells everyone it is "the only democracy in the Middle East." Israel
is being expected to behave like Britain or Canada or France or Japan
and not like some one-party military dictatorship, and it is certainly
expected not to deny full political and civil rights to millions of
Palestinians who now live under its constant control. These other
democracies eventually gave up their colonial enterprises; Israel is
still trying to consolidate its own.
As Americans have learned
in recent years, whenever any country fails to live up to its own
professed values, it is going to lose friends and admirers around the
world. Barack Obama understood that he couldn’t restore America’s image
in the wake of Abu Ghraib and the Bush torture regime by trying to
change the subject or by talking about some cool or virtuous things
Americans had done. ("OK, we tortured some people and invaded Iraq on
false pretences, but weren’t the Founding Fathers great, aren't Tiger
Woods and Kelly Clarkson amazing, and have you seen that new Star Trek
movie?"). The way a country regains the world’s admiration in the
aftermath of misconduct is to stop doing it, admit it was wrong,
express regret, and make it clear that it won't happen again. Restoring
Israel's image in the West isn't a matter of spin or PR or
"rebranding;" it's a matter of abandoning the policies that have cost
it the sympathy it once enjoyed. It's really just about that simple.
