Israel’s “traitor” du jour is Alon Liel, the former director general of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. On Jan. 12, right-wing activists disseminated an audiotape from a meeting between Liel and members of Breaking the Silence. In it, Liel is heard urging them to pressure United Nations member states to vote for a Palestinian state. He is also heard saying that he has given up hope that Israel’s political establishment could change the public’s mind-set and reinstate the idea of the two-state solution on the agenda. “The political establishment is lost — lost, especially now when there’s a consensual government, with all the apparatuses, with all the spokespeople, with all the growing control over the media,” Liel said, among other things.

The conclusion, according to him, is that human rights organizations need to be proactive, initiate a move and influence local public opinion as much as possible, but mainly public opinion around the world.

Liel’s associates claim that he has always expressed his opinions openly; they are even posted on his Facebook page. According to them, the only way — given the current political climate — to bring Israel back on track to recognize the two-state solution is by having the international community apply pressure on it. But amid a charged battle that the Israeli government and right-wing organizations have been waging against left-wing nongovernmental and human rights organizations, such a recording is enough to brand Liel as the public enemy.

For example, the Academic Council for National Policy, formerly known as Professors for a Strong Israel (a right-wing group), was quick to approach Attorney General Yehuda Weinstein and Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked (who has been championing the Transparency Act for tagging NGOs that receive foreign donations, when visiting the Knesset), demanding that Liel be questioned for what they call “his domestic and foreign activity against the State of Israel.”