World Jewish News

Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon (photo by wordpress.com)

'Ayalon's political career is ruined'

Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon faced harsh criticism from inside his Israel Beiteinu party on Tuesday, a day after the evening news broadcasts showed him scolding Turkish Ambassador Oguz Celikkol in a way that Ayalon's critics called humiliating.

Ayalon summoned Celikkol to his office at the Knesset to express outrage over a Turkish television show that depicts Mossad agents as baby-snatchers.

In a break from the diplomatic norm, he invited the press for a photo-op, during which he was seen telling the cameramen to film him and his aide sitting on tall chairs and the Turkish envoy on a lower chair with only the Israeli flag in the middle.

Israel Beiteinu officials said the incident would greatly harm Ayalon's chances of succeeding party head Avigdor Lieberman as foreign minister if Attorney-General Menahem Mazuz decides to indict him on corruption charges before his term as attorney-general ends on January 31.

"He is finished politically," an Israel Beiteinu official said. "This ruins his reputation as a diplomat. It is a stain that cannot be erased. He damaged Lieberman and first and foremost himself. It is too soon to say if it will completely disqualify him, but people in the party will no doubt remember this if a decision would be made on who should be acting foreign minister. This erases the notion that he is the obvious front-runner."

Israel Beiteinu's two top ministers after Lieberman, National Infrastructures Minister Uzi Landau and Tourism Minister Stas Meseznikov, declined to comment, but Knesset Law Committee chairman David Rotem strongly defended Ayalon.

"I have doubts about the political future of Danny's critics, not about him," Rotem said. "He defended the pride of Israel and of Judaism. But Lieberman won't leave the Foreign Ministry, so it doesn't matter."

Ministers and MKs in other parties expressed outrage at Ayalon's treatment of the ambassador. Minister of Industry, Trade and Labor Binyamin Ben-Eliezer (Labor) said that his party chairman, Defense Minister Ehud Barak, would have to fix the damage done by Ayalon when he visits Ankara next week.

"We have enough problems with the Muslim world without picking a fight with a country that has 72 million Muslims," Ben-Eliezer told Israel Radio from India, where he is on an official visit. "When I met with the Turks [in November], I told them what needed to be said privately. This is not the way [to do things]; it is the way to get the entire Muslim world against us. Whoever wants the entire Muslim world against us, well, the best of luck to him."

Former deputy foreign minister Majallie Whbee of Kadima called for "the diplomat Ayalon to fix the damage of the politician Ayalon as soon as possible, apologize to the ambassador, and promise to put the agenda of the country ahead of that of his party from now on."

Labor MK Daniel Ben-Simon called upon Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu to summon Ayalon to his office and put him on a low chair, "so he will see how low Israeli diplomacy has stooped."

He said Netanyahu should replace Lieberman before he does even more damage to Israel's image internationally.

Ayalon's associates responded that the messages of praise he had received from inside and outside his party outnumbered the condemnations by a ratio of eight to one. They stressed that everything he did was coordinated with Lieberman.

"The party seems to be behind him on this," an Ayalon associate said.

"Our phones and fax were ringing off the hook, he got great support on Facebook, and he was received very warmly on a lunch visit to a humous restaurant in the [capital's] Mahaneh Yehuda market. There has of course been criticism, but the support has been overwhelming."

JPost.com