By Jamal Juma’
Does South American politics move forward in constructing a new continental and global order based on democracy, human rights and mutual solidarity or will it fall pray to Israeli strategies that undermine the emancipation of Latin America and the Global South?
The Israeli minister of foreign affairs, Avigdor Lieberman, has wrapped up a 10-day tour through South America, the first of its kind for over two decades. His trip was aimed at launching a new direction for Israeli foreign policy, which is to turn more and more to the subcontinent. The people of Brazil and Argentina have met him with loud street protest, denouncing him as an emblem of Israeli racism, fascism and colonialism. People have refused to play the quiet host to members of a regime that for over sixty years has kept Palestinian refugees from returning to their homes, oppressing the remaining population and developing ever more extreme forms of repression and apartheid. The brutal massacre and siege in Gaza at the beginning of this year, and the ongoing construction of the Wall and settlements are but two of the issues which are adding to the gradual perception of Israel as a pariah state by ordinary people across the world. However, the conflicting interests between South America and Israel go beyond solidarity with Palestine. Israel’s new South America policy forces the continent to make fundamental choices regarding its own aspirations and geopolitical alignments.
Israel’s recently strengthened interest in the region is partially motivated by the tightening avenues in Europe and North America, its traditional allies. Politically, even a conservative prime minister such as the French Sarkozy has advised the Israeli government to dismiss Lieberman in favor of a more presentable figure. At an economic level, 21 % of Israeli exporters have announced losses due to European boycotts. To offset this, Israel has recently developed much more vital and strategic interests in South America as well as Africa than in the past.
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