Israel’s divisive diplomacy

Decades of military occupation have hollowed out Tel Aviv’s foreign ministry

At a time of extreme pressure on Europe’s unity, Israel is sowing further division between member states. Dan Balilty / AP Photo

The final months of 2015 were anything but easy for Israel’s foreign ministry. Having failed to block the US deal with Iran over the country’s nuclear weapons programme, Tel Aviv shifted its sights to the continued diplomatic battle over its occupation of Palestine.

Last August, Israel designated a former West Bank settler leader, Dani Dayan, as ambassador to Brazil. Brasilia swiftly rejected the appointment over Mr Dayan’s coloured history as a leader for the settler enterprise. The quandary continues with Tel Aviv threatening unspecified retribution if Brazil doesn’t accept the appointment. A growing diplomatic rift is also evident between Sweden and Israel over recent comments by Sweden’s foreign minister that Tel Aviv was carrying out “extrajudicial” killings of Palestinians involved in stabbing attacks of Israelis.

Overshadowing these tensions and spats is the fact that the European Union and other powerful countries are exhausted by Israel’s intransigence over the occupation and continuing attempts to block Palestinian statehood. Nowhere is this more evident than a new resolution expected to be passed by the European Union this week that will reaffirm the EU’s differentiation between Israel and the occupied territories.

In response to this relatively benign but important resolution, Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu is attempting to divide the EU by courting a handful of countries seen as supportive of Israeli interests. Mr Netanyahu is asking these countries – named as Hungary, Cyprus, Greece, Bulgaria and the Czech Republic – to block the resolution, arguing that it is unbalanced and biased against Israel.

Nothing could be further from the truth. In the face of continued Israeli settlement building, the EU is implementing a sensible resolution that draws a clear line between Israel and the occupied West Bank. At a time of extreme pressure on Europe’s unity, Israel is sowing further division between member states. This sort of aggressive response is shocking but not surprising. The occupation, it would seem, has hollowed out Israel’s diplomatic skills.