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href="https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/david-cronin/war-criminal-promoted-chief-israel-lobby-group">https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/david-cronin/war-criminal-promoted-chief-israel-lobby-group</a></font>
<h1 class="reader-title">War criminal promoted to chief of
Israel lobby group</h1>
<p class="node__submitted">
<span class="field field-author"><a
href="https://electronicintifada.net/people/david-cronin">David
Cronin</a></span> <span class="field field-blog">- </span><span
class="field field-publication-date"><span
class="date-display-single"
content="2018-09-26T20:28:49+00:00">26 September 2018</span></span>
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<figure id="file-69801"><source media="(min-width:
72rem)"><figcaption><small><span></span></small></figcaption></figure>
<p>War criminals are seldom out of work. The shrewdest
can turn a bloodstained history to their advantage.</p>
<p>The career of Israeli military strategist <a
href="https://electronicintifada.net/tags/michael-herzog">Michael
Herzog</a> is a good case in point.</p>
<p>Herzog has been <a
href="https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/david-cronin/indicted-war-criminal-payroll-uk-israel-lobby">sued</a>
by human rights activists over his role in a 2002
attack on Gaza. Despite – or perhaps because of – his
association with state violence, Herzog’s analysis has
been much in demand.</p>
<p>Without fanfare, Herzog has been promoted lately. He
is now heading the Forum of Strategic Dialogue, a
group which <a href="http://f-sd.eu/strategic.aspx">arranges</a>
confabs between Israel and Europe’s movers and
shakers.</p>
<p>News of Herzog’s appointment was contained in a
briefing note intended for the group’s donors. The
note – published below – describes Herzog as a
“renowned expert on Middle East policy issues” who has
been a “leading figure in the Arab-Israeli peace
process.”</p>
<p>Herzog may be so “renowned” to the donors that they
do not need reminding of his full record. It has
included <a
href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/2006/08/27/in-israel-a-divisive-struggle-over-targeted-killing/2e6d9107-6a81-4500-a7e4-001b4fc853c9/">supervising</a>
Israel’s bombing raids on Palestinians in the hope
that nobody would escape from them alive.</p>
<h2>Indicted</h2>
<p>Herzog was a senior advisor in Israel’s defense
ministry during the first decade of this century. The
ministry was central to the planning of “targeted
assassinations” carried out at that time.</p>
<p>The “targeted assassinations” were known to involve
the destruction of civilian lives and infrastructure.
Herzog was <a
href="https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/david-cronin/indicted-war-criminal-payroll-uk-israel-lobby">indicted</a>
for war crimes in a case brought under Spain’s law on
universal jurisdiction.</p>
<p>The lawsuit initiated in Spain by the Palestinian
Center for Human Rights related to a 2002 operation
against al-Daraj, a district of Gaza City. The
offensive was presented by Israel as focused on Salah
Shehadeh, a commander with the Qassam Brigades, Hamas’
armed wing.</p>
<p>Fourteen people were killed in that attack, in
addition to Shehadeh. Among them were eight children
and two elderly men.</p>
<p>Since the lawsuit was filed, Spain has <a
href="https://www.timesofisrael.com/spain-reexamines-policy-that-would-allow-it-try-israeli-officials/">succumbed</a>
to pressure from Israel and watered down its law on
universal jurisdiction.</p>
<p>The dilution occurred in 2009, a year that began with
Operation Cast Lead, a massive Israeli bombardment of
Gaza. Herzog was <a
href="https://www.washingtoninstitute.org/experts/view/herzog-michael">chief
of staff</a> to Ehud Barak, then Israel’s defense
minister, during Cast Lead.</p>
<p>Both men ought to be put on trial for their part in
that monstrous crime.</p>
<p>The cowardice of Madrid’s political elite has helped
Herzog evade justice. Belonging to one of Israel’s
most famous families has probably protected him too.</p>
<p>His <a
href="https://www.jpost.com/Israel-News/Culture/Grapevine-LeChaim-504929">father</a>
Chaim Herzog was Israel’s sixth president; Michael’s <a
href="https://www.haaretz.com/.premium-israel-s-answer-to-the-kennedys-1.5364957">brother</a>
Isaac headed Israel’s Labor Party from 2013 until last
year.</p>
<p>Michael Herzog had belonged to the <a
href="https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/david-cronin/buying-respect-israel-brussels">team</a>
running the Forum of Strategic Dialogue before his
recent promotion. He has also been hired by pro-Israel
groups in London and Washington.</p>
<p>As an “expert” – often a euphemism for lobbyist –
Herzog has <a
href="http://www.bicom.org.uk/analysis/bicom-strategic-assessment-gaza-can-next-war-prevented/">addressed</a>
such topics as how to avoid violence in Gaza, omitting
that he has personally inflicted suffering on
Palestinians.</p>
<h2>Flexibility</h2>
<p>The Forum of Strategic Dialogue is a project run by
another Israel advocacy group called the European
Leadership Network.</p>
<p>In 2017, I wrote about how the “network” is willing
to befriend almost anyone provided they support
Israel. It has decided to cooperate with politicians
in <a
href="https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/david-cronin/we-work-holocaust-deniers-says-leading-pro-israel-group">Poland</a>
and <a
href="https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/david-cronin/leading-eu-strategist-snuggles-israel-lobby">Germany</a>
who distort or deny incontrovertible facts about the
Holocaust.</p>
<p>A flexibility can also discerned in its approach to
staff recruitment.</p>
<p>Like many similar organizations, the European
Leadership Network has <a
href="http://elnetwork.eu/Iranian_threat">taken</a>
a hostile stance towards Iran.</p>
<p>That has not stopped it from appointing Thomas
Kessler to chair its branch in Berlin. As a <a
href="https://www.herbertsmithfreehills.com/our-people/thomas-kessler">real
estate lawyer</a>, Kessler has been <a
href="https://www.herbertsmithfreehills.com/where-we-work/iran-group">working</a>
with a consultancy which encourages investment in
Iran.</p>
<p>Kessler did not respond to a query asking if his
professional activities were at odds with the
objectives of the European Leadership Network. His
silence indicates that the network is prepared to
overlook such apparent contradictions for reasons of
political expediency.</p>
<p>The current newsletter of the European Leadership
Network – published below – betrays an obsession with
kissing up to the powerful.</p>
<p>It states, for example, that the network is
undertaking joint activities with <a
href="https://www.liberation.fr/france/2017/06/07/education-le-liberal-institut-montaigne-maitre-a-penser-de-macron_1575198">Institut
Montaigne</a>, a Paris-based think tank. Institut
Montaigne, according to the newsletter, was
“instrumental” in drawing up Emmanuel Macron’s program
when he was a candidate for the French presidency.</p>
<p>Macron has posed as a <a
href="https://www.i24news.tv/fr/actu/international/europe/169363-180307-diner-du-crif-suivez-en-direct-l-allocution-d-emmanuel-macron">staunch
ally</a> of Israel. Is that about to change?</p>
<p>In his speech to the UN General Assembly this week,
Macron <a
href="https://abonnes.lemonde.fr/international/article/2018/09/25/a-l-onu-emmanuel-macron-appelle-a-ne-pas-suivre-la-voie-de-l-unilateralisme_5360133_3210.html">claimed</a>
to fear the “law of the strongest and the temptation
for each [nation] to follow its own law.”</p>
<p>If that is really a signal of Macron’s intolerance
for rogue states, then he needs to go beyond mealy
mouthed <a
href="https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/ali-abunimah/french-revolt-against-macrons-support-israel">declarations</a>
and take action.</p>
<p>He could start by shunning Israel and its <a
href="https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/david-cronin/perverse-arguments-israels-perverse-lobby">perverse
lobby</a>.</p>
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