Former Israeli diplomat sees waning image

[bemildred]

When Gabriela Shalev arrived at the United Nations in 2008 as Israel's first female ambassador, she was determined to launch a diplomatic offensive to improve her country's international standing.

But the respected contract-law scholar says she ended up spending most of her tenure on the defense, coping with reactions to Israel's military campaign in the Gaza Strip, the subsequent Goldstone Commission's inquiry into allegations of war crimes and the high-seas raid of the protest ship Mavi Marmara, in which Israeli commandos killed nine pro-Palestinian activists.

Now Shalev, who stepped down in October and is president of Ono Academic College outside Tel Aviv, warns that Israel's image is about to take another hit with a Palestinian initiative to win statehood recognition from the U.N. next month.

She spoke with the Los Angeles Times about why she thinks the Palestinians have gained the upper hand in a brewing diplomatic war, but also why their U.N. bid could backfire.

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-israel-shalev-qa-20110808,0,2358239.story

[Jefferson23]

1. The US's credibility will take another hit if they literally withdraw money outright.

I'm not so sure they are willing to go take that chance. I suspect they would find a way to make the funds difficult to resume after the vote but not impossible. We mean what we say, but we're not complete bastards type of rhetoric.


As she says herself, Israel after September will fare worse, other than the money, which is no small matter, true, but I don't
see other than that what the Palestinians have to lose.

She also states: "What will happen after September is we will see more hostility and much less open dialogue."



I imagine you could say this with confidence if you're not the one presently living under occupation. You're
not the one as she acknowledges, witnessing no plans to cease building settlements etc.

[dtexdem]

2. Or issue a Security Council veto, as the U.S. assuredly will.

Nothing like being on the wrong side of history with the entire world watching to lower the credibility of both the U.S. and Israel.