Security, diplomacy, and strategic alliances all combine to create the modern state of Israel.
The Jewish state’s security apparatus has been heralded by the Western world. Jerusalem’s diplomatic corps is seasoned, articulate, and stiff-necked when necessary. Her strategic alliances grow, entering arenas never before willing to speak to, let alone align with, Israel.
And yet, in spite of herself, despite her many attributes, her victories, and her world-altering achievements in the areas of science, technology, warfare, and the arts, Israel had been in constant search of international acceptance.
World opinion mattered to Israel, and that search for longing, at times, proved detrimental to the growth and decision-making of one of the world’s most powerful nations.
Israel was founded on a principle of morality and moral legitimacy. In the aftermath of the Holocaust, in a world where it was clear that the Jews needed a safe homeland, Israel was there. Israel was home. Israel was the Jewish haven for Jews from all over the world.
That reality was clear not only to Jews, but it was also understood and accepted by the international community and officially acknowledged by the United Nations.
Israel craves international acceptance
Despite all she had achieved in the relatively short span of her statehood, Israel craved praise and acceptance. A critical blow in the international media was interpreted as a strategic loss. Critique by a world leader was a stab in the heart of Jerusalem.
Israel had been so preoccupied with public relations – hasbara – that, diplomatically speaking, it missed the forest for the trees.
To justify her actions, which were viewed negatively by foreign actors, she launched major media and PR campaigns. Many of those campaigns centered on the activities and actions of the IDF, a defense force renowned for strategic planning and accompanying successes.
In July and August of 2006, in the midst of serious fighting, Israel embarked on a PR barrage to explain the activities of the IDF in Lebanon. The goal was to shape public opinion, especially in the United States and within the European Union.
In July and August of 2014, Israel was assaulted by the slings and arrows of damaging press coverage, resulting in faltering world opinion because of civilian Palestinian deaths in Gaza. And so, they set out to change the narrative.
That precedent had been set years earlier.
Israel entered negotiations and deals that they were skeptical of because they were pressured to join. The Oslo Accords of 1993 are a perfect example. Israel was forced into Oslo to reduce international isolation. It backfired.
In 2003, under the leadership of Ariel Sharon, Israel accepted the Roadmap for Peace – a US-backed plan for a two-state solution. The goal was to help the United States. Four years later, under prime minister Ehud Olmert, Israel participated in a peace conference in Annapolis, Maryland. Jerusalem sent its delegates, knowing full well that they went pro forma.
In Israel, there would be no agreement - but they went, they sat, they listened, they tried to set forth their agenda. And then they returned home empty-handed.
Israel engages in humanitarian assistance around the world. Israeli teams have become a world leader in earthquake and other disaster assistance. They do this because it is the Jewish way. They do it to save lives. And they do it to help improve their image in the world.
Israel so craves the acceptance of their allies that, sometimes, their actions actually go against its own interests. On numerous occasions, settlement building, for example, has been slowed and even frozen at the behest of allies and international friends. All to get positive feedback. All for that diplomatic pat on the back.
Israel has, at long last, matured. The Jewish state has come of age.
The lesson that Israel must do what Israel needs to do, and Israel can do it by playing the media and public relations game rather than chasing after it, has finally been internalized. Israel is using the Iran war as cover for advancing Israel’s goals in Lebanon and in Gaza.
The eyes of the world and the focus of the international media are on Iran. At any other time, in any other year, Israel would have been shaken by the thrashing they are getting from many once-friendly nations for their actions, for the havoc they, in conjunction with the United States, are causing. Today, Israel is impervious to that coverage.
Today, Israel is using media coverage of Iran as cover for the IDF’s activities in Lebanon and Gaza. Were it not for Iran, Israel would be thrashed for their activity in Lebanon, hazed for Gaza.
Sadly, it took the international responses to the October 7 massacre, the vitriol, the vicious antisemitism, the horrors, and the deaths for Israel to mature.
The writer is a columnist and a social and political commentator. Watch his new TV show, Thinking Out Loud, on JBS.