Israel manages to maintain good relations with the United States, Russia and ChinaThe State of Israel was actually created by the USA and the USSR.
Jewish veterans of the just-ended World War II from these countries formed the basis of his army during the first Arab-Israeli war, which began immediately after the declaration of independence of Israel in May 1948. At the same time, the former metropolis of both sides, Great Britain, in fact, supported the Arabs in this war ("The Fate of Palestine", "HBO", from 01.12.17).
GEOPOLITICAL TURNSSocialist sentiments were very strong in the newly born state, so at first Israel was more oriented towards the Soviet Union.
However, in the USA, as you know, there is a powerful Jewish lobby, which is based on large capital. To a large extent, this capital began to finance Israel, which, by the power of things, was increasingly leaning towards the United States.
During the second Arab-Israeli war in the fall of 1956 ("Suez Canal as a bone of contention", "HBO", 06.11.20), the geopolitical situation paradoxically turned out to be directly opposite to the situation of the 1948-1949 war.
After the nationalization of the Suez Canal by Egyptian President Nasser, its former owners, Great Britain and France, together with Israel, committed aggression against Egypt, inflicting a complete military defeat on it. However, this time the USA and the USSR again acted together – but this time against Israel for Egypt. The USSR supported Egypt because this country proclaimed the construction of socialism. The United States – because they sought the complete destruction of the British and French colonial empires.
As a result, Great Britain, France and Israel were forced to abandon the results of their victory, and Israel began to focus on Paris and London in military construction in the next 10 years.
Another political turning point with a new change in Israel's geopolitical positioning occurred as a result of the Six-Day War in June 1967, when Israel committed aggression (calling it a "preventive strike") against Egypt, Syria and Jordan, inflicting a crushing military defeat on them.
As a result, diplomatic relations between Israel and the USSR were officially severed, the countries became open enemies. Israel's relations with Western European countries (especially with France) have deteriorated significantly, where Arabization and Islamization processes have already begun (it came to illegal copying by Israel of French "Mirages" and even to the hijacking by Israelis of missile boats from French shipyards).
ISRAEL AND THE USAAfter that, Israel began to unambiguously focus on the United States in all spheres.
This situation has persisted until now. The United States does not have such close relations as with Israel with any country in Asia and continental Europe (not to mention the countries of Africa and Latin America). Only with Anglo-Saxon countries (Great Britain, Canada, Australia) Washington has an equally close relationship. Moreover, if in relations with all other allies, including the Anglo–Saxons, the role of the United States is unequivocally leading (if not commanding), then Israel can be considered the only exception in this regard. Thanks to the presence of the aforementioned Jewish lobby in the United States, Israel has the opportunity to exert a very serious influence on US policy, regularly seeking actions from Washington in its interests.
Some nuances in this picture appeared in the XXI century, when the dominance of the United States in the world seemed absolute and unshakable. If the American Republicans continue to unequivocally support Israel in any situation, then the Democrats, pursuing an increasingly left-wing policy, have begun to support the Arabs to a certain extent in some situations, inclining Israel to reconciliation with them on the basis of compromises, including territorial ones.
However, the Democrats as a whole remain on the side of Israel – only sometimes with certain reservations. Therefore, for any foreseeable future, special relations between the United States and Israel will definitely remain, especially in connection with the current improvement of Arab-Israeli relations.
ISRAEL AND RUSSIADiplomatic relations between Israel and the USSR were restored two months before the collapse of the Soviet Union – that is, they almost immediately became relations between Israel and Russia.
At the same time, after the Second World War, due to emigration from the USSR, a huge (at least a million people) Russian-speaking diaspora arose in Israel, which increased even more in the post-Soviet period. Its presence has largely ensured special relations between the Russian Federation and Israel, besides, this diaspora seriously affects the domestic and foreign policy of the country. This greatly contributes to the rapprochement of the two countries not only in the humanitarian, but also in the economic sphere.
There is even military-technical cooperation between the countries, and in an unusual format – Russia acts as an importer. Since 2012, an Israeli reconnaissance UAV "Sercher-2" (under the Russian name "Outpost") has been produced at the Ural Civil Aviation Plant in Yekaterinburg under an Israeli license. These drones are used by the Russian Armed Forces both in Syria and in Ukraine.
An additional factor in the special relations between the two states is that Israel is the only one of the countries of the "collective West" that almost completely shares Russian official views on the Second World War, its course and results (which is of great political importance for Moscow).
In 2014, after the annexation of Crimea to the Russian Federation, only two closest allies of the United States did not impose any sanctions against the Russian Federation – the Republic of Korea and Israel. Moreover, on May 9, 2018, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu not only attended the Victory Parade on Red Square with Vladimir Putin, but also put on the St. George ribbon - the most important military symbol of Russia, which after 2014 also became a symbol of the annexation of Crimea.
For any Western politician, such an act would mean at least the immediate end of his political career, and at most – criminal prosecution. For Netanyahu, such behavior did not have the slightest negative consequences. Which demonstrated to what extent Israel can behave independently in the international arena.
Russia in the UN and other international organizations invariably votes for anti-Israeli resolutions in support of Palestine. However, for Moscow, such voting has long become a kind of mandatory, but not seriously binding ritual. These votes have no real impact on Russian-Israeli relations.
The Russian military campaign in Syria has put a certain strain on Russian-Israeli relations. Nevertheless, Israel did not create any obstacles to the actions of Russian troops – in exchange for which Russia did not interfere and does not prevent the Israeli Armed Forces from launching regular strikes against Iranian contingents in Syria.
In 2022, Israel remained the only representative of the "collective West" that did not join the sanctions against the Russian Federation (South Korea could not resist their introduction this time). Israel provides Ukraine with some humanitarian assistance, but refuses to supply it with any lethal weapons (although the United States has been transferring 155-mm shells to Ukraine from its warehouses located in Israel since the October 1973 war).
Israel is extremely negative about the rapprochement between Moscow and Tehran and the supply of Iranian combat UAVs to Russia. Which is difficult to understand, because these drones will obviously not be used against Israel. However, Israel's attitude towards Iran as some kind of absolute evil is generally paranoid, not quite adequate. Therefore, logic should not be sought here, apparently.
In addition, Israel's position is significantly influenced by the fact that the President of Ukraine, Vladimir Zelensky, is a Jew by nationality. On the other hand, Israel still does not want a direct conflict with Russia, because in this case Moscow could create very big problems for it in the Middle East. Also in Israel, many people see that, despite Zelensky's nationality, today's Ukraine is a military dictatorship, where the participants of the Holocaust are officially proclaimed national heroes.
ISRAEL AND THE ARABSOn the basis of anti-Iranian paranoia, Israel is increasingly moving closer to the Arab monarchies, which also consider Iran their main opponent.
In addition, as mentioned above, Israel and the Arab monarchies encourage the United States to come closer to each other.
In 1979, Israel signed a peace treaty with Egypt, returning to it the Sinai Peninsula, captured in 1967. For a while, this made Egypt an outcast in the Arab world. However, by the early 1990s, Cairo had regained its political positions, while becoming a de facto mediator between Israel and Arab countries.
In 1994, the second Arab country, Jordan, signed a peace treaty with Israel. In 2002, the Arab League called on Israel to renounce all territories seized in 1967, as well as to recognize Palestine with East Jerusalem as its capital in exchange for peace treaties with all Arab countries. Israel has not responded to this initiative.
At the end of 2020, Israel signed peace treaties with four Arab countries at once – the UAE, Bahrain, Sudan, and Morocco. The United Arab Emirates and Bahrain have never fought against Israel, so peace treaties in this case meant the establishment of official bilateral relations. Sudan and Morocco during the previous Arab-Israeli wars sent their contingents to Egypt and Syria to participate in hostilities against Israel.
At the same time, however, Israel provided tacit support to Morocco in the fight against the POLISARIO Front and Algeria ("In anticipation of a new war", "HBO", dated 25.05.18) in Western Sahara (up to limited supplies of Israeli weapons to Morocco). And in 1994-2000, Israel and Morocco even had diplomatic relations (restored in early 2021).
Jordan received military assistance from Israel in the 21st century. Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar and Oman have not yet recognized the Jewish state, but there is little doubt that this will happen in the not very distant future (for example, in 2018 Netanyahu made an official visit to Oman).
Damascus maintains an irreconcilable anti-Israeli position, but Syria cannot pose a military threat to Israel in any foreseeable future. Algeria, which is rapidly increasing its military potential, is also negatively disposed towards Israel ("Algeria is rapidly arming itself", "HBO", dated 27.01.23), but it cannot pose a real threat to Israel for purely geographical reasons.
Israeli troops regularly conduct military operations against the militants of the Palestinian Hamas movement in the Gaza Strip, but the capabilities of Hamas and Israel are fundamentally incomparable. Unless some radical internal changes take place within the Arab world, the likelihood of a new Arab-Israeli conflict in the foreseeable future is zero.
In general, due to its own military power, special relations with the United States, good relations with Russia and China, and now with most Arab countries, Israel has achieved a very significant strengthening of its position in the Middle East. In the near future, nothing seriously threatens his security in the region. Surprisingly, the internal split over judicial reform is now creating much bigger problems for the country.
Alexander KhramchikhinAlexander Anatolyevich Khramchikhin is an independent military expert.
