Tikun Olam-תקון עולם: Make the World a Better Place

Israeli UN ambassador Dan Gillerman has brewed a mini-tempest in a teacup by taking the highly undiplomatic step of smearing the good name of a former U.S. president. I say “mini-tempest” not because Gillerman’s breach isn’t serious–it is very serious. Rather, I say this because Condi Rice doesn’t really care much that Gillerman had a hissy fit against Carter. I’ll bet privately she even approves at least somewhat of Gillerman’s attack. But for the purpose of protocol and diplomatic precedent she’s got to pretend to take umbrage at Gillerman’s backalley brawling tactics.

In addition to saying that Carter had “blood on his hands” for meeting Khaled Meshal, Gillerman also called Carter (keep in mind this is the only U.S. president to actually negotiate a peace treaty between Israel and one of its Arab enemies) an “enemy of Israel.”

The United States registered an official protest with Israel against its ambassador to the United Nations, Dan Gillerman, for calling former U.S. President Jimmy Carter an “enemy of Israel” prior to Carter’s recent visit to the region.

A senior Foreign Ministry source said Saturday that the U.S. Embassy in Tel Aviv asked that Gillerman be made aware of the U.S. administration’s dissatisfaction with the disrespectful comments about the former U.S. President.

In addition, the State Department is planning to issue a public statement condemning comments made by Gillerman at a press conference in New York on Thursday, where he called Carter a “bigot.”

In my last post on this incident, I expressed the hope that Gillerman had gone “off the reservation” rather than that he was expressing the official position of the Israeli government regarding Carter. It appears the former explanation may be what happened. If that is the case, then the attack is no less disturbing as it means that Gillerman was making policy on his own in direct contravention of directives from his superiors–that is, Livni herself:

The same [foreign ministry] source said that Gillerman’s attack on Carter “surprised and embarrassed” Jerusalem, which contravened direct instructions from Livni to avoid comments on the former president.

Gillerman is scheduled to leave his post in several months. I wonder whether Livni will call him home early or leave him in place. I also wonder whether Gillerman, knowing full well that his incendiary remarks couldn’t hurt him this late in his UN tenure, is angling, like many of his predecessors, for a political career in the Likud. If that is the case, the Carter smear may be a transparent tactic to curry favor with the Bibi crowd.

Either way, an Israeli diplomat has just mugged a former U.S. president. It shouldn’t be allowed to happen. Gillerman is a two-bit political thug. Carter is a Nobel laureate.