Consider two examples of a western democracy refusing entry through its borders to a foreign dignitary on the grounds of a disagreement with his political beliefs.

In the first case, the man in question was denied entry for fear of offending a Muslim minority. He is in constant danger of assassination for his opinions, and he is being prosecuted for them by his home government. If that prosecution (which will start in October) is successful he could well become the first political prisoner on his continent since the end of the Cold War. To be sure, his views are controversial, and though he does not incite violence or racial prejudice he is sometimes abusive and insulting about the religion of Islam. However, he does not bear any grudge against the country that denied him entry, and has never defamed its reputation.

That man is Geert Wilders, the Dutch politician who was denied entry to Britain by the Labour government in 2009. Much of the liberal intelligentsia in Britain was broadly supportive of the decision to ban him, and demonstrations were launched against him after the government finally did allow him into Britain in 2010.

Now consider the second case, of a man who was briefly denied entry to the West Bank by Israeli officials at the border with Jordan this week.

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So, with Conservative leader David Cameron having been appointed as Prime Minister on Tuesday evening and with the Liberal Democrats under Nick Clegg having agreed to join the Conservatives in a coalition government, here, in bullet point form, is a summary of my initial thoughts on what this all might mean for Britain’s policy on Israel and the Middle East. This is an instant reaction. I will flesh it out when the government programme is released later. Here goes:

** Foreign policy generally will take a distant second place to the economy. The European Commission last week forecast Britain’s budget deficit would grow to 12 percent of gross domestic product by the end of the year, exceeding even Greece’s to represent the largest deficit in the entire 27-member European Union. That will occupy the business of this government for as long as it lasts. Only foreign policy matters involving Britain’s armed forces engaged in combat (Afghanistan, mainly) will ever likely rise to the top of the political agenda in any meaningful way.

** With that in mind, consider that the word “Israel” did not appear once in the Conservative Party’s election manifesto. The Tories pledged only to “support a two-state solution to the Middle East Peace Process”. Not what you’d call a mindblowingly original contribution to the debate!

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An interesting story is developing in Egypt where, according to Sky News, the government is planning to end the State of Emergency that was initially imposed after the country’s defeat in the 1967 war. Sky quotes unnamed “sources” as saying the State of Emergency will be repealed in advance of the parliamentary elections this year and the presidential elections next year.

The core issue of interest here is that any such move would allow greater freedoms for Egyptians to engage in political debate and campaigning: a good thing in itself, but something which risks handing the initiative in the country to the Muslim Brotherhood.

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The breaking news today is that Israel has finally been invited to join the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). Israel was brought into the OECD (and will formally join at a ceremony in Paris on May 27) along with Estonia and Slovenia. The number of OECD countries will thus rise to 34.

Predictably, activists sought to prevent the Jewish state (and only the Jewish state) from joining. According to Reuters, “Some critics and human rights activists — including Nobel peace laureate Mairead Maguire of Northern Ireland, Italian vice-President of the European Parliament Luisa Morgantini, Israeli historian Ilan Pappe and filmmaker Ken Loach — made a last-minute bid urging OECD member states to delay the process.”

Interestingly enough, the most senior Palestinians did not mount significant, vocal objections*, offering another illustration that in some respects the group hysteria that defines the anti-Israeli agenda in much of Europe takes its participants in a more anti-Israeli direction than the Palestinians themselves.

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In Europe, there’s a new kid on the block. It’s called J Call
and it brings together Leftist European Jews to combat what its mission statement calls “Systematic support of Israeli government policy” which “is dangerous and does not serve the true interests of the state of Israel”. It’s primary focus is to oppose Israeli settlement policy which it sees as the core of the problem between Israel and the Palestinians.

J Call was launched with a fanfare at the European Parliament on Monday earlier this week. So what’s it all about? There is a brilliant, and superbly written analysison the matter in Haaretz by Emanuele Ottolenghi, senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies. I highly recommend reading it and would be interested in your thoughts.

On another matter, readers will be aware that the British elections took place last night, leaving no party with an overall majority.

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