Cowardice and collaborators: Fear is shaping global diplomacy on Israel - opinion

Keeping one’s integrity intact sometimes involves a great price to pay. Unfortunately, the pleasure of looking at yourself in the mirror and liking what you see doesn’t always come cheap, but it sure beats the price of selling your soul.

After having engaged in a number of conversations with diplomats and ambassadors, including those from Arab and Muslim countries, Jablinowitz immediately sensed fear and intimidation, expressed by these individuals whose greatest concern was that they remain anonymous.

Perhaps we don’t think about it a lot, but we are clearly witnessing a moment in which the decision to stand on our principles, regardless of the reaction of others, is being tested almost daily.

For some, it comes down to betraying one’s own values for the sake of preserving a well-paid career. Because crossing the line, which has been defined for them by their overseer, might result in the inability to continue in that profession if they are blacklisted.

That means that those who choose to retain their position may very well have to be prepared to turn their back on what they know to be right. That could include abandoning their values and principles if they hope to survive occupationally. And that is what Jablinowitz witnessed personally.

Sadly, cowardice has become a frequent option for those who cannot muster the bravery to speak out when someone else controls their paycheck and economic destiny. But it’s not only surrendering your voice and the ethics that define us. The next step is the need to collaborate with someone else’s actions, the result of which renders one’s conscience null and void.

Finally, it meant delivering the humiliating rejection that their leaders counted on them to do, whether or not they personally agreed. Because that is what is expected from a loyal employee who has no personal control and certainly no say.

Regardless of anyone’s independent thinking or goodwill gestures, these human extensions of government must become robotic as they sever themselves from their own thoughts or choices, ready to adopt and implement whatever they are commanded by their higher-ups.

Ambassadors and diplomats often have the misfortune of being bought by their governments. But it’s even darker than that, because government leaders are too often controlled by the loudest voices. These days, those voices come from the anarchists and extremists who have taken over the streets of their capitals.

These protesters – many of whom are paid, professional agitators – provide the amplification of fear and intimidation. Take the UK and France, both of which have enormous Muslim populations. They expect and demand that their presidents or prime ministers don’t back Israel but rather defend the people whom they define as “freedom fighters,” deserving of their own state.

These national leaders know that they cannot retain their power without those votes, so they, too, must choose to either be controlled by their Muslim constituencies or stand tall while exercising the courage of their convictions.

Each is aware that Israel didn’t start this war, but why risk losing their power? By turning off their conscience, they, likewise, become collaborators of the loudest population, which ends up determining foreign policy choices.

As the heads of their governments, they depend on their underlings to provide a united front, whether in public or private.

Of course, it’s even more pronounced when it comes to Arab and Muslim countries, which, for decades, have always opposed the State of Israel, sometimes joining in the fight against us.

What they cannot do, even if tempted, as a result of Iranian threats, is to appear as if they side with the Jewish homeland. Such a move would be seen as a betrayal of their people and an imprudent recognition of a state whose Zionist principles are committed to the return of its people to their ancestral land.

But if force and power are the languages best understood by Arabs, it must also become the language understood by the whole world if we are to achieve peace in the Middle East and see antisemitism subside. That means that Israel cannot always capitulate to diplomats or world leaders, especially since they cannot count on the one organization established to further peace.

Sadly, the UN is run by people lacking a sound moral compass or civilized ethics and values. They are, instead, a collection of individuals who crave power and domination, willing to disenfranchise those who stand in their way.

Even though their hatred disqualifies them from being just arbiters, they have seized the reins of what should be a fair and impartial institution that promotes peace. However, all they really champion is their own agendas of inequality and prejudice against those they despise.

None of this should be surprising, because finding leaders with integrity is rare.

Leaders such as Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, Jordan’s King Abdullah, Saudi Arabia’s Mohammed bin Salman, the UAE’s Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed al Nahyan, along with European and other Western leaders, know that the Middle East is blessed by the presence of Israel.

If any of them had the courage to admit that Israel is truly the best thing that ever happened to the Middle East, they might actually be able to look themselves in the mirror and feel proud of not being controlled by anything except their own conscience.