Smart answer by Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak about why folks are losing sympathy for Israel, in interview with Janine Zacharia of Washington Post. And though he resists moral equivalence, of course there is moral equivalence.
WP: Indeed, you were known as a master of stealth in Entebbe, Beirut, when you dressed as a woman. When I watched the flotilla, and I watched Dubai, and Gaza and Lebanon war, I thought Israel today seems to still achieve its tactical objectives but triggers widespread international condemnation in the process. Why is this?
Barak:
Part of it is underlying change, somehow there is a growing attempt to de-legitimize Israel. Time passed from the, you know, thirty years ago leaders all around the world still remember the suffering of the Jewish people. Israel was the answer for what happened in Europe. Nowadays, practically no leader has personal memory of what happened there but what they see on the screens everyday is the suffering of the Palestinians. Without drawing a moral equivalence or with all due difference, that’s what attracts the attention and even there is a change that we have to resist.
