A non-Jewish lobby group launched by former Spanish prime minister Jose Maria Aznar a day after the Israel Navy's deadly raid of the Gaza-bound flotilla arrived in Washington this week to galvanize support for Israel's "right to exist as a normal country."
Friends of Israel was not created to defend any particular Israeli policy, Aznar told reporters on Tuesday. "It’s a non –Jewish lobby. It’s not related to the government of Israel," Aznar said. “It’s absolutely free for members of the board to agree or disagree with decisions of the government of Israel, but we share a common vision about the strategic situation of Israel and the strategic value of Israel for all of us."
"We consider that Israel not as a Middle Eastern country, but a Western country in the Middle East. We share the same traditions, roots, values, the same problems, the same threats of terrorism, nuclear proliferation and other issues against the legitimacy of state of Israel," he added. "It encouraged us to say: 'It’s enough. It’s necessary to present Israel as it is – as a normal country, normal democracy, normal people, normal population that we shall be living peacefully with its neighbors'."
"We see the future the destiny of Israel – as our destiny, as a future of the West, and the problems of Israel are our problems. If Israel goes down, I doubt the West will remain as it is. The weaker it is, the weaker the entire West is perceived to be."
The group comprises world leaders including Alejandro Toledo, former president of Peru, Vaclav Havel, the former President of the Czech Republic, John Bolton, former US Ambassador to the UN, David Trimble, Nobel Peace Prize Laureate from Northern Ireland, and others.
The group met first in Paris and held its second meeting in London. Up until now, its members have focused their energies on putting out statements, publishing articles presenting their arguments, and meeting with various world leaders to promote the their vision.
What prompted you personally to embark on this mission that can be seen as ungrateful, regarding the current public opinion towards Israel in Europe and in particular in Spain?
“For me it’s not ungrateful.. It’s grateful because I think it’s the right decision. I know very well that there are different opinions in Europe, but we reached the moment where the battle of ideas encouraged me personally to do it – and I am enjoying it. This is not a question of conservatives or liberals, right or left. It’s a question of recognizing the right of Israel to exist as a normal country. The question is whether you agree or not to share this strategic vision of the future of Israel.”.
Next week we have the General Assembly of the UN where usually we hear some harsh criticism of Israel. Did you try to reach out to some leaders that are not usually supportive of Israel?
“We began our work in June, we have three months of life, and trying to change a world in three months is difficult. I understand that before us almost no one took such a decision. I believe we can help to change the perceptions and to make a contribution to understanding the situation in the Middle East.”
Aznar told Haaretz that he convinced the destiny of Israel is the future of the western world.
“People start questioning right of Israel to exist - if you accept this tomorrow you’ll accept that, tomorrow people will start questioning right of my country to exist. I believe personally to reinvigorate bipartisan voice in support of Israel. We need to talk about Israel with tranquility, normality and without bias," he said.
“Not only in Europe, even here, the policy of the current administration in the Middle East related to Israel is different from that of the previous administration. There is a serious difference in the support of this Administration of Israel, the alliance between America and Europe. We should look not at the statements, but the facts. Why is the priority to reach a new agreement with putting pressure on Israel and not supporting Israel? To have a good relations with Russia is extremely important, but not at the cost of Czech Republic or Poland, pretty much as to have a good relations with the Muslim world is very important – but not at the expense of Israel.”
With regard to the current peace talks, President Aznar said: “The question is if there is a possibility or not, I believe there is a possibility to reach an agreement, but you need to accept the strategy to maintain talks, to demonstrate the will to reach an agreement. I am convinced Israel wants peace, and I’d like you very much to reach this agreement, and Israel to live with a normal neighbors. It’s very difficult. Bit it’s possible, but at first you need to recognize Israel’s right to exist.”
Aznar explained that the organization is not Jewish – just supportive of Israel's right to exist in a normative fashion. “I have s no Jewish family, no Jewish blood and no special relation with the State of Israel. I express only my convictions," he said.
On Wednesday, the organization’s members held meetings at the Congress, in attempt to raise support for that mission.
“The reason for this organization is that increasingly in Europe but also in the U.S. a growing questioning of the very legitimacy of the state of Israel," former ambassador to the UN John R .Bolton told Haaretz.
“And what we wanted to do is to step out of the day-to-day controversies and address the legitimacy issue and come to Israel’s defense in a more principled fashion and help re-establish the once widely held opinion that Israel is a normal state, that it’s a democracy, its government is legitimate, and it’s entitled to defend itself."
Is there any chance former President Bush will join this initiative?
“Certainly he is a close friend of President Aznar of Spain, he has kept low profile since leaving office, but his book comes out this November, after the elections, and maybe he felt as a former president that he should keep low profile – but I think that after his book comes out maybe he’ll speak more on issues that up until now."
Bolton is quite pessimistic regarding the prospects of a peace agreement, despite the accelerated rate of meetings between the leaders – and reported plans to organize another meeting next week in New York, on the sidelines of the General Assembly of the UN.
Last year the attempt to bring leaders together succeeded technically – but nothing really came of it. This year, the meeting in a changed atmosphere might add momentum to the peace talks with the support of the international community.
Bolton is still skeptical. “There are always a lot of opportunities for a bilateral meetings, and I am sure it is going to be very active, but it doesn’t mean there will be a breakthrough”, he said. “I think now the two sides are really looking to avoid for being blamed when the talks break down."
"The reason to be pessimistic is the differences between Israel and the Palestinians are too broad to be bridged purely by an exercise in diplomacy. And there is not one Palestinian interlocutor who can make concessions to be made for a lasting peace agreement or carry them through in a subsequent years.
"In fact that situation is going to get more difficult, not less difficult as time goes on. Because whatever authority the Palestinian Authority had it continues to dissipate by day. It was a mistake to put this emphasis on trying to get parties back together because the consequence of failure to the US will put it in a position it was before when it puts that much time and effort to a project and then fails – we are worse off than before. And I think the consequences will be negative in the long term for the peace process”.
So why in your opinion has Prime Minister Netanyahu agreed to pursue the two-state solution?
“I think he tries to stay as close as he can to the Obama administration – it is obviously a high priority for the Obama administration, he has demonstrated his willing to do whatever it takes to satisfy the administration’s demands on dealings with the Palestinians. And at some point, if the military decides to use military force against Iran’s nuclear weapons program I hope president will reciprocate”.
