Monday, August 10, 2009
[Welcome Globe readers. If you are looking for my original posting on Israeli Consul General Nadav Tamir that includes the text of the letter, click here: Is Nadav Tamir Bucking for a Job with J-Street? (Updated with Text of Letter).]
The Boston Globe has a front page, above-the-fold story on the Nadav Tamir memo controversy: Jewish leaders in city defend Israeli consul amid uproar
...in Boston, several influential Jewish leaders defended Tamir. They said that in his three years in Boston as consul general, he has won widespread respect for his integrity and his intelligent approach to building relations within the community and with non-Jews - and they look forward to having him finish out his final year here.
"He is thoughtful, fair, and insightful. I have found him really to be the best Israeli diplomat I have worked with in my 19 years here,'' said Nancy Kaufman, executive director of the Jewish community Relations Council since 1990. "We have found him to be an amazing partner when it comes to creating and mobilizing support in greater Boston.''
Steve Grossman, a longtime advocate for Israel and a former president of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, offered an equally ringing endorsement: "I've known Israeli consuls general for the last 30 years or so. And I don't think Israel has had a more effective leader in New England in that time than Nadav Tamir.''...
So the locals are circling the wagons for Tamir, with whom they have personal relationships. Fine, fine...though it's notable that Steve Grossman, as a for instance, was not above respectful criticism of President Obama when I saw him at the end of June.
Most notable in this one is that it quotes yours truly, and thanks to Globe writer James F. Smith for that:
...Amid the support for Tamir voiced in Boston yesterday was at least one dissonant [sic. I believe that should be "dissenting." I'm not going to be on American Idol any time soon, but there is nothing dissonant about my voice.]
Boston blogger Martin Solomon published what he said was the full text of Tamir's three-page memo on his Solomonia.com website. He said the memo was sent to him by an undisclosed source in Israel [Quibble: I actually didn't say it was from Israel.].
Solomon argued in his blog entry that it is the Obama administration's "naive and reckless" Israel and Mideast policies that are causing strains in the US-Israel relationship rather than Israel's policies.
He asked his readers: "Who has Nadav Tamir been breaking bread with? Many of the people in so-called Jewish 'leadership' positions are there by virtue of their checkbooks and connections, and many of those would sell Israel down the river in a heartbeat if it made them uncomfortable at their Cambridge cocktail parties. Have they got their hooks into the local Israeli rep?"...
And the questions remain. It should be noted, while everyone is giving plaudits to Consul Tamir, that we at Solomonia have nothing against him (or for him, for that matter) personally, but have merely reacted to the public controversy.
Why is the Globe quoting me? You mean outside my stunning analysis and the fact that my reach and influence make me impossible to ignore? I say it's because someone he talked to hipped Jeff Smith to the fact that I'm saying what some of those -- perhaps quoted, perhaps not -- are thinking but can't say publicly. I'm their unintentional proxy.
Edit: BTW, read the comments on the Globe story. I see they've had to delete quite a few.
Update: Representatives of Boston's Russian Jewish Community have issued the following public call for Tamir's recall (posted here in full by permission):
Letter of Boston Russian Jewish Community in regards to recent statement by Israel's consul general in Boston Nadav Tamir
We, members, activists, and leaders of the Russian Jewish community are writing this letter in protest to the recent statement by Nadav Tamir, Israeli consul general in Boston.
In his letter to his superiors, that is being discussed in the media, consul Tamir chose to place the blame for the recent complications in the relationship between USA and Israel unilaterally on the Jewish state, and his own leadership.
The timing and the content of his letter are astonishing. They show no connection with reality, no knowledge of the trends or American public opinion, nor that of the political reality on the ground.
Today, the American Jewish community at large is extremely concerned with the Obama administration's haughty, inflexible, demeaning, and partisan attitude toward the democratically elected government of Israel.
American Jews are troubled by the administration's fixation with settlements, their lack of concern for a nuclear Iran, their incorrect linkage of the origin of the state of Israel to the Holocaust, and their complete ignorance of three plus thousand years of Jewish presence in the Land of Israel. Indeed, American Jews can not understand the Obama administration's obsession with each and every building in Israel, and its easy going attitude towards the fanatical Iranian regime, directly responsible for the deaths of many, many Americans.
In recent months we witnessed respectful, but ever growing criticism of the Obama administration's attitude toward Israel coming from mainstream American Jewish organizations and their leaders such as the American Jewish Committee's David Harris, Anti-Defamation League's Abraham Foxman, executive vice chairman of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations Malcolm Hoenlein, president of the Zionist Organization of America Morton Klein, and finally, President Obama's close friend and supporter Alan Solow, chairman of the Conference of President of Major Jewish Organizations.
Shockingly, Nadav Tamir labels in his letter ALL the opponents of the Obama administration's policies toward Israel as "ideological players". Can the individuals named above be called ideological players? Hardly. Most of them are supporters of the President, and actively helped his campaign. Their concern comes through a painful acknowledgment of the fact, that the Obama administration chose to actively damage the bi-lateral special relationship with America's most loyal ally while courting new friends.
Of course, there are ideological players in American politics, those who are fanatically pressing Israel towards dangerous one-sided concessions. They are a well funded fringe with no real support in the community. It appears that Nadav Tamir chose to get his talking points from such players.
The Russian Jewish community of Boston is over 50 thousand people strong. We are roughly one fifth of Massachusetts' Jewish population. We are an active, organized, and charitable community. Our community raises hundreds of thousands of dollars, every year, that we spend on programs in Israel. Nadav Tamir knows us, he regularly attends our annual events where he can see hundreds of Russian Jews, our American friends, and our deep love for the Land of Israel and our brethren there. Somehow before writing his letter, he never solicited our opinion. Somehow, when it came to his ideological preferences, the Russian Jews of Boston became invisible to him.
This leads to the following sad, but necessary request. By issuing his incompetent, unprofessional, and partisan letter, Nadav Tamir proved that he is not a diplomat, but an ideologue. We are respectfully asking the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs to recall Nadav Tamir from Boston. Please send us a diplomat who could learn, listen, and represent Israel without being ashamed of his country, and without sacrificing her interest to personal ideological preferences and future career aspirations.
Signed,
Ary Rotman, President of the Russian Jewish Community Foundation of Massachusetts
Alex Koifman, President, Boston For Israel
Greg Margolin, Editor and Publisher of the Jewish Russian Telegraph
Inessa Rifkin, Princial and Co-owner of Russian School of Mathematics
Leonid Komarovsky, President of Boston Russian Media Group
Edit: Jewish Russian Telegraph has a run-down of some of the mainstream Jewish groups that have criticized the Obama Administration, here.
Update: Writing at Contentions, Jonathan Tobin notes that Tamir's behavior (he believes the letter was self-leaked) is not unprecedented.
Listed below are links to blogs that reference this entry: Israeli Consul Nadav Tamir -- Welcome Boston Globe Readers (Updated with Letter from Boston Russian Jewish Community Asking for Tamir Recall).
TrackBack URL for this entry: http://www.solomonia.com/cgi-bin/mt4/mt-renamedtb.cgi/16705
Cause he sure isn't going to be with the Israeli Foreign Ministry long, at least if this description of a three-page letter he sent to Netanyahu's office is accurate. Tamir is our local Israeli Consul, last seen in...uh...discussion (I wouldn't... Read More
So says that story in the North Shore Jewish Journal: Consul General Reaches Out to Constituents After Memo Flap The uproar over Israeli Consul General Nadav Tamir's leaked three-page memo in which he criticizes the Netanyahu government blew over more... Read More
hello
i am a good frend of Nadav tamir from 1975
he is a wanderful frend ,honest end inteligent . hop thet he would not pay for it ...
we are with you man
If Nadav Tamir has issues with Israel’s settlement policies, he should have raised his questions privately. Circulating an internal memo critical of his own government - one that was easily leaked to the press - raises legitimate questions about Tamir’s political motives vis-a-vis the Obama administration.
Those of us in Boston's Jewish community who consider ourselves Zionists would be better served by a consul who not only represents Israel, but represents us, too.
Such a bitterly divided Jewish "community" as we have in Boston doesn't need more fuel for division.
Nadav Tamir appears to be a naive diplomat who has not been able to accept that the government in Israel has changed and so has its policies. He should have written his report in a factual manner without getting into ideological stances. If he is uncomfortable with the way his masters are behaving - and they call the shots - he should resign and let another take his place who can defend Israel properly before the American public. At a time when Israel is besieged by bloodthirsty enemies and a neutral US Administration, Israel can ill afford to have such a milquetoast diplomat serving abroad.
Heartily endorse comments above re naivete of Nadav Tamir. would go further tho - entire Israeli foreign service establishment needs to be revamped and promoted only on the basis of their love for their country. Pro-Palestinian agitators need not apply to the Israeli diplomatic service.