Drawing from wishful thinking as opposed to factual reporting, the Associated Press’ Julia Frankel falsely characterized Israel as a “diplomatically isolated nation” (“Israel’s first Olympic bobsled team heads to Italy in bid they have dubbed ‘Shul Runnings,'” Feb. 5).
The story about the unlikely Olympic bid of the ragtag Israeli bobsled team began:
Feel the rhythm, feel the rhyme. Get on up, Israel, it’s bobsled time!
A handful of diverse athletes — a pole-vaulter, sprinter, shot-putter, rugby player, and former Olympian in skeleton — will compete as Israel’s first bobsled team during this year’s Milan Cortina Winter Games, unlikely ambassadors of their diplomatically isolated nation.
Israel is diplomatically isolated like Israel is a hub for world-class bobsledding. In other words, it’s not.
For comparative purposes, Taiwan — which AP has also described in the last year as diplomatically isolated — currently enjoys diplomatic relations with just 11 nations and the Vatican. In contrast, as of February 2023, Israel had diplomatic relations with 166 countries, and only a handful are no longer on that list (ie Turkey, Colombia, Nicaragua and Belize. On the other hand, Israel added diplomatic relations with Somaliland.)
Sir Michael Ellis observed recently in The Telegraph:
Egypt and Israel have recently signed the biggest natural gas deal in Israel’s history, worth $35 billion. The Israeli “Leviathan” gas field, which contains 23 trillion cubic feet of gas in the Eastern Mediterranean, some 100 miles off Haifa, will soon supply a substantial proportion of Egypt’s energy needs.
In more good news for Israel, the United Arab Emirates, a country which has shown real leadership in the region, has signed a defence contract with Israel worth $2.3 billion for a new highly sophisticated defence system to protect its civilian and military aircraft.
This follows news of a deal between Germany and Israel, with the German parliament approving a $3.5 billion expansion of the Arrow 3 deal with Israel. In total, the Arrow agreement signed between Israel and Germany was valued at some $8 billion, making it the largest-ever Israeli defence export deal.
On the diplomatic front, there are hopes that a summit between Egyptian President al-Sisi and Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu may take place this year.. .
In the meantime, Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar announced last month that his country will open new Embassies in Fiji and Bolivia this year.
Meanwhile, Israeli President Isaac Herzog and First Lady Michal Herzog today begin an official visit in Australia at the invitation of the Governor-General, the Prime Minister of Australia, and the Jewish community. According to the President’s office, “A central part of the visit will be dedicated to official meetings with senior Australian leaders, including the Governor-General and the Prime Minister of Australia, as well as with leaders from across the political spectrum.”
President Herzog (right) accepts credentials from Jesoni Vitusagavulu, the first residential Fiji Ambassador to Israel (Photo by Ma’ayan Toaf/GPO)
The President’s trip comes on the heels of his Feb. 3 acceptance of the diplomatic credentials of the first-ever residential Ambassador of Fiji to Israel, Mr. Jesoni Vitusagavulu, “President Herzog congratulated Fiji on its historic decision to open an embassy in Jerusalem as a significant step in the development of bilateral relations between Israel and Fiji,” read the press release available to all, even AP.
Thus, while Frankel’s reporting on Israel’s diplomatic well-being does not reflect reality, it does echo Hamas strategy as articulated by the Khaled Mashal yesterday at the Al Jazeera Forum: ““We must pursue Israel and entrench the idea that it is an outcast entity that has lost its international legitimacy.” (A screenshot of the Forum’s X post highlighting this statement is at left.)
Separately, in another Feb. 6 article about the Israeli bobsled team, Julia Frankel includes a standalone reference to the Gaza war which omits any mention of Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack which prompted the war. Her truncated account read:
Their Olympic participation comes at a time when Israel’s presence in international sports has been met with boycotts, bans and backlash over the humanitarian toll of the war in Gaza, which has killed more than 71,800 Palestinians, according to the territory’s health ministry, and devastated the strip.
CAMERA contacted AP requesting correction of the outlandish “diplomatically isolated” characterization. As of this writing, the news agency has neglected to correct. Feel the rhythm, feel the rhyme. It’s AP’s dump on Israel time!
For the Hebrew version of this piece, see CAMERA Hebrew.