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The Double Standard

Now that Avigdor Lieberman has been named Israel’s Foreign Minister, it might be worth revisiting an earlier, speculative post written before the election. In that post, I was offering a guide to understanding when the U.S., western European governments and, of course, all of civilized humanity would treat another government as an anti-democratic monstrosity for […]

Now that Avigdor Lieberman has been named Israel’s Foreign Minister, it might be worth revisiting an earlier, speculative post written before the election. In that post, I was offering a guide to understanding when the U.S., western European governments and, of course, all of civilized humanity would treat another government as an anti-democratic monstrosity for including nationalist parties in its coalition and when they would ignore electoral victories by far more aggressive nationalist parties or even hail them as great democratic triumphs. The rule is simple: adhere to policies that either Washington or Brussels endorses, and your government is seen as either unremarkable or even as positively heroic, but resist or criticize them in any meaningful way and your government will be made into a pariah and possibly a target of sanctions. Unlike the Western treatment of Austria ten years ago for bringing the FPO into government, there has so far been some criticism of Lieberman, but almost none at all of the government or state in question following Israel’s inclusion of Lieberman’s party in government and his position as Foreign Minister. There have so far been no Western diplomatic protests or political sanctions, and it would be shocking if we did see any. This is the case despite the fact that Lieberman’s policy proposals that he actually wishes to see enacted are far more outrageous and illiberal than anything coming from European nationalists over the last ten years.

If we used the same standards applied when Israel recalled of its ambassador from Austria and Western governments made a concerted effort to isolate and humiliate Austria for respecting the outcome of one of its own elections, we would expect Israel to be subjected to an intense campaign of international condemnation led by Western governments. As it happens, the absence of official protest is the appropriate response, or non-response, just as the appropriate response in a number of cases involving European nationalist parties should have been similarly restrained and muted. If one wishes to weaken such political forces, it does nothing but build them up if other states target them, attempt to bully the governments of the countries where these parties exist or otherwise gin up hysterical overreactions to their political success. If one has even the slightest respect for the normal functioning of liberal democracy, electoral results should never be portrayed as anti-democratic as they so often were in Europe over the last decade. Lieberman and his attitudes toward Israeli Arabs are appalling, and far more so than anything that provoked such hysteria against Flemish nationalists or even Pim Fortuyn, but he and his party will only gain strength if they and Israel are singled out for penalties or sanctions.

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