The ‘provocative’, ‘offensive’ approach of the country’s Dublin mission has drawn international media attention
Embassy couple: the Israeli ambassador to Ireland, Boaz Modai, and his wife, Nurit Tinari Modai. Photograph: Eric Luke/The Irish Times
The post was deleted within hours, but not before it had gone viral on social media and attracted international media attention. The embassy’s subsequent apology, published on Facebook, read: “To whom it may concern: An image of Jesus and Mary with a derogatory comment about Palestinians was posted without the consent of the administrator of the Facebook page. We have removed the post in question immediately. Apologies to anyone who may have been offended. Merry Christmas!”
Later that day, after journalists discovered other potentially objectionable material, the Facebook account vanished. The embassy’s press officer told the New York Times the page had been taken down for maintenance. The page later reappeared but with several posts removed.
Embarrassing provocations
Haaretz’s diplomatic correspondent, Barak Ravid, was scathing in his report on the incident. “Israel’s embassy in Dublin has been in the headlines many times over the last few years, not only because of the tense relations between Jerusalem and Dublin, but also because of embarrassing provocations by Israel’s envoys at the mission, who try to think creatively when it comes to public relations (hasbara),” he wrote. “The person who leads this provocative line in the embassy in Dublin is not only Ambassador Boaz Modai, but also his wife, Nurit Tinari Modai, who serves as deputy head of mission.”
That summer Tinari Modai, in a letter to the Israeli foreign ministry, had proposed a strategy to “humiliate and shame” pro-Palestinian Israeli activists in Ireland, claiming their activism was rooted in psychological problems. In the letter, leaked to Israel’s Channel 10, Tinari Modai, who also serves as the embassy’s cultural attache, suggested publishing photographs of the activists to “cause embarrassment for their friends in Israel and their family” and sow suspicion among non-Israeli activists that “they may actually be working on behalf of Mossad”, a reference to the Israeli intelligence services.
Hostile
The embassy’s provocative approach has raised eyebrows among other foreign diplomats in Dublin, who question such tactics in a country regularly described by Israeli officials and media as “one of the most hostile” in the EU. In an interview with the Jewish Chronicle, in March 2012, Tinari Modai referred to Ireland as “a huge challenge, maybe the biggest in Europe”.In his report on the embassy’s Christmas posting last year, the Washington Post journalist Max Fisher wrote: “International diplomacy requires restraint and calculation. Neither is particularly well served by incendiary, racially tinged messages like those on [the embassy’s] Facebook page.”As one diplomat in Ireland put it: “This is hardly the way to win friends and influence people, particularly in a country where you know you already have an image problem.”
Barak Ravid of Haaretz says it was clear from the beginning of Modai’s and Tinari Modai’s tenure as ambassador and deputy that they had adopted a “zero tolerance” policy towards criticism of Israel. “There is a difference, however, between a robust public-diplomacy campaign and an offensive one,” he added.
Last December, a spokesman for the Israeli foreign ministry promised an internal investigation to determine how the post about Jesus and Mary could have been uploaded, saying it would “make sure something like this does not happen again”. A spokeswoman declined to comment this week on whether an inquiry had taken place. She said the ministry was “very appreciative” of the work of the ambassador and his wife and had requested they stay in Ireland for a fifth year, to “continue their fruitful and important work”. She added: “the social-media activity of our embassy is very popular and has a lot of followers.”
Both Modai and Tinari Modai declined to be interviewed for this article. The embassy’s press officer, Derek O’Flynn, after arguing that the issue was a “nonstory” and “making a mountain out of molehill”, said the embassy would not be commenting beyond saying it was “dedicated to promoting diplomatic relations, cultural and economic links, and friendship between Israel and Ireland”.
More Irish-Israel news:
The Embassy of Israel in Ireland, which has itself come under heavy criticism for various social media controversies, said farewell to Tom Carew and revealed that at some point they had given him a small trophy for his “tireless work in support of the state of Israel”
- Read more about Ex-Chair of Ireland-Israel Friendship League told to ‘see a therapist’ by former supporters – Abureesh
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