An Interview with Yiftah Curiel

Among the expensive cars with diplomatic plates and quasi-palatial buildings, the small Israeli embassy is easy to miss. The two police officers armed with large rifles, however, aren’t. The building is uniquely under armed guard. Arrangements for my earlier scheduled interview with Yiftah Curiel, head spokesperson for the embassy, were disrupted after campus security expressed concerns about ensuring his safety on the short walk from the SUHQ to Ramphal Building. I had to undergo a full airport-style security screening before being allowed into the building. The concerns and measures seemed extreme. But the issues of threat and security are always relevant to Israel.  I sat down with Yiftah last week for a brief conversation about antisemitism, Israel’s security and its military operations.

Antisemitism in Europe

Security, or the lack of it, is also increasingly relevant to Jewish people living in Europe. Last year, the Metropolitan Police recorded a 60% increase in anti-Semitic attacks in London. Anti-Semitism is as big a problem in Europe as Islamophobia but there are no anti-racism protests or marches in solidary with Jews. There never are. Two years ago in Paris, a 17,000 strong anti-government rally – mostly reactionary right-wing extremists – slipped into an anti-Semitic hate parade as some chanted “Jew, France is not for you.” Last year, 8,000 Jews left France for Israel. To be sure, many are fleeing in fear. In the UK, the Community Security Trust recently recorded the highest ever number of anti-Semitic attacks. Yiftah agreed that there had been a noticeable increase in the last few years and expressed the Israeli government’s “concern”. The incidents had provided European governments with a “wake-up call”.

There is a long and sorry history of Jewish exoduses from Europe. What is unique in this case is that Israel offers a refuge from harassment and persecution. It is a sad validation of its raison d’être. But while Israel regards itself a “homeland” for Jewish people, Yiftah didn’t want this to mean there was no place for them in Europe.

There is a long and sorry history of Jewish exoduses from Europe.

The question, of course, is why? I asked Yiftah for his own analysis of the spike in anti-Semitic sentiment but he was reluctant. “Just as we don’t try to justify or explain Islamophobia – it’s wrong period – I don’t think it’s my job to explain it [anti-Semitism].” I pointed out the distinction between explaining and justifying. But I understood his hesitance to answer the question as we both knew what it implied. “Some of Israel’s critics try to connect between the rise of anti-Semitism and Israel’s actions.”

Rioters at a pro-Palestine rally in Paris, 2014 (Credit: BBC)

Indeed. It isn’t a coincidence that the CST observed a record 1,168 incidents of anti-Semitic attacks in 2014 (in the UK), the same year in which Israel and Palestine were at war once again. There is undoubtedly a section of contemporary political opinion which allows itself to dangerously conflate Jewishness with the state of Israel. These people are unlikely to spend their Wednesday evenings throwing miniature gas canisters at ordinary Jews in North London while shouting “Hitler is one the way”. But they might end up throwing chairs and smashing windows at a Jewish university society event, apparently in protest against the Israeli government. As Owen Jones points out, among this crowd anti-Semitism either doesn’t exist or perhaps it’s even a little bit okay because, you know, “Israel”.

2014 Gaza Conflict

Before addressing the 2014 conflict in Gaza, Yiftah and I discussed Israel’s place in the Middle East. In particular we talked about Israel’s opposition to the recently signed Iran nuclear deal. I suggested the deal was a sign of a growing disconnect between Israel and the US. Unsurprisingly, he played down any talk of broader disagreement but acknowledged they do not see “eye to eye” on Iran. “How is it that all of the countries near Iran are opposed to the deal?” he asked rhetorically, suggesting the deal was more favourable to Iran than the west. “It reflects geography.” Israel and its neighbours, according to Yiftah, simply can’t afford the luxury of wait and see diplomacy. “Iran is out to destroy Israel. Its leaders have said so. They burn Israeli flags in the streets.” He suggested Iran had taken advantage of western war weariness. In the Middle East peace treaties and negotiations don’t count for much. “The Middle East plays by different rules. This is not a democratic region, all in all.”

What rules does Israel play by then?  As Yiftah described it, Israel is on the “frontline” of dealing with the “dilemmas of a democracy at war.” I wondered if that therefore implied they had ever got it wrong and overstepped the mark. “Israel, surely, has not been perfect,” he replied vaguely. Specifically, had Israel overstepped the mark in 2014 during the conflict with Hamas in Gaza, codenamed ‘Operation Protective Edge.’

Israeli Defence Force tanks during the 2014 Gaza conflict (Credit: BBC)

At least 2,000 people were killed during the seven week war– the vast majority Palestinians and more than 35% civilians. Israeli government officials described the air strikes as “targeted and surgical.” But I doubted if that was a plausible claim where 1 in 3 deaths was unintended. “Every civilian causality is a tragedy which Israel tries to avoid.” Rockets reportedly landing on a school and even a care home for disabled children is indeed a tragedy. But the world wondered in 2014 if Israel really thought so too. “Fighting in an urban setting… is very complex.” I asked Yiftah if, in his mind, there was a point at which the civilian loss of life became unjustifiable. “Military law doesn’t take into account a total number of civilians or a percentage.” He had appealed to the “rule of law” earlier in our conversation, when justifying some of Israel’s civil policies against terrorists, such as housing demolitions. The law, I pointed out, only tells us what is legal not what is right.

Military law doesn’t take into account a total number of civilians or a percentage

Well, he retorted, should Israel have to wait “until a rocket hits a kindergarten” to justify its response to Hamas? Well, a rocket did hit a kindergarten – in Gaza. Faced with the same threat “I don’t see any country reacting any differently,” he suggested. Probably, I thought, but such game theory ethics is, at the very least, utterly depressing; at worst it’s a cop out. Yiftah was probably right to suggest the west underestimates the perpetual insecurity too many Israelis face. At the same token, however, perhaps Israel does not count Palestinian lives in the same currency as it counts its own.