Israel has been a force for compromise and peace in the region
IN PAST decades, a recurring theme in Israel’s relations with the United States and Europe has been the assertion that Israel must be restrained by its allies in the West, or it will crack down on human rights or launch wars against its neighbours.
This talking point was particularly true during the Obama years, when Israel was presented as a regional troublemaker in need of “tough love”.
But rather than fuelling crises, Israel has become an anchor of stability. Instead of launching wars against terror groups like Hamas, it has been restrained. This is not because of US pressure, which largely ended under the Trump administration, but because left to its own devices, Israel prefers peace. It seeks to be an innovation hub, not a conflict centre.
The last half century of Israel’s relations with the US and western countries has been a rollercoaster ride in which Israel was often seen as required to make concessions to end a conflict that was the source of the Middle East’s problems. This narrative – that solving the Palestinian issue would solve all the other problems of the Middle East – was presented as a totem of thinking about the region. After the Cold War, the pressure grew on Israel to “solve” the conflict. It turned out that a two-state solution, the end goal of peacemaking, was far more complex than “peace processers” thought. However, the crises of wars in Libya, Yemen, Iraq and Syria have shown that Israel may not be the priority in peacemaking.
Back in 2007, the authors of the notorious Israel Lobby and US Foreign Policy argued that Israel’s policies and US national interests were not a good fit. Israel was presented as supporting war mongering against Iran and other countries. We now know, given four years of evidence under the Trump administration, that an Israel that has a blank cheque to carry out military operations in Syria and beyond will not in fact launch new wars. Israel received support for military operations against Iran in Syria during the Trump administration, a policy that US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, Syria Envoy James Jeffrey and National Security Advisor John Bolton particularly supported.
By January 2019, Israel had carried out 1,000 airstrikes against Iranian targets in Syria. More airstrikes, alleged to be by
Israel, take place every month. Israel was also accused of air raids in
Iraq and of targeting
Iranian tankers at sea.
However, none of these operations have resulted in a major regional war. Quite the opposite: when tensions