A despicable action

Israel's presence in Judea and Samaria as well as in the Gaza Strip (until the disengagement from Gaza in 2005) did not bother Dr. Alon Liel when he pursued a diplomatic career and served as Israel's ambassador to South Africa and afterward as director general of the Foreign Ministry.

Indeed, Liel was uncomfortable with the Israeli government's policy in Judea and Samaria; however, as long as it had not affected his professional responsibilities or interfered with performing the ministry's directives, there was nothing wrong with it. Democratic governments do not exclude office holders who disagree with their policies. No boycott, no apartheid.

However, when Liel learned that the new likely ambassador to Brazil is going to be settler leader Dani Dayan, he sought to thwart the appointment. What is the definition of apartheid if not the exclusion of an individual from the circle of legitimacy simply for living east of the green line? This is exactly the modus operandi the white-controlled government in South Africa adopted in regard to black South Africans, until Nelson Mandela rose to power.

Udi Segal, the diplomatic correspondent for Channel 2 News, reported on Wednesday night that following Brazil's rejection of Dayan's appointment as Israeli envoy, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has decided, for the time being, not to send a different ambassador in his place and leave only a deputy ambassador in the South American country.

This decision represents a de facto downgrade in relations, and it would have been smarter to give Dayan another position, instead of minimizing Israel's representation in a central country such as Brazil, which is also the host of the coming 2016 Summer Olympics.

On Wednesday, Yifat Erlich of Yedioth Ahronoth‎ reported on a secret recording of a meeting that had taken place between members of Breaking the Silence and Liel -- and let me tell you, it is disgraceful.

The retired diplomat told his listeners that it is essential to attack Israel from the outside, to inform of its activity to foreign sources, to operate mainly in the U.N. because it has a reputation of being hostile towards Israel.

If the organization is ever to declare the establishment of a Palestinian state in Judea and Samaria -- Israel, a U.N. member state, is going to officially become an occupying country, and all hell will break loose.

Liel has not committed any crime, unlike extreme leftist Ezra Nawi, a Taayush activist who was not only exposed for receiving payments from Breaking the Silence but also allegedly turned in Palestinian land brokers to Mahmoud Abbas' henchmen, who had beaten and killed them.

Liel has not reached that point, but make no mistake, it is the same approach: Partner with foreign agents to pressure our country until it falls on its knees.

Why did Liel do that? Because he has lost his faith in his ability to convince the Israeli public in the justice of his cause. But, if there is something that history has taught us is that recruiting foreign authorities to win an internal fight for power usually ends with a loss of independence.

This is what the embroiled sons of Hasmonean Queen Salome Alexandra did in 63 BCE when they appealed for assistance from Rome, which used the divided kingdom to conquer Judea, and the Hasmonean dynasty was lost.

Our sages understood that this action was like raising a pig on the walls of Jerusalem, "and the land of Israel shook an area of 400 parsas by 400 parsas [about 1 million square miles]."