Israel’s Warm and Cozy Relationship with Myanmar

Amidst all the faux outrage over a Muslim Congresswoman’s (admittedly problematic) tweet — much of it coming from evangelicals who think all Jews will burn in Hell after the rapture and right-wingers who say nothing about blatantly anti-Semitic attacks on George Soros or Israel’s support for the deeply anti-Semitic Prime Minister of Hungary — here is your daily reminder of the sheer awfulness of the current Israeli government, courtesy of the Times of Israel:

Despite the widespread condemnation, however, Israel remains on friendly terms with Myanmar and has remained relatively silent on what even the US Holocaust Memorial Museum has called “compelling evidence” of genocide in the country that straddles South and Southeast Asia.

What’s more, the Jewish state allowed its arms companies to sell weapons to Myanmar’s military through the fall of 2017, long after most Western countries had banned such sales by its firms. It remains unclear if the Israeli firms are still supplying Myanmar’s military with assistance besides weapons, including surveillance technology, training and intelligence.

[snip]

“A general trend of Israel’s foreign policy is to give priority to interests over values,” David Tal, an Israeli historian who chairs the University of Sussex’s Modern Israel Studies program, told JTA. “Having good relations with Myanmar … I would assume is worth any moral price Israel accrues.”

The trend can also be seen in Israel’s historical cooperation with apartheid South Africa and recent friendly relations with Viktor Orbán’s Hungary, Rodrigo Duterte’s Philippines and, most recently, Idriss Deby’s Chad — countries with questionable records.

The whole ugly article is worth a read. And in case you have forgotten, Israel’s “historical cooperation” with South Africa included being the apartheid government’s biggest customer for weapons, helping it develop nuclear weapons, and offering to sell it nuclear-capable Jericho missiles.