Israel crawls from crisis to crisis
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As the media hubbub dies down around Israel's maritime operation to block a Gaza aid flotilla two weeks ago, the country has found itself at the center of a new storm, with the arrest of an Israeli citizen in Poland.
The arrest is the latest twist in the story that began at the start of the year with an assassination in a Dubai hotel. The international intelligence community believes Israel's Mossad agency was behind the killing of Mahmoud Al Mabhouh, an operative in the military wing of the Palestinian Islamic resistance movement Hamas. Israel has never confirmed that claim.
Much of the action was caught on camera by Dubai's extensive closed-circuit TV system, meaning news networks were able to place the story at the top of their schedules showing the action as it happened. The incident was hot news for days.
Both the United Kingdom and Australia subsequently expelled Israeli diplomats after it came to light that the agents who killed Al Mabhouh used passports belonging to nationals from several countries including the UK and Australia.
Since then, however, it seemed as though all those directly involved in the plot had disappeared. Until this weekend, when it was reported that the Polish authorities had captured one Uri Brodsky.
Germany is said to be seeking his extradition because he is alleged to have obtained the German passport used by one of the assassination team.
Israeli isolation
From time to time during Israel's brief history, it has been dumped in the diplomatic wilderness but has usually been able to rely on its closest allies such as the United States, Germany and the UK to ensure its isolation is limited.
However, at the moment Israel is under the cosh from all sides. The killing of at least nine people on board a Turkish ship bound for Gaza on May 31 has been roundly condemned by much of the international community, including a sound public rap on the knuckles from Washington.
That came at a time when Israeli-American relations were already at a low. Since U.S. President Barack Obama came to office in 2009, ties between the two have been strained. Unlike his predecessor, George W. Bush, Obama appears unprepared to allow Israeli policies towards the Palestinians to continue in their present form.
The flotilla scandal has led London, Berlin and many other leading states to very publicly display their dissatisfaction with Israel. The same is the case with the Al Mabhouh episode.
However, one should not look at these latest events on their own, suggests Gadi Wolfsfeld, a professor of politics, communication and journalism at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Ever since Israel's military campaign in Lebanon in the early 1980s, followed by the first Palestinian uprising, or intifada, later in the decade, Israel has been increasingly castigated. At the same time, the Palestinians have grown into a role within the international community.
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