Israeli Foreign Policy Research Articles

Israel’s 75th Anniversary in the Mirror of Foreign Policy: An Approach to Periodization

The paper focuses on specifics of Israel’s foreign policy periodization since the foundation of the state in May 1948 till the beginning of 2023, characterized by the return to power of Benjamin Netanyahu — the chairman of the Likud party. The author analyzes existing approaches to identifying stages in the history of Israel's relations with foreign countries, and also studies the degree of mutual dependence between the domestic and foreign policies of the Israeli leadership in 75 years. The research is based on the concept, suggested by the professor of international politics at the City University of London Amnon Aran, based not on the chronological, but on the problematic principle of periodization. By 2013, when this specialist completed his analysis, he identified three stages of Israeli foreign policy: Etatist, ethno-national and globalist. The turning points for the first two stages were 1973 and 1985. The nomination of the third stage is driven mostly by the peculiarities of Israeli economic development, which influenced decisions regarding the Middle East peace process and the growing interest of the state in expanding its presence in Asia. The paper also examines the evolution of the Israeli leadership’s understanding of the term “mamlakhtiyut” (statehood), the specifics of the “domestication” of Israeli foreign policy in comparison with the experiences of European and Middle Eastern states, as well as the influence of NGOs on the use of military force as a foreign policy instrument. Finally, author’s interpretation of the current period is proposed. It is marked by a high degree of personification of foreign policy. The increased importance of the establishment of friendly personal contacts with foreign leaders by Israeli prime ministers in recent years was caused by the task of strengthening popularity among the electorate in the context of a series of early elections to the Knesset. In addition, the formulation of the country's course in the international arena was significantly influenced by the ministers of foreign affairs, their previous experience and views on the distribution of powers of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs with related departments.

The Changing Dynamics of Israel's Foreign Policy

Israel, formally known as "The State of Israel," was established on 14 May 1948, and has since played a pivotal role in international affairs, particularly in the politics of the Middle East and North Africa. Israel's relations with its Arab neighbors have been tense for decades, and a lasting peace has never appeared more likely. Yet, we already live in a time of perpetual change, and naturally, the politics of Israel and the surrounding region of the Middle East and North Africa are not immune to this pattern. Realizing this, TPQ decided to focus on the Changing Dynamics of Israel's Foreign Policy in its upcoming Fall 2022 issue.

Israeli Foreign Policy in Light of Dramatic Changes in the Region: Diplomatic Success and Challenges Ahead

The dramatic developments in the Middle East in the last decade have improved and strengthened Israel’s position in the region. The implications of the Arab Spring, the discoveries of natural gas in the deep waters of the East Med, and specifically within the Israeli EEZ, initiated a regional process where Israel is playing a central, substantial and constructive role. It was manifested with the impressive regional architecture in the East Med (and in particular the establishment of the EMGF) and the Abraham Accords. Those developments strengthened Israel’s room of maneuver and its self-confidence. At this strategic junction, a substantial and extremely important challenges are ahead of Israel’s Foreign policy: Expanding the regional cooperation in the East Med to include more relevant players if possible; Deepening the cooperation with the Abraham Accords countries and using this model for wider cooperation in the region; and last but not least, initiating a political and realistic process with the Palestinians in order to revive the Two State Vision.

Israeli Foreign Policy Since the End of the Cold War

Israeli Foreign Policy Since the End of the Cold War

Israel’s new government and the implications for Israeli foreign policy

As a result of legislative elections held in November 2022, Israel is forming what will be its most right-wing government in history and former prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu will return to power for a third time. The government will include ministers deferential to the wishes of Israel’s growing Haredi (strict Jewish Orthodox) community, which will inflame domestic tensions about the group’s influence on public policy. The government’s decisions will have significant effects on Palestinian issues, Israel’s approach to Iran’s rapidly advancing nuclear programme and its relationships with the United States and with other countries in the Middle East.

Cyprus’s relations with Egypt and Israel during the Makarios era: influence of regional disputes, economy, socio-cultural interactions and UN debates

The Makarios era (1960–1977) corresponded with two major regional disputes, with wide implications on international peace and regional politics: the Cyprus issue and the Arab–Israeli conflict. Given that these disputes are still ongoing, this study utilises diverse primary and secondary sources to analyse Cyprus’s relations with Egypt (United Arab Republic) and Israel in the Makarios period, using both political and economic perspectives. The study demonstrates that Cyprus and Egypt’s diplomatic cooperation was built on reciprocal support extended by Nasser towards the Greek Cypriots and Makarios towards Egypt in the Arab–Israeli dispute, especially in international forums such as UN debates. Although Israeli foreign policy did not threaten Cyprus directly, both Cyprus and Egypt considered Turkey a common threat. However, despite the Cypriot government’s pro-Arab stance in the Arab–Israeli conflict, Cyprus had strong relations with both Israel and Egypt concerning the economy, culture, archaeology, medicine, and telecommunications.

Uri Bialer (2020). Israeli Foreign Policy: A People Shall Not Dwell Alone

Uri Bialer (2020). <i>Israeli Foreign Policy: A People Shall Not Dwell Alone</i>

Israeli Foreign Policy since the End of the Cold War , by Amnon Aran. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2021. 433 pages. $99.99 cloth.

Israeli Foreign Policy since the End of the Cold War , by Amnon Aran. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2021. 433 pages. $99.99 cloth.

Book Review: A People Shall Not Dwell Alone by Review of Uri Bialer, Israeli Foreign Policy

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

Israeli foreign policy toward the Kurdistan region of Iraq after 2003

شهدت السياسة الخارجية الإسرائيلية الكثير من التحديات في السنوات الممتدة بين عامي 2003-2015، اذ أدى سقوط النظام في العراق وظهور جماعات إرهابية عدة مثل تنظيم ما يسمى بـ (القاعدة) وتنظيم ما يسمى بـ(داعش) الإرهابية فيه، الى توفير فرص وتحديات جديدة لها. وزاد الفراغ الاستراتيجي الناجم عن إحتلال العراق الفرصة الذهبية (لإسرائيل) لإختراق كردستان العراق من خلال التركيز على تصميم وتنفيذ خططها الاستراتيجية فضلا عن مصالحها الجيوسياسية مع الأخذ بنظر الاعتبار موقع الإقليم الجغرافي الذي يمثل القلب الجيوسياسي لمخططات إسرائيل. فالعلاقة بين إسرائيل والأكراد هي امتداد للسياسة الخارجية الإسرائيلية واستراتيجيتها للأمن القومي في الشرق الأوسط من أجل الخروج من العزلة وتوسيع وجودها في المنطقة. وبناء على ذلك شرعت إسرائيل الى الوجود المباشر في الإقليم عن طريق الأنشطة الاقتصادية والاجتماعية فيه، ساعية الى الحصول على حليف إستراتيجي جديد في الشرق الأوسط، لذلك حددت إسرائيل الأقلية الكردية كحليف في بيئتها العدائية إذ أقامت روابط معها.

Consistency and inconsistency in the foreign policy of the Republic of South Africa towards Israel

AbstractThe subject of South Africa‐Israel relations has always been a considerable scholarly topic that is amongst the ongoing academic and policy makers' debates. This is because of the uncertainties and confusion that exists in South Africa's foreign policy stance on Israel in the contemporary period. In this secondary data‐based research article, the author analyses the historical relations between South Africa and Israel with Palestine in question. The central aim is to analyse the consistencies and inconsistencies historically and contemporarily shown by South Africa's foreign policy towards Israel. The article looked at the pre‐and post‐apartheid governments' foreign policy positions. The author argued that there is no gainsaying that South Africa had good relations with Israel during apartheid. These relations only became unstable when South Africa adopted democracy, but scholars still observe a lot of uncertainties on South Africa's Israeli foreign policy stance, particularly in the context of Palestine in question. This is especially in economic and political links which still exist between the two countries. Afrocentricity as a theoretical lens has been adopted. The results show that whilst the pre‐democratic apartheid government enjoyed good relations with Israel; the new democratic government has continuously had unstable relations with Israel. The article concluded that whilst the African National Congress (ANC) government is policy conflicted on relations with Israel; it though enjoys economic engagement with their so‐called internationally condemned apartheid Israel. The initial recommendation made was that the new democratic ANC government should make a firm policy stance on Israel to clear any policy confusion.

The star and the scepter: a diplomatic history of Israel

Surprisingly few books have been written, especially in English, on Israeli foreign policy and diplomatic history. This may be a function of the academic and policy focus on specific national security issues, especially those caused by Iran, the Arab–Israeli conflict, Palestine and relations with the United States, regarding all of which much ink has been spilled. It may be due as well to the historical overshadowing in Israel of diplomacy (and of the Foreign Ministry), by military and security affairs and the pre-eminence of the defence establishment. In Israel, many of those activities which in other countries fall under the purview of foreign ministries are handled by the Defence Ministry, the defence forces (IDF) and the intelligence services. In any case, diplomacy is too often given short shrift in Israel and in the study of Israel. Emmanuel Navon's book contributes to closing that gap. Navon tries to place Israeli foreign...

Israeli foreign policy since the end of the Cold War

Israeli foreign policy since the end of the Cold War

Employing digital diplomacy in foreign policy: Israel as a model ‫

Employing digital diplomacy in foreign policy: Israel as a model ‫

First Among the Nations? A Cautionary against Triumphalism in Israeli Foreign Policy

“Destruction is preceded by pride; a haughty spirit comes before the fall”(Proverbs, 16:18)Anchored in traditional texts, Judaism offers its own timeless political counsel against what ancient Gree...

Review of Uri Bialer, &lt;em&gt;Israeli Foreign Policy: A People Shall Not Dwell Alone&lt;/em&gt;

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...

Developing Sino- Israeli Relations in the Post-Cold War Era: Analyzing Desecuritization Scenarios for Iran

An important feature of Israel's foreign policy in the post-Cold War era has been development of relations with emerging powers, including China. The importance of the economic component in the foreign policy of both countries, China's efforts to achieve the status of a great power, and Israel's strategies to improve its global image and regional position have brought the two countries' relations into a form of comprehensive cooperation in the post-Cold War era. Describing the relations between the two countries in the political, military and economic spheres and acknowledging the impact of China and Israel's behavior patterns on national and regional security of Iran the article seeks to answer the following questions : What are the indicators of the development of China-Israel relations in the post-Cold War era? What are the consequences of these relations for Iran? From this article's point of view, the development of China-Israel relations in all areas has been on an upward trajectory and hence have substantial implications at the national (threatening China-Iran relations in the field of energy and weakening Iran-China military relations and enfeebling Iran's position in the Silk Road project), regional (changing the balance to the detriment of Iran, Iran's containment and normalization of Arab-Israeli relations) and international levels (China's accompanying pressures on Iran, Israel's use of China's capacity in international institutions and efforts to legitimizing and reinforcing the notion of Iran's threat and continuing Iranophobia) for Iran's security.

Implikasi Perjanjian Damai Terhadap Aksi Intifadah Hamas

&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt; &lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p class="06IsiAbstrak"&gt;&lt;span lang="EN-GB"&gt;This study aims to explain how the implications of the peace agreement as Israel's strategy in reducing the Hamas intifadah action. The discussion in this study is limited to the peace agreement between Israel and the PLO known as the 1993 Declaration of Principles and the intifadah movement in 1987. This research is a qualitative study with a literature study through books, journals, and articles. This study is based on thinking which explains that as a rational actor, the state in taking foreign policy always calculates the cost and benefit. In its foreign policy, the ruling government uses the "optimization of results" criteria. Or in other words, Israel's foreign policy focuses on emphasizing the country's national interests. This rationale influenced Israel's foreign policy, which was to accept a peace agreement with the PLO to reduce the intifadah movement carried out by Hamas. And this policy provides optimal results for the state of Israel.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

Israel and Lebanon: Relations Under Stress

This article provides an analysis of the course of Israeli-Lebanese relations and its purpose is to shed light on the contacts between the Maronites in Lebanon and the State of Israel. It argues that the primary reason for the Maronites’ willingness to cooperate with the Jews was the fear that the rising tide of Arab nationalism in Lebanon would have adverse effects on their survival as a religious minority. Moreover, it demonstrates that these contacts laid the background for cooperation between the two communities which survived the vicissitudes of the Lebanese civil wars and still plays a role in Israeli foreign policy.

Gaza 2014 and Mizraḥi Feminism

AbstractWhat is the relationship between Mizraḥi feminism and Israeli ultranationalism? What is the relevance of gender justice activism to Operation Protective Edge (the 2014 Gaza War) and Israel's foreign policy? Mizraḥi protests dissipate and disappear when the Israel‐Palestine conflict dominates the headlines. This essay connects intra‐Jewish racial and gendered dynamics to the 2014 Gaza War. It tracks sequences that began with social protest and ended with elections that bolstered Israel's political right wing. In between came bloodletting between the Israeli Defense Forces, the Palestinian Authority, and Israel's neighboring Arab states. The 2014 Gaza War was a watershed not only for the Israel‐Palestine conflict; under the smokescreen of war, Israel accelerated neoliberal economic reforms. The first victims of this restructuring were Mizraḥi single mothers. Palestinians, however, would pay the highest price for Israel's Mizraḥi‐Ashkenazi rift.