Israel Points to Embassy Attack as Fodder Against Statehood Vote
Israel’s overseas ambassadors have been instructed by the Foreign Ministry to use last weekend’s attack on the Israeli embassy in Cairo to convince decision-makers in the countries where they serve that United Nations recognition of a Palestinian state will lead to a violent eruption in the West Bank.
Eviatar Manor, head of the ministry’s international organizations branch, sent a telegram to this effect to Israel’s embassies, under the headline “September – an updated assessment and instructions.”
In the cable, Manor told the envoys to continue their efforts to convince senior foreign officials not to support the Palestinians’ statehood bid at the United Nations, and to convey the message that, “What we saw in Cairo demonstrates that, despite the declarations by Abu Mazen [Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas] and other senior Palestinians that they are not planning a violent confrontation, the violence could also come from the street.”
Manor also wrote in the cable that although the Palestinians have stated publicly that they are approaching the UN secretary-general about being recognized as a full UN member state, the Foreign Ministry maintains its assumption that this is a tactical ploy.
“The Palestinians are selling their willingness to compromise on an application to the Security Council in exchange for getting support for having the General Assembly upgrade their status to a state that isn’t a full member,” Manor wrote.
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