Is Israel isolating itself?
Israel is too focused on promoting its struggle against the Arab world to formulate a foreign policy toward peace and regional integration.
Former US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger’s famous aphorism that “Israel has no foreign policy, only domestic policy” is even truer today than in 1975 during his Middle East shuttle diplomacy. Traditionally, Israeli foreign policy, with the exception of its relationship with the United States, focuses on convincing the world of its righteousness in its struggle against the Arab world. Most often, it is composed of public diplomacy campaigns rather than being defined by common interests shared with other states, even hostile ones.
While this has been the case for many years, these tendencies were often and currently are exacerbated by two fundamental factors. The first is the fragile nature of most Israeli coalition governments. This fragility makes the leading party dependent on small splinter parties, mostly the religious ones, thus not allowing the prime ministers much room to maneuver on foreign policy.
The second element is the lack of any initiated peace policy. Almost all Israeli governments were basically reactive vis-a-vis Arab and international policies, rather than taking the initiative on peace with Israel’s neighbors. The Rabin-Peres government of 1993-1996 is a notable exception. The combination of a propagandistic obsession, surrendering to small religious parties and the lack of peace initiatives have indeed robbed most Israeli governments of any credible or effective foreign policy.
The situation is even worse today. The Netanyahu government has engendered probably the greatest international isolation of Israel ever. Relations with the US administration are at an all-time low, especially after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's lost battle against President Barack Obama’s Iran policy. The European Union is more critical than ever of Israeli policies, especially those regarding settlement expansion. The labeling of goods imported from settlements is now coming into effect in EU countries and boycotts of Israel are debated in many European capitals, mostly within the academic world.
