Review of Uri Bialer, <em>Israeli Foreign Policy: A People Shall Not Dwell Alone</em>

Abstract

Review of Uri Bialer, Israeli Foreign Policy: A People Shall Not Dwell Alone Daniel C. Kurtzer (bio) Keywords Israel, foreign policy, Zionism “Israel has no foreign policy, only a defense policy with international implications.” —Moshe Dayan “Israel has no foreign policy, only domestic politics.” —Henry Kissinger In the relatively few studies of Israel’s foreign policy conducted to date, much has been made of the centrality of domestic politics and national security concerns as driving forces. Why this should seem strange is a mystery, for the same could be said of almost every country: the centrality of securing the state and the degree to which domestic politics have an impact on what a state does are self-evident. Why, then, do the same characteristics appear to be more important when applied to Israel? There are at least three reasons why Israel’s pursuit of its national interests abroad may seem different from that of other countries. First and foremost, Israel has since 1948, and indeed even earlier, defined itself as a state under constant threat of extinction. The Zionist struggle for legitimacy during the British Mandate was marked by periodic mini-wars with the Palestinian Arabs who sought to destroy the Zionist movement and expel those who, in their view, had dispossessed them from their land. Immediately after the United Nations decision to support the creation of a Jewish state and an Arab state in Palestine, the Zionists faced war, first [End Page 95] from their Palestinian neighbors and then, after Israel’s declaration of independence, from five Arab nations. Arab enmity toward the very existence of Israel has been a constant feature in Israeli thinking and policymaking. The persistent fear that the next Holocaust is just around the corner cannot be dismissed lightly. To be sure, Israel has become the dominant military power in the region, and its economic strength is unchallenged. The gap is undoubtedly growing, given Israel’s world-class high technology sector. These strengths, however, are offset by a pervasive sense of existential concern. It is therefore unsurprising that security concerns not only dominate Israeli thinking but also inform virtually all aspects of its foreign relations. A second factor explaining the dominating role of security in the formulation and execution of Israeli foreign policy is the weakness of Israel’s foreign ministry and the degree to which Israel’s intelligence agencies have played an outsized role in conducting Israeli relations abroad. Even a cursory Google search of books on the subject reveals a preponderance of titles related to the activities of the Mossad, and a paucity of titles assessing the role of the foreign ministry. Israel has had some very professional and astute diplomats, but their impact on Israeli policy formulation and implementation has been far less prominent than that of their intelligence counterparts. No single volume can address this anomaly or correct the record with regard to how Israeli foreign policy is developed and executed. A good place to start, however, is Uri Bialer’s overview of Israeli foreign policy, a single address for the student and layperson interested in the history, dynamics and challenges of Israel’s efforts to secure its place among the family of nations. Bialer, a well-respected scholar, has drawn his information primarily from secondary sources, and he has integrated a vast amount of material in a readable volume that brings the story primarily into the 1990s, that is, the latest years accessible to historians in Israel’s classified archives. In his examination of the broad sweep of Israel’s national interests and policies, Bialer addresses a number of subjects that have long deserved analysis. For example, he devotes an early chapter to the diplomacy of the Yishuv, the community of Zionist and non-Zionist Jews who populated Palestine during the British Mandate. A substantial number of scholarly and popular books and articles have been published on daily life, Jewish immigration and land purchases, Zionist efforts to organize a government-in-waiting, origins of the Israeli army, and the like. Diplomacy has been a largely neglected topic, notwithstanding the prodigious efforts of such notables as Chaim Weizmann and David Ben-Gurion to navigate the halls [End Page...