Seth made an excellent point yesterday about the irreconcilability of Israeli and European visions of the two-state solution. I’d like to add a linguistic corollary: Israel and its supporters need to eliminate the phrase “Israel’s best friends in Europe” from their lexicon with regard to Germany, Britain, France and their ilk. This is not just a matter of semantics. Aside from the insult to Israel’s one real friend in Europe, the emotional baggage this phrase carries is seriously warping the Israeli-European relationship.
Just consider the events of the past week, following Europe’s decision to support (or at least not oppose) the Palestinians’ UN bid and Israel’s decision to move forward on planning and zoning approvals for construction in E-1, the corridor linking Jerusalem and Ma’aleh Adumim. Europeans are outraged; they feel betrayed. They thought they had an understanding with Israel that it would let the UN vote pass quietly; they felt Israel was being ungrateful for their backing during its recent Gaza operation and their imposition of stiff sanctions on Iran. Israel is also outraged; it feels betrayed. It thought it had an understanding with the Europeans that they would oppose (or at least not support) the UN bid; it felt Europe was being unappreciative of the many concessions it has made to the Palestinians, from an unprecedented 10-month settlement freeze through various measures to bolster the Palestinian Authority’s finances. In short, this isn’t a diplomatic dispute; it’s a lover’s quarrel–which is precisely why it escalated so rapidly and hysterically into threats of sanctions.
Now contrast this with the response of dozens of non-European countries that also supported the UN bid and oppose settlement construction. Has anyone heard any sanctions threats coming from China or India, for instance? Of course not. And that’s precisely because Israel’s bilateral relations with those countries are based on interest, not an imagined friendship. The mutual interests (mainly economic) are extensive, and both sides are eager to pursue them. But it’s strictly a business relationship; neither side expects anything of the other beyond that. Israel knows China and India will vote against it in every possible forum; China and India know Israel won’t take their views into account when determining its foreign and defense policies. And since neither side expects anything more, they don’t get upset over it.
But the term “friendship” immediately creates expectations. You expect your friends to take your wishes and interests into account, and you feel upset and betrayed when they don’t. And precisely because Israel and its supporters have been referring to Britain, Germany, France and co. for so long as “Israel’s best friends in Europe,” they get upset when they feel Israel isn’t treating them that way, and Israel gets upset when they don’t act that way.
So it’s time to eliminate the emotional baggage. Britain, France and Germany are much better than, say, Ireland and Norway, but they aren’t friends. Like China and India, they’re countries with whom Israel has many mutual interests worth pursuing, but both sides need to accept that they will often disagree–and they need to start doing it like adults.
And if anyone feels an emotional need for a “best friend in Europe,” Israel actually has a real one, with a consistent, decades-old record: the sole European country to vote with Israel at the UN last week, which was also the sole country to buck a worldwide arms embargo 64 years ago and supply Israel with desperately needed planes during its War of Independence. So could we please stop insulting the Czech Republic by lumping it in the same semantic category as Germany, France and Britain?
Too bad we shall never know who paid what to which nation for their vote. n n
Evelyn nails it every time!!! and france was never "israel's best friend" anyway.
France was best friend actually, but only till 1966 – since then, it has been in the vanguard of pro-arab sentiment
Europe is the enemy. Always has been since the 4th century. Everything else is just handwringing and footnotes.
1945 to early 1948, Soviet Union was a Friend. Then, there were 18 years of friendship with France, and since 1967 the friendship with the US. Germany has always been an economic, rather than a military friend.
Czechoslovakia could only support Israel with munitions and planes in 1948 because Uncle Joe Stalin briefly favored Israel over the pro-western Arab monarchs. Meanwhile the US enforced an arms boycott against Israel at that time. But history indicates that a nation that must dwell alone will have few if any permanent friends, so maybe a time will come when Israel shall have to consider an alternative to the increasingly troubled alliance with Hussein's America. Certainly, offering the Chinese or Russians a warm water navel base in the Mediterranean would shake things up.
It's not about a warm water naval base – Russians already have it in Syria, and if Chinese wanted one in Egypt, Morsi would oblige immediately. No – between 1945 and Mid 48 Soviet Union recognized correctly, that the Yishuv will win the War of Independence, if it got military support. Soviet Union intended to use Israel's creation as a wedge issue for the – at that time – largely monarchic Arab governments. Once Soviet Union was sure that Israel will win, it stopped military assistance and switched sides politically. At that point, no-one from the Arabs was asking Soviet Union for military support, that came later, in early 50s. nFrance was a different story – it wanted more than one anti-Arab front, so it supported Israel right through the entire war of Independence, the Suez war, and a year or so before the 6 days war. nWith the US – once it saw that Israel could defend itself efficiently against the materially vastly superior Soviet client states, it thought – what a wonderful idea to have a 2nd front against Soviet influence, where our side actually wins. Unlike the quagmire in Indochina… n nBy the way, Israel historically had never permanent friends. The key was rather which allies to chose. The 1st Exile came about because of the miscalculation of the potential strength of Babylon vs Egypt. Most of the Judean government at the time was pro-Egypt, and only outliers like Yirmiyahu, Baruch and Yechezkel were pro-Mesopotamic. n nIn the Maccabi wars, Israel aligned itself correctly with the Romans against the Syro-Mesopotamic Hellenists, and won the wars. n nThe second exile – according to Bernhard Lewis – was primarily brought on through Persians funding the Zealots against the Romans.
"…both sides need to accept that they will often disagree–and they need to start doing it like adults." n nWhen will we apply this to the United States, instead of flapping gums about "no daylight" and such?
Man, it's tough to try to engage in rational dialogue with folks who have a diametrically opposed view of how a country should be run. Our Dear Leader hasn't really set a good example of how to do this, in my humble opinion.
The People of America yes…..the government not so much.
And out from under his rock pops the nasty old anti-semite, who misread the article. It wasn't saying that countries should not be friends with Israel. It was saying that the Europeans are not, in fact, friends, with Israel. The US is still, despite Obama and the nasty old anti-semite's fervent wishes, a friend of Israel.
Good article – nice insight! Belated, and deserved, praise for the Czech Republic. n n nIn view of european condescending attitudes, and europeans' horrendous history of sorrowful slaughter of Jewish individuals, I would not term the europe – Israei relationship as a "lovers' quarrel"; rather, i would place it in the context of a "battered woman syndrome". n n nThe woman can never please the abusive husband/boyfriend, no amount of concession to the bully's demands will change the lack of respect in the relationship. And woe to the woman if she dare to violate the bully's feelings whether or not she was aware of the potential consequences. She must remain completely subservient, and never mistake permission for anything as an upgrade of her lowly, serf status. n n nAlas, such is the relationship that little Israel, besieged by bullies worldwide, and beset by stupid, weak, street-dumb, naive, arrogant liberals from within Israel and from within the Jewish community worldwide, suffers with europe, united states, and almost every other country on this earth. n n nIsrael will only command respect when it, first, behaves with undeniable self-respect. Until that day happens, nothing will change.
well, the right wing governments in power now are a start on this. Menachem Begin was the first to show them the finger (just ask Biden) and Netanyahu's team (not totally sure about him) are showing Europe the finger too. More power to them!
The EU is genetically antisemitic. Only a mutation affecting the whole of Europe can change the situation. This will never happen. The Jews who insist on staying do it at their own perils.