A London rabbi spoke this week of his deep regret that his secret negotiations with the Iranian regime had been published by WikiLeaks.
For the past 16 years, Rabbi Herschel Gluck of Stoke Newington has been involved in back-channel shuttle diplomacy with a variety of governments on a plethora of subjects, not always on specifically Jewish issues.
He has had a number of successes during his negotiations but this week Rabbi Gluck described WikiLeaks’ decision to publish unredacted details of his discussions with Iranian leaders, said to have been held with the knowledge of both Israel and the United States, as “deeply irresponsible”.
The WikiLeaks material relates to a series of talks that Rabbi Gluck had with the Iranians in 2009. They were held with Ayatollah Syed Salman Safavi, brother of the military adviser to Ayatollah Khamenei, Rehman Safavi, and related specifically to the fate of Israeli hostages thought to be held by Hizbollah or Hamas.
The talks are understood to have taken place with the blessing of the Israeli government, and were designed to try to establish what may have happened to the airman, Ron Arad, and to the kidnapped soldier Gilad Shalit.
The content of the talks is detailed in cables from a diplomat at the American Embassy in London and sent to the US State Department in Washington.
Rabbi Gluck, who refused to confim the accuracy of the material, said that the publication of the unredacted cables by WikiLeaks was very disappointing.
“There is no way that this type of material should be allowed into the public domain,” he said. “I understand the argument about transparency but when people’s lives are at stake, that is a totally different ballgame.”
Asked what would be the effect of the publication of the material, Rabbi Gluck sighed. “It is certainly not helpful,” he said. “It is certainly far from ideal. And it will certainly impede open and frank discussions in the future.”
Once described as “the ambassador of peace”, Rabbi Gluck has an international reputation forged by his ability, as an Orthodox Jew, to reach across religious and political boundaries. Chairman and founder of the Muslim-Jewish Forum, he has negotiated with both sides in the Sudan conflict and with all sides in former Yugoslavia.
His hard-won good relations with the Muslim community have allowed him unprecedented access to people and places not available either to the mainstream Jewish community or, as in this case, the Israeli government.
But this time, Rabbi Gluck fears, WikiLeaks have gone too far.
I can see wikileaks having shared this as a good thing, as it exposes goodness, regardless of their intentions. A Jewish Rabbi and “hostile” government representatives having relationships with each other. What could be more pro-active. Sun Tzu’s ‘Art of War’ states: “Know an opponent and one’s self, and a hundred encounters can ensue without peril; know not an opponent but know one’s self, and it’s left to chance; know neither an opponent or one’s self, and every encounter results in losses.” Sun Tzu’s ‘Art of War’ also states: “One hundred victories in one hundred battles is not the height… Read more »
hi Rabbi Gluck!!!!
nice to see you in col!!!!!
all the best!
To all those who think that everything should be out in the open – Would you please publish your social security numbers and bank account numbers. Bring everything out in the open!
move back to communist russia
Rabbi Gluck is the shtadlan of old, not a “liberal Jew.”
And Assange has a very nice place waiting for him in der erd.
or economically.
special and holy Jews…
so this guy doesnt get the title of a liberal jew and the other guy does??? come on!!!
wikileaks distroys the peace in the world.
some stuff are ment for only certain ppl to hear!
whoever did this is “Mamish like a NAZI”
It looks like wikileaks is just trying to help out Iran, giving the terrorists a motive to kill yidden!
I will always remember how, as a talmid in Brunoy in the late lameds, he would travel weekly to a litvishe yeshiva to give us a shiur tanya. when we got caught by the rosh yeshiva, Hershy moved the shiur to the waiting room at the train station, rather than give in to demands to cancel the shiur.
I think that he will continue doing his good work, in his father’s footsteps.
isn’t it like COL as well?
wikkileaks should be transparent, and tell everyone how they handle information such that only what they want to be revealed – is. Then, give everyone that same ability. Otherwise, they are exactly the polar opposite of transparent.