97 Days to Go
Why September is Still Important

By Sherwin Pomerantz

97 days from now the United Nations General Assembly’s 2011 session in New York will open and a number of people have tried to convince me that September is no longer important and is nothing to worry about. I disagree and so, finally, does Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

The argument of those saying there is nothing important anymore about September takes as as its logic the facts that (a) the US has made it clear that it will veto any vote in the Security Council to recognize Palestinian statehood by that body and (b) Palestinian Authority Chairman Abbas has acknowledged that the resolution will not get past the Security Council but he does not know how to climb down the tree on which he and his associates have placed him on this subject. While this may all be true, the train to recognition which is travelling with some speed cannot be so easily stopped and, in its path, a lot negative commentary about Israel will be spread in the media and will ultimately be harmful to us here.

But I still believe that world public opinion must be influenced and it appears, according to a story in this morning’s Ha’aretz that “Israel has started mobilizing its embassies for the battle against UN recognition of a Palestinian state in September, ordering its diplomats to convey that this would delegitimize Israel and foil any chance for future peace talks. Envoys are being asked to lobby the highest possible officials in their countries of service, muster support from local Jewish communities, ply the media with articles arguing against recognition and even ask for a call or quick visit from a top Israeli official if they think it would help.”

I have been urging this type of action for the last month and, while I do not take any credit at all for the shift in policy it was good to note that Foreign Ministry Director General Rafael Barak and the heads of various ministry departments sent out classified cables outlining the battle plan to the embassies over the past week, after earlier ordering all the country's diplomats to cancel any vacations planned for September. The contents of the cables reached Ha’aretz and are reported here in full:

"The goal we have set is to have the maximum number of countries oppose the process of having the UN recognize a Palestinian state. The Palestinian effort must be referred to as a process that erodes the legitimacy of the State of Israel...The primary argument is that by pursuing this process in the UN, the Palestinians are trying to achieve their aims in a manner other than negotiations with Israel, and this violates the principle that the only route to resolving the conflict is through bilateral negotiations."

Each envoy was ordered to prepare a focused plan for the country in which he or she serves and present it to the Foreign Ministry by today, June 10. Barak wrote "The goal is to get the country in which you serve to vote against recognizing a Palestinian state. Your plan must include approaching the most senior politicians, mobilizing the relevant force multipliers [such as local Jewish communities, nongovernmental organizations], using the media, influencing local public opinion, and public diplomacy aimed at all the relevant communities."

All I can say is that it is about time. Even if the naysayers among us think that there is no need, or that it will not help, I believe and have believed for months now, that not taking such action will convey the impression that we don’t care, not that we are not worried. But we should care and this is an opportunity to mobilize the impressive resources at our disposal to rally those who care and let those who would oppose us know that we not going to watch quietly while a negative scenario about us plays out in the media and at the UN.

Former Advisor to US Presidents from Woodrow Wilson to Franklin Roosevelt, Bernard M. Baruch once said “Even when we know what is right, too often we fail to act. More often we grab greedily for the day, letting tomorrow bring what it will, putting of the unpleasant and unpopular.” Tomorrow is too late. We must not fail to act and we must do so NOW!