Foreign Minister Yair Lapid has called on the European Union to acknowledge the threat Iran poses to Israel. “I want to hear your opinions with an open mind. But it is not too much to expect that this dialogue will take into consideration that my home is under attack,” he his EU counterparts in a meeting in Brussels.
Describing the Islamic Republic as the “number one exporter of terrorism in the world,” Lapid warned that Tehran will never abandon its nuclear ambitions and does not disguise the fact that its primary target is the Jewish state. He added that the mullah regime supports the Hezbollah terrorist organization in Lebanon, as well as Hamas in Gaza.
During a speech to the EU Foreign Affairs Council – the first for an Israeli foreign minister since Tzipi Livni in 2008 – Lapid affirmed his support for a two-state solution but said conditions are not right at this time for a comprehensive and lasting peace agreement.
Lapid also met with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg while in the Belgian capital. They reportedly discussed the expansion of the North Atlantic Alliance’s relationship with the Jewish state on issues ranging from intelligence sharing to maritime security to climate change.
Lapid subsequently invited Stoltenberg to visit Israel.
Israeli President Isaac Herzog spoke with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, indicating that the frosty relationship between the two countries could be thawing. Erdogan is said to have congratulated Herzog on being sworn into office last week.
“The presidents emphasized in their call that the ties between Israel and Turkey are of great importance to the security and the stability of the Middle East,” the Israeli account of the conversation stated. In addition, Herzog and Erdogan agreed that there is huge potential to cooperate in the fields of energy, tourism and technology.
Both men are said to have agreed to maintain an ongoing dialogue “despite the differences of opinion, with the goal of making positive steps toward a solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.”
Erdogan recently struck a less conciliatory tone while hosting Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas in Istanbul. In a private discussion, the Turkish leader reportedly predicted that there could not be lasting peace in the region “as long as Israel’s policies continue.”
Israel has become the first country in the world to offer a third shot of the COVID-19 vaccine. Immunocompromised adults will receive a booster dose, amid signs that the highly contagious Delta variant is spreading rapidly.
The Jewish state led the way in its vaccine rollout program this year, and became one of the first developed nations to fully emerge from lockdown. However, the Health Ministry on Tuesday morning announced that 730 new cases were recorded in the preceding 24-hour period – the highest number since March.
The coronavirus cabinet recently agreed to reintroduce measures to curb the contagion, such as reintroducing the indoor mask mandate.
Relatedly, ministers are weighing whether inoculated tourists should be allowed into Israel starting on August 1. Plans to allow people who had received both shots of an EU- or US-approved vaccine into the country on July 1 were postponed.
The Czech Republic has become the ninth nation to pull out of the Durban Review Conference. “I’ve taken this decision due to historic concerns regarding antisemitism and the misuse of the platform for attacks against Israel,” the country’s Foreign Minister Jakub Kulhánek tweeted. “We will continue to fight racism and discrimination and promote human rights.”
Austria and the Netherlands last week announced their intention to boycott the event, joining Israel, the United States, Canada, Australia, the United Kingdom and Hungary.
Durban IV is being held in September in New York to mark the twentieth anniversary of the World Conference on Racism that was held in the South African City of the same name.
However, it has been dogged with criticisms about rampant antisemitism over the years, most notably after copies of the anti-Jewish conspiracy text The Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion were handed out at the 2001 Durban Conference’s NGO forum. Attendees discussed whether Hitler was right and accused Israel of perpetrating a genocide.
In 2009, at Durban II, then Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad described the Holocaust as an “ambiguous and dubious question.”
Recommended Reading
- Even Kids-Book Writers Feel Forced to Apologize For Condemning Antisemitism (New York Post)
- Israel’s Public Diplomacy Dilemma (Alan Baker, Israel Hayom)
- IDF Launches First-of-Its-Kind International Drone Exercise (Judah Ari Gross, Times of Israel)
- 3,000-Year-Old Inscription Bearing Name of Biblical Judge Found in Israel (Rossella Tercatin, Jerusalem Post)
