I am rather surprised. Israel is now accusing the mexican intelectual community of "morally supporting" terrorists.

The following text is a translation of an article that appears today in La Jornada, a leftist mexican newspaper based in México City, and that reports on the said verbal fracas.

The diplomatic representation of Israel in Mexico unleashed a war of accusations against mexican writers, artists, intellectuals, politicians and industralists who it accused “of morally supporting islamic terrorism” and being against the military actions of Israel in to Lebanon. The represantation also accused the mexican intellectual community of low moral values for demanding that the UN take part to obtain an immediate ceasefire and request a stop to the military incursion of Israel in Lebanese territory.

In a press conference, the ambassador of Israel in Mexico, David Dadonn, opened fire: “I accuse them of indirectly supporting Islamic terrorism, because that text [an ad with the statement] only gives Hezbollah a green light to continue attacking Israel”.

The Israeli diplomat accused the mexicans that signed the document of lacking moral values, of making differences between the victims of Israel and the victims of the Lebanon, and went beyond in his accusations: “They must be retract; it is not acceptable to make an intellectual difference between Israeli blood and Lebanese blood”.

The diplomat described as terrorists mexican personalities like Carlos Monsiváis; Elena Poniatowska; Jesusa Rodríguez; Sergio Pitol; Astrid Hadad los hermanos Demián, Bruno y Odiseo Bichir; José Emilio Pacheco; Alberto Cinta; Federico Campbell; Carlos Payán; Carlos Pellicer; Ana Colchero; Angeles Mastreta; Carmen Boullosa; Marta Lamas; Cristina Pacheco as well as industralists Carlos Slim, among others.

Dadonn criticized that the signers of the text do not indicate that the war was initiated by an attack by the terrorist group Hezbollah, “nobody demands a ceasefire from them, but it is demanded a stop from the part of the Israeli army. “The attitude assumed by my country only responds to legitimate defense”, he emphasized.

The ambassador of Israel in Mexico affirmed that the army of its country has done all that is possible so that Lebanese civilians do not die by the conflict, but they have done everything “to kill our civilians with intention, which we are not going to allow”.

[translation by me and a browser translation gadget]

Let me just say that I have never liked Israel intervention in México. Precisely since Tzachi Hanegbi declared in March 2004 that Al-Quaida wasn't operating in México. Israelis are in a perennial war mentality and they think they are right about everything that concerns terrorism. Remember this? Which of course is a bunch of hedious flatulence. Israel doesn't act like a country, when it starts doing so I will have more moral support for them. In the meantime I stand for the moral values of the intelectual community of my country, regular israelis citizens who have nothing to do with Kadimaniacs or Likudists. Give peace a chance and don't ask me to support your crusade, like Pat Buchanan said: This isn't our war.