Daphne Anson: Watt Amman! More Quackers from the FCO Camel Corps

Eretz Israel is our unforgettable historic homeland...The Jews who will it shall achieve their State...And whatever we attempt there for our own benefit will redound mightily and beneficially to the good of all mankind. (Theodor Herzl, DerJudenstaat, 1896)

We offer peace and amity to all the neighbouring states and their peoples, and invite them to cooperate with the independent Jewish nation for the common good of all. The State of Israel is ready to contribute its full share to the peaceful progress and development of the Middle East. (From Proclamation of the State of Israel, 5 Iyar 5708; 14 May 1948)

With a liberal democratic political system operating under the rule of law, a flourishing market economy producing technological innovation to the benefit of the wider world, and a population as educated and cultured as anywhere in Europe or North America, Israel is a normal Western country with a right to be treated as such in the community of nations.... For the global jihad, Israel may be the first objective. But it will not be the last. (Friends of Israel Initiative)

Sunday, 11 July 2010

Watt Amman! More Quackers from the FCO Camel Corps

Foreign Secretary William Hague - himself no great shakes when it comes to standing up to the world's bullies - was reportedly 'very unimpressed' with Frances Guy's  blogged infatuation with the Israel-loathing, West-hating, terror-peddling Sheik Fadlallal, and after 'mature consideration' that blog was removed.

Still, unlike Octavia Nasr, CNN's Middle East editor, who on Twitter described Fadlallal as 'One of Hezbollah's giants I respect a lot' and promptly lost her job as a result, Britain's envoy in Beirut has kept hers. Now, the woman who when head of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office's Engaging with the Islamic World  unit met all kinds of unsavoury types in appeasement's cause, and who in her current role pioneered diplomatic talks with Hezbollah, has blogged an apology of sorts. (Well, she would, wouldn't she?)

Now, it turns out, Britain's man in Amman, James Watt, has been indulging in a lot of dodgy blogging of his own (hat tip: Harry's Place). It seems a youthful meeting with Lord Caradon opened his eyes to the wicked ways of those pesky Zionists, though perhaps Mrs Watt, Amal Saad, who's a member of an Arab family, has jaundiced the ambassador's view of Israel too.

"Completely non-factual assertions - for example that a Jewish people was building Jerusalem 5000 years ago - only serve to emphasise the absence of real content or reason" he thundered in March this year. "No one is prepared - or very few - to take Zionist arguments at their face value any longer." "The origin of the problem - the arrival of the Zionists in Palestine, with their commitment to avoiding any kind of integration into existing society, and their policy of importing their co-religionists from cultural and social backgrounds alien to Palestine, changed everything", he proclaimed on 1 July. "So did the massive expulsion of huge numbers of Palestinians from their land. Their right to return, and to compensation, remains the central demand, backed by all Arab states and reflected also in the principles set out by the international community for peace." Other blogs by Mr Watt mirror the view of his Arabist FCO masters regarding the Goldstone Report, the Gaza Blockade, the Mavi Marmara affair, and so on.

And, it would seem, just like Ambassador Guy (I talk from experience) Ambassador Watt is decidedly reluctant to allow non-sycophantic comments to blight his blog.

Back in 2007, right around the time of Iran's capture of 15 Royal Naval personnel whose vessel had drifted too near to Iranian waters, I was in London to attend a meeting of a specialist historical society entirely unconnected with Jews or Israel. Afterwards, five of us were guests of the chairman, at dinner at his club in Pall Mall. Just as the second course arrived, the man on my right (who despite my very Jewish surname had insisted on extolling to me, and not jocularly either, the virtues of the menu's pork, which he proceeded to order) was asked by the man on my left what he made of the Iran naval affair. To my astonishment, the reply was an invective-laden denunciation not of Iran, but of Israel - which, he claimed, was responsible for all of the ills of the Middle East.

I had a choice. I could either sit silent and ladylike, or I could give him a piece of my mind. Reluctant to embarrass our genial host, I nevertheless chose to do the latter - while my fellow diners, obviously uncomfortable, almost buried their heads in their plates.

Who was the man who spoke so ill of Israel? Why, a former officer in one of Britain's armed services and a leading official at the Ministry of Defence - that's who.

These days, it seems, the droppings of the FCO Camel Corps extend the length and breadth of Whitehall.

6 comments:

Anonymous11 July 2010 at 21:09
Shouldn't we be asking William Hague if what these ambassadors are writing is what he really thinks?
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Anonymous12 July 2010 at 09:43
His wife has nearly same name as Amal Saad-Ghorayeb who writes about Hizbullah are they the same person? Are they related?
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Daphne Anson12 July 2010 at 17:18
I certainly think that Hague needs to keep an eye on Ambassador Watt's blogs, which to my mind sail pretty close to the wind in some respects - he seems to be influenced by Shlomo Sand's "The Invention of the Jewish People" (which he is on record as saying he was reading)and similar discredited narratives; he allows rather dubious comments on his blogs, but has rejected, so far as I am aware, at least two from persons who have pointed out the fallacious nature of some of his assertions.
Regarding the question about his wife, the short answer is "I don't know".
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Anonymous12 July 2010 at 22:01
Daphne you should have got up picked up your soup
plate and poured it all over that fat pigs head.
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Daphne Anson12 July 2010 at 22:13
Too late - the waiter had cleared it! ;~(
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Anonymous12 July 2010 at 23:00
Never mind Daphne savor the thought.
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