It’s not Robert Ford in Hama, but Dan Shapiro, the U.S. envoy to Tel Aviv, likes the J14 (that stands for July 14) social justice protests sweeping Israel.
Not their message (and who’s sure of what that is exactly), but the fact that they’re sweeping Israel. And that they’re able to sweep Israel.
Shapiro — a fluent Hebrew speaker — just posted the following in Hebrew on his Facebook page:
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The United States has no position on the internal matters of the state of Israel. But we admire the strength of Israeli democracy. The citizens of Israel know that they can demonstrate in the streets without fear of violence, and that’s not the case in many other places in the region. The people and the government will decide together how they will deal with the serious social and economic problems about which people are demonstrating. And we are confident our democratic partner will come out of this period even stronger.
Okay, so he’s saying nothing, right? Just that he likes democracy?
Wrong.
The problems are "serious"? That’s already a call — and maybe the right one, but it’s a call. "The people and government will decide?" Also an interesting call, considering the "people" are in the streets precisely because they feel the government is cutting them out of decision-making.
And two nods to the strength of Israeli democracy at a time that even stalwart stateside pro-Israel groups are spooked by some of the "nationalist" laws the Knesset is enacting?
Interesting. As one commenter put it: "I’m not sure one needs especially to admire the fact that people can go out and demonstrate in Israel without being shot. I think that’s supposed to be understood."
I wonder what’s behind this.
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