Israeli Minister: Mooted Diplomatic downgrade ‘simply counterproductive’

STEVEN GRUZD

Last year, the late Shimon Peres visited South Africa in January, followed by Foreign Affairs Director-General Dore Gold, and five Members of Knesset in August this year. Hanegbi nevertheless urged South African Jewry to fight the mooted downgrading of official relations, and reflected on threats to the Jewish State.

Hanegbi, who has held multiple Cabinet positions, was guest speaker at a sumptuous fundraising dinner for the IAU-UCF (Israel United Appeal – United Communal Fund), at Johannesburg’s Houghton Golf Club on Sunday.

Israel’s Ambassador to South Africa Lior Keinan and IAU-UCF Chairman Avrom Krengel, both reflected on the centenary of the Balfour Declaration, the EFF’s protest outside the Israeli Embassy in Pretoria, and strong support for Israel by both the Jewish community and many South African Christians.

Howard Feldman, columnist, talk show host and master of ceremonies, put questions to Hanegbi.

On the ANC’s threats to downgrade diplomatic ties between South Africa and Israel, Hanegbi said that this community has stood up against many provocations “and you won them all”, mentioning the labelling of Israeli goods and anti-Israel activities on university campuses.

“This new threat is not easy to intercept,” he admitted, but said a downgrade “would be simply a counterproductive move. It won’t help the Palestinians and it won’t help the South African Government in any way. It’s a desperate, primitive move which doesn’t have logic.”

He said he would tell South African leaders to pressurise the Palestinian leadership to make bold concessions, as (then) Egyptian President Anwar Sadat and King Hussein of Jordan had done. “That’s the only way into our hearts – they have to show they are ready to recognise and live in peace with Israel.”

On Syria, Hanegbi cited the biblical warning that “trouble might come from the north” but quipped that “this is not a Game of Thrones”. He said that since the 1973 Yom Kippur War, Israel had not faced conventional war from Syria, and in the six-year Syrian civil war, Damascus’s missiles were generally aimed at domestic opponents.

But Hezbollah, “a very capable terrorist organisation” and a proxy of Iran, has helped Bashar al-Assad’s regime survive and push back the Islamic State. Today, Iran seeks to establish Shi’ite army bases in Syria and if it uses Hezbollah to try to retake the Golan Heights, Hanegbi said Jerusalem had told both Moscow and Washington that this would be “an unacceptable threat that would cross a red line”.

He said Israel would try and resolve the situation diplomatically, “but if that fails, we know what to do”.

Hanegbi said Israel’s philosophy “before all else, is to prevent this Iranian regime from acquiring weapons of mass destruction”, and he recalled how the Menachem Begin government had destroyed Iraqi nuclear facilities in 1981.

He said “it was no secret” that Likud and the Obama government “did not see eye to eye on the Iranian nuclear issue. We failed to convince the world and the US that [the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran] was the wrong agreement to sign.”

He said “fortunately” there has been a change in the US administration, but it would take a long time to undo this deal.

“Sometimes diplomacy works, but with Iran, this will never be the most relevant policy… Diplomacy should always be the first tool, but if it fails, don’t keep praying. Adopt more assertive policies.”

Feldman probed Hanegbi’s views on the recently-announced unity pact between the Palestinian Authority and Hamas. He said similar reconciliation deals had failed at least seven times before, and Hamas had not tempered its hatred of Israel.

Hanegbi asserted that Likud had won three elections because of Israel’s unilateral disengagement from Gaza in 2005, “which caused big disappointment and agony”.

Israel dismantled 21 settlements, repatriated thousands of settlers and even disinterred Jewish graves, but a year later Hamas violently took over Gaza, “a kingdom of terror driven by Iran… Israel got tunnels, missiles and rockets” and three wars in a decade. He said Israelis vote with this logic and “will not do the same naïve adventure” in the West Bank.