Former Cuban dictator Fidel Castro’s surprising words of support for Israel’s
right to exist and empathy with the tragedies of Jewish history elicited warm
words from Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and a letter of thanks from
President Shimon Peres over the weekend.
Castro, in
a recent interview
with
The Atlantic’s Jeffrey Goldberg, said Israel “without a doubt” has the
right to exist, and criticized Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad for his
Holocaust denial, saying Iran should understand the consequences of theological
anti-Semitism.
RELATED:Castro discusses 'nuclear winter' with US academic“I don’t think anyone has been slandered more than the
Jews,” Castro said. “I would say much more than the Muslims. They have been
slandered much more than the Muslims because they are blamed and slandered for
everything. No one blames the Muslims for anything.”
On Wednesday,
Goldberg wrote on his blog that Castro said he understands how such Jewish
suffering could inform the decision-making of Prime Minister Binyamin
Netanyahu.
“Now, let’s imagine that I were Netanyahu,” Castro said, “that
I were there and I sat down to reason through [the issues facing Israel], I
would remember that six million Jewish men and women, of all ages were
exterminated in the concentration camps.”
According to Goldberg, Castro
also expressed great admiration for Netanyahu’s father, Ben-Zion, the world's
foremost historian of the Spanish Inquisition, and said he was impressed “by his
character, his knowledge and his history.”
Netanyahu’s office sent out a
statement Saturday saying Castro’s words “demonstrate his deep understanding of
the history of the Jewish people and Israel.”
The Prime Minister’s Office
also sent out links to Goldberg’s blog related to the Castro interview. A source
in the Prime Minister’s Office explained that Castro’s words were being
highlighted because the former Cuban president is an icon to the world’s
radical-left which is trying to de-legitimize Israel and say it has no right to
exist. Castro’s comments about Israel’s fundamental legitimacy are therefore not
without significance, he said.
Peres, meanwhile sent a letter to Castro
via Israel’s ambassador to the UN to his Cuban counterpart, saying that Castro’s
“unexpected” words “moved” him. “Your words are like a surprising bridge between
a harsh reality and a new horizon,” Peres wrote in Spanish. “And for that I
thank you with all my heart. You showed that even those distant can be close."