Telegraph 10 Giugno 2008

Britain has become a hotbed of radical anti-Israeli views, according to the country's envoy to London

Ron Prosor claims that while the UK was once admired for its liberal fairness and decency, in recent years extremists have "hijacked" its debate over Israel.

He says his country has been turned into a "pantomime villain" by Britons who deny it has any right to exist, while terror attacks on Israeli citizens are ignored by both the media and public opinion.

Mr Prosor, a senior diplomat who became Israel's ambassador to Britain last year, is particularly scornful of the academics who want to boycott Israeli universities over the country's treatment of Palestinians.

He was a spokesman for the Israeli Embassy in London between 1995 and 1998, and says while living here he came to appreciate the country's reputation for cherishing liberty and human rights, earned following its fight against the "dark forces" of the Nazis in World War Two.

But he says he has been "dismayed" by what he has seen since returning to the country in November.

Mr Prosor writes: "Fairness is all too frequently absent in a debate that has been hijacked by extremists.

"Israel faces an intensified campaign of delegitimisation, demonisation and double standards. Britain has become a hotbed for radical anti-Israeli views and a haven for disingenuous calls for a 'One state solution', a euphemistic name for a movement advocating Israel's destruction.

"Those who propagate this notion distort Israel's past while categorically denying Israel's right to exist as a liberal Jewish-Democratic state. No other country in the world is constantly forced to justify its own existence."

Mr Prosor, a former Director-General of Israel's Ministry of Foreign Affairs who has also served in the US and Germany, warns that the campaign by lecturers to boycott Israeli universities risks damaging the reputation of British academia.

In 2007 members of the University and College Union (UCU) voted to sever links with Israeli universities in a move which provoked outrage from politicians and academics around the world, and prompted Jewish leaders to condemn it as a "frightening assault" on academic freedom.

Union leaders later dropped the proposal but last month delegates at the UCU's annual conference passed a similar motion condemning the "humanitarian catastrophe imposed on Gaza by Israel", which could pave the way for a boycott of Israeli educational institutions. They claim academics in Israel are "apparently complicit" with what they call the "illegal settlement" of Palestinian land and "killing of civilians".

Mr Prosor says the idea of an academic boycott undermines the principles of free speech and debate which are meant to characterise universities.

"Academics, supposedly society's guardians of knowledge, objectivity and informed debate, have seen their union held hostage by radical factions, armed with political agendas and personal interests," he writes.

"British academia has built its reputation on freedom of expression and the pluralistic exchange of ideas. Alarmingly these values are under threat in an institution that should be safeguarding them."

He says the campaign is no more than a "license to harass, humiliate and discriminate purely on grounds of nationality" justified on the basis of "half-truths and lies".

He cites examples of Israeli staff and students who have suffered on British campuses in a "climate of hatred".

Mr Prosor says public feeling towards his homeland is worsened by media coverage of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, which he claims is too often biased and tainted by double-standards.

"Israel's military reaction to the attacks it faces is given in depth, microscopic coverage. Yet the attacks to which Israel is responding are often ignored. Terror attacks, ambushes, suicide bombings or the constant barrage of rockets being fired on Israeli citizens are frequently disregarded.

"The average British citizen is painfully unaware that since Hamas seized control of Gaza last year, 1,400 rockets and 1,500 mortar bombs have landed on Israeli soil."

Mr Prosor says no country could withstand such an assault without retaliating, and calls Israel a "democracy under fire".

He concludes that those who believe in British values must work to stop the "radical fringe" dominating the debate about Israel and do more to understand the difficulties the country faces.

By Martin Beckford, Religious Affairs Correspondent

Source >  Telegraph.co.uk