Since Hendel's speech in the Knesset, practically all the politicians and talking heads in the country have gone tripping over each other to condemn him before anyone who would listen. The media, always the willing mouthpiece of the self-condemnatory establishment, has provided ample airtime and column space for their rantings.
I find it hard to draw a connection between Kurtzer's comments and the insult they drew from Hendel. What Hendel said is merely another in the long line of nonsensical epithets fashioned by Israeli politicians of all stripes. But while Hendel's speech bordered on the idiotic, the mad controversy it has spawned is firmly placed in the category of the insane.
For instance, there is no mention anywhere in the media about the merits or fallacies of Kurtzer's pronouncement. No reporter, columnist, or even politician, is demanding that MK Avi Yehezkel resign as Deputy Transportation Minister for failing to stop his own driver from exceeding the speed limit by more than 60 kilometers an hour.
And no one is questioning why the Director General of the Prime Minister's Office pays $100 per night for his driver to sleep in a Tel Aviv hotel - six nights per week. This is more money than most middle-class Israelis earn in a given month, and the government chooses to spend this largesse on a hotel room for a chauffeur than on providing a decent income for disabled Israelis. Why is Kurtzer not yelling about this injustice?
Yet, Prime Minister Sharon, Knesset Speaker Burg, and just about everyone else who feels a lack of media exposure bows and flagellates before the Ambassador as if they are mere vassals in the Middle East fiefdom of America.
Yes, Hendel's outburst was infantile. But it served to put Kurtzer's statement in the limelight, showing as it does Kurtzer's desire to see Israel abandoned in stages. It is only the media, turning itself into a cheering section for the self-flagellating non-leaders we have for politicians, who have diluted this message.
Hendel's statement also served to put the numerous more pressing issues on the Israeli agenda into the proper perspective. To wit, their importance disappears the minute one juvenile opens his mouth in the Knesset.
Well, I for one am not sorry that Hendel spoke his mind. Kurtzer's behavior was insulting to Israel, and to all proud Jews, of which he purports to be one. It showed that Kurtzer is more concerned about the label of dual loyalty than he is about his Judaism or his people's security. And it shows that Israel's leaders are his equals in this department.
And as long as Avi Yehezkel is allowed by the media and the politicians to remain in his position, they have no business elevating such a non-issue as Hendel's statement to national importance.
Copyright 2002. All rights reserved. Yehuda Poch is a journalist living in Israel. Reproduction in electronic or print format by permission only.
