In 1970, Sri Lanka severed diplomatic relations with Israel under pressure from Arab states. Yet about a year after the outbreak of Sri Lanka\u2019s brutal civil war, an Israeli Interests Section was opened in 1984 at the U.S. Embassy in Colombo.<\/p>\n
Files from Israel\u2019s Foreign Ministry from the mid-1980s concerning relations with Sri Lanka \u2013 recently partially opened to the public in the Israel State Archives \u2013 confirm information that had surfaced in the press over the years and reveal new details.<\/p>\n
According to a review prepared on December 11, 1987, by Israel\u2019s Foreign Ministry, Sri Lanka initially agreed to the establishment of the Interests Section in 1984 because it wanted Israel to \u201cassist in solving the Tamil terrorism problem.\u201d By 1988, Israel had sold the country military equipment worth $30 million.<\/p>\n
In a cable sent on December 8, 1985, the director of the Foreign Ministry\u2019s Asia Department wrote that Israel had sold Sri Lanka six Dvora-class fast patrol boats for $10 million. In another cable dated June 20, 1986, the head of the Israeli Interests Section in Colombo, Haim Divon, noted that Israel had also sold Mini-Uzi submachine guns \u201cfor considerable sums.\u201d In a cable dated June 15, 1987, Divon reported that Israel had also sold Sri Lanka electronic fences, communications equipment, machine guns, and ammunition.<\/p>\n
Israel trained the personal bodyguards of President Junius Richard Jayewardene. In a cable sent on Aug. 18, 1986, Divon wrote: \u201cLast week we conducted a shooting course for about 30 members of the president\u2019s security unit.\u201d He added that the training lasted four days and received praise.<\/p>\n
How Israel trained Sri Lankan military forces<\/p>\n
Israel also trained Sri Lankan military forces. In a cable dated Jan. 23, 1987, Divon reported that Israeli military instructors had been publicly presented as \u201cagricultural advisers.\u201d In another cable sent the same day, he wrote that \u201cthe Tamils control the Jaffna enclave without challenge,\u201d and that according to the commander of the Israeli training team, local forces believed the training would prepare them to \u201ccapture Jaffna in a swift offensive,\u201d with trainees\u2019 questions during exercises focusing on problems likely to arise during such an assault.<\/p>\n
In a cable sent on February 15, 1987, Aryeh Mekel, the political adviser to Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir, suggested that Shamir inform U.S. Secretary of State George Shultz that Israel had responded positively to \u201cSri Lanka\u2019s urgent request for assistance in security preparations against Tamil underground activity.\u201d He said the assistance included \u201ctraining officers as well as the urgent shipment of weapons and ammunition worth $3 million.\u201d<\/p>\n
On March 18, 1987, Divon reported meeting Sri Lanka\u2019s finance minister. Divon told him that \u201cjust five Israeli instructors had been enough to turn the tide in the fighting in the north,\u201d while acknowledging in the cable that he had exaggerated. The minister replied that he would be happy to receive help \u201cfrom anyone \u2013 even the devil.\u201d Divon responded that he hoped \u201cwe are not the devil,\u201d to which the minister \u201csimply smiled.\u201d<\/p>\n
After the presence of Israeli military instructors leaked to the Sri Lankan media, diplomat Ilan Peleg from the Israeli Interests Section joked in a cable on Dec. 7, 1987, that \u201cwe are left to explain to members of the anti-government JVP insurgency that the training was actually for their benefit.\u201d<\/p>\n
The comment suggests that Israeli officials were aware the training was not solely intended to assist in the fight against the Tamil insurgency.<\/p>\n
Israel also assisted in training personnel of a special police unit notorious for its violent methods.<\/p>\n
In a cable dated March 18, 1987, Divon reported that the U.S. deputy ambassador in Colombo had approved Israel maintaining ties with the local military but warned that assistance to the Special Task Force (STF) was \u201ca dubious investment in the short term and a grave mistake in the long term\u201d given \u201cthe horrific massacres it has carried out.\u201d He added that if the president and his son were to leave the political scene in the future, \u201cthe force would be dismantled, and anyone associated with it would be in a very delicate position.\u201d<\/p>\n
Despite the American warning, a cable sent on August 19, 1987, by diplomat Ilan Peleg from the Israeli Interests Section reported that following an assassination attempt on the president, the government decided \u201cto immediately establish an entirely new VIP protection unit drawn from the STF,\u201d and Israel agreed to send \u201ca three-person Israeli team for four weeks to train the unit.\u201d In separate cables, Divon explained that the STF was an \u201celite unit\u201d in which \u201cthe person who sets the tone is the president\u2019s son\u201d and reported that he had met with the commander of the STF.<\/p>\n
Although Divon was fully aware of Israel\u2019s actual activities in Sri Lanka, he remained concerned about how the section was perceived. In a cable sent on September 10, 1987, he wrote that Israel\u2019s goal was to achieve full normalisation of relations with Sri Lanka and that public diplomacy was needed to create the right atmosphere among the local population. However, he noted a reputational problem: the Interests Section was widely seen as \u201ca mission established to assist the government in the war against Tamil terrorism.\u201d He added that \u201cthis was, unfortunately, also one of the official explanations used to justify the establishment of the section.\u201d<\/p>\n
In a cable dated November 11, 1987, Divon reported that together with a representative of the Mossad, he met President Jayewardene, who asked to personally meet the Israeli military instructors. Divon wrote that the president \u201cclearly appears inclined toward excessive optimism about the situation and detached from reality \u2013 possibly as a result of overly rosy assessments provided by advisers who assume this is what he wishes to hear.\u201d<\/p>\n
In a cable sent the following day, Divon wrote that two Mossad officers operated in Sri Lanka on a permanent basis. In another cable he noted that their presence was known and that \u201cwe occasionally receive admiring remarks about the Mossad men who, in addition to their other qualities, also know how to grow fruits and vegetables\u201d \u2013 a reference to the common cover of Israeli security personnel as agricultural experts.<\/p>\n
Amid pressure from Arab states and the Sri Lankan opposition to close the Israeli section in Colombo, cables from August 6 and August 14, 1987, reported that the president asked a Mossad representative during their meeting for assistance in financing his election campaign, requesting $1 million. Divon wrote that \u201cthe message regarding the elections is clear \u2013 after all, we have an interest in his victory, and therefore we should assist it. He assumes we know that if the opposition comes to power, we are out.\u201d The opposition, which had severed relations with Israel in 1970, promised that if it won the election and returned to power it would expel the Israelis within 24 hours.<\/p>\n
The cables released to the public contain no documentation that Israel actually provided Jayewardene with campaign financing. As described, however, Israel did fulfill his security requests. The importance of Israeli military assistance is evident in a cable Divon sent on May 21, 1987, reporting a meeting with the president\u2019s secretary, who \u201cexpressed disappointment with Western countries that neither support them morally nor practically and reject requests for assistance \u2013 mainly military. He emphasised that only we, the Israelis, have come to their aid.\u201d In a cable sent on January 4, 1988, Divon attached a letter from the president thanking Israel \u201cfor the assistance provided in the fields of security and intelligence.\u201d<\/p>\n
In a cable dated March 25, 1988, Divon reported meeting the president and telling him that \u201cthe assistance we have provided so far is certainly exceptional,\u201d noting that even Prime Minister Shamir had released two of his own bodyguards to train the president\u2019s security detail. Divon again wrote that he could not understand the president\u2019s optimistic mood and wondered whether it was \u201cthe result of a detachment from reality or perhaps that he understands his people better.\u201d<\/p>\n
Military assistance provided despite repeated reports about severity of human rights situation<\/p>\n
This significant military assistance was provided despite repeated reports by Israeli representatives in Sri Lanka about the severity of the country\u2019s human rights situation during the civil war.<\/p>\n
These reports included allegations that the STF was responsible for \u201cthe disappearance of many young men in the south suspected of belonging to the Tamil underground\u201d; that the army and air force had indiscriminately bombed Tamil civilians, hospitals and markets; fears of a large-scale crackdown similar to that of 1971, when \u201cbetween 10,000 and 20,000 members of the insurgency were killed in violent clashes with the army\u201d; that government ministers were establishing private militias and purchasing weapons, communications and surveillance equipment; reports of torture of Tamils; the closure of universities; and the suspension of Tamil employees from positions in the civil service.<\/p>\n
The secretary-general of the Tamil Teachers\u2019 Union even demanded in a meeting with Israeli representatives that Israel refrain from helping the authorities exterminate the Tamils. In a cable dated January 12, 1988, Divon wrote that \u201cevery day we hear of cases of assassination, murder and massacre,\u201d particularly those carried out by the Sri Lankan army.<\/p>\n
Israel\u2019s consulate in Chicago reported that \u201cthe Committee to Stop the Genocide of the Tamil Minority in Sri Lanka,\u201d operating in the United States, claimed Israel had \u201csent weapons and advisers to train the government\u2019s army and police.\u201d In response, the consulate denied the allegations, stating that \u201conce again certain parties are attempting to fabricate accusations against us.\u201d As described above, however, the Foreign Ministry documents in the State Archives confirm the committee\u2019s claims.<\/p>\n
Not only did Israel ignore the severity of the human rights situation, it also knew from the outset that its military assistance had limited prospects of success. As early as November 1984, during a meeting between Foreign Ministry Deputy Director-General Avi Primor and the U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for South Asian Affairs, the American official told Primor that Washington believed the Sri Lankan authorities were expanding their army and paramilitary forces but were \u201cdeluding themselves into thinking they could achieve a military solution.\u201d As noted, the head of the Israeli Interests Section in Colombo repeatedly wrote that President Jayewardene was detached from reality.<\/p>\n
Since military aid had been the main reason the Sri Lankan government renewed diplomatic ties \u2013 and despite awareness of human rights abuses and the clear assessment that the government could not resolve the conflict militarily \u2013 Israel concluded that continuing its assistance was preferable.<\/p>\n
Eitay Mack is an Israeli human rights lawyer and activist who exposes Israel\u2019s role in the Sri Lankan civil war and has pursued legal action in Israel.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In 1970, Sri Lanka severed diplomatic relations with Israel under pressure from Arab states. Yet about a year…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":393884,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[85,46,43],"class_list":{"0":"post-393883","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-israel","8":"tag-il","9":"tag-israel","10":"tag-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/393883","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=393883"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/393883\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/393884"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=393883"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=393883"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=393883"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}