Israel was extricating itself Wednesday from a situation of its own making after its deputy prime minister, Avigdor Lieberman, triggered a potential diplomatic row with India.
Mr Lieberman, also Israel’s foreign minister, was quoted as telling the UN Secretary-General that the international community ignored the killings of 500 people in the past month in Thailand, Afghanistan, Pakistan, India and Iraq, while Israel is condemned for “unmistakably defensive actions” that claimed nine lives.
In the press release on the Israeli foreign ministry website, Mr Lieberman had also said that the UNSC resolution against Israel’s raid on a flotilla of ships carrying humanitarian aid to Gaza reeked of “hypocrisy and double standards taking root in the international community”.
The Israeli foreign ministry and the Israeli embassy in India soon went into damage control mode. The Israeli government established contact with the Indian ambassador in Tel Aviv to clear any misunderstanding.
The word “India” was deleted from the statement and a corrected version posted on the Israeli foreign ministry website. In New Delhi, Israel’s ambassador to India Mark Sofer was quick to say, “Israel does not see India in the same light as it does its enemies. Israel stands hook, line, and sinker with India.” But Mr Sofer also wondered aloud why a section of the international community was hypocritical towards his country.