THE HOLOCAUST IS OVER WE MUST RISE FROM ITS ASHES

It turned out that the Dalai Lama, whose people were slaughtered and exiled byChina’s communist regime, was traveling the world hoping to arrive ahead of theChinese president, or any representative Chinese official, wherever they planned toappear. He was trying to generate positive public opinion and stir nonviolent actionagainst the injustices done to his people and his homeland. Likewise, China’sdiplomats threatened and pressured host countries not to provide a venue for Tibet’shigh priest. The Israeli parliament seemed to them too prominent, its clout extendingfrom Jerusalem to Washington.“You must cancel the invitation,” the senior diplomat demanded, but I was enraged.I took a deep breath, counted to ten, and replied as softly as I could: “The visit willproceed. I’ll try to publicize it as much as I can in Israel and in the world. If Israeliforeign policy is based on arms-dealing interests with the murderers of TiananmenSquare, I want no part of it. Although it wasn’t my intention, I’ll be the happiest manalive if the Dalai Lama’s visit to the Knesset will open your minds a bit.”The quarrelling volleys of letters carried on until the last minute. In the end, life wasmightier than all the bickering. The Dalai Lama honored the Knesset with his soft,peace-loving presence. The international press coverage was extraordinary. Oneweek later, as planned, the Chinese president arrived at the Knesset and a gale ofworldwide protest flooded the foreign office. Israel’s official response was surprising.Diplomats abroad were directed to reply to the protestors who condemned Israel forhosting the Chinese dictator that just a week earlier, the Dalai Lama had received thesame honor: a visit to the Knesset.Hypocrisy is often the essence of the diplomatic profession, yet I learned mylesson. Israel’s foreign policy must conform to the values that we call our own. Wemay have great interests with Turkey, yet we must not deny the Armenian Holocaust,and this will eventually help Turkey as well. Israel’s arms industry may be important,but under no circumstances should Israeli arms be part of the Rwandan genocide.Between Tibet and China, we choose Tibet. We must not be indifferent to Kosovo,Yugoslavia, Indonesia, or East Timor, nor to civil injustice in neighboring Palestine, orto the undemocratic U.S. actions in Iraq, Afghanistan, or Guantánamo Bay. A moral,committed Israel with a binding, ethical foreign policy is what a democratic state ofthe Jews is all about. Thus it should have been inconceivable for Israel’s late presidentHaim Herzog—who publicly tore to shreds the United Nations resolution thatequated Zionism with racism—to visit China so soon after the People’s Army