The consul who dared

First it was reported that a senior source in the Prime Minister's Office reacted to the cable that the Israeli consul general in Boston sent to the Foreign Ministry by saying it was "not worthy of a response."

Next it was reported that Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman ordered the consul, Nadav Tamir, summoned for a talk to clarify the matter. In the cable, the consul harshly criticized the Israeli government's handling of relations with the United States.

The whole matter reminds me of a brilliant essay by Walter Lippmann, one of the great commentators on American society. This essay was published about 70 years ago under the title, "The Indispensable Opposition."

Tamir is considered by many people to be one of the most skilled of the middle generation of the Foreign Ministry's diplomats. Among other responsibilities, he was given the task of representing Israel before the academic community, where Jews enjoy special prominence, and to report back to the Foreign Ministry about the mood in this important sector. In practice, he was to be the trusted and perceptive envoy working in both spheres.

There is really nothing extraordinary in his cable, which for unclear reasons was leaked to the media. The supporters and critics of U.S. President Barack Obama or Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu would not find anything to get at all excited about. What is much more disturbing is how the cable was regarded in Jerusalem.

The dismissive way in which Tamir's cable was received in the Prime Minister's Bureau is a product of a contempt for criticism - contempt which many in Israel and other countries attribute to a tendency toward self-righteousness and a siege mentality in Jerusalem.

True, Israel is seen as facing real dangers and concerns, such as the threat from Iran and Islamic fundamentalism, and the opposition of Arab states to normalize relations even after Israel withdrew from territory. There is also a rise in anti-Semitism in Western Europe, accompanied by fashionable slogans in academic circles denying Israel's right to exist as a Jewish state. All of this, however, cannot forestall open discussion on the question of the best solution to Israel's problems and how it should conduct itself.

In his essay, Lippmann warned that democracy cannot exist if it silences the unaccepted positions of the opposition. His words are all the more true with respect to self-criticism. Lippmann didn't simply argue in favor of the right to express views that are not pleasing to the listener, he insisted upon the essential need on the part of the person being criticized to listen to the criticism leveled against him.

"For, while the right to talk may be the beginning of freedom, the necessity of listening is what makes the right important ... What matters is the confrontation of opinions in debate," he wrote.

Some of his advice could serve both the American and Israeli leadership. "The opposition is indispensable. A good statesman, like any other sensible human being, always learns more from his opponents than from his fervent supporters ... So if he is wise he will often pray to be delivered from his friends, because they will ruin him. But, though it hurts, he ought also to pray never to be left without opponents; for they keep him on the path of reason and good sense," he wrote.

Clearly since 1939, when Lippmann feared the dictatorships that silenced their opponents, circumstances have changed, but his central concern was for healthy and prospering democracy. Israel, which has been blessed with enlightened and devoted people working on its behalf, is led by a man who was schooled in the heritage of America, including that of Lippmann, and enjoys the services of diplomats schooled in that same culture.

The prominent exception in this regard is the foreign minister, who was educated under a Soviet regime, against whose totalitarian methods Lippmann warned.

Whatever the roots of the Israeli leadership may be, it is entitled to dislike bad tidings, but it is obligated to listen attentively to what the messenger has to say.

Prof. Ilan Troen is the director of the Schusterman Center for Israel Studies at Brandeis University.