Formation of Policy towards the USSR in 1954—1955 in the Materials of the State Archives of Israel

Abstract

In this article, the authors, based on materials from the State Archives of Israel, examine the formation of Israel's policy towards the USSR in the first years after the restoration of diplomatic relations, the main factors that influenced regional and international security, which Israel had to reckon with. The authors analyze the influence of these factors on the process of making foreign policy decisions in Israel. The Cold War, which took the form of inter-bloc confrontation in the struggle for economic, political and ideological leadership in the world, the accelerated militarization of some Arab states, the growth of military threats to Israel's national security, the expansion of the USSR's influence in the Arab world as a result of a broad propaganda campaign did not leave Israel a chance to remain neutral. He had to choose between West and East. The documents of the State Archives of Israel, to which the authors of the work got access, allow us to look at the development of the situation in the Middle East through the eyes of Israeli diplomacy. Extensive, previously unpublished material helps to understand the reasoning behind the adoption of certain foreign policy decisions in Israel. Having studied the documents available to them, the authors of the article came to the conclusion that by the beginning of 1956 Israel had not yet finally decided on the choice of a patron, although certain tendencies in its policy were already visible. Relations with the USSR remained in the stage of tense waiting and diplomatic maneuvering. Israel wanted the USSR to influence its Arab neighbors, allow Soviet Jews to emigrate to Israel, expand trade and cultural ties with it, but refused to follow in the wake of Soviet policy, while sending signals to the West that it was ready to move closer to it.