Page 38 - Jewish News_November-2020

38A November 2020 COMMENTARY

The miracle of Israel’s diplomatic breakthroughs

By David Harris, CEO of American Jewish Committee (AJC), September 9, 2020
n the past decade, a number of pun- to Israel could be generously described the subject of Israel’s economic stew- bargo, once a powerful factor, is dead.
dits had talked about Israel’s grow- as lukewarm at best. ardship came up. He asked if we, as Countries that used to believe doing
Iing isolation under Prime Minister As far back as 2016, when asked American Jews, could introduce him to business with Israel meant no Arab
Benjamin Netanyahu – in the words of by an Israeli official to draw conclu- Israeli experts, and kept us for 90 min- markets, know this is no longer the
New York Times columnist Tom Fried- sions from the AJC’s whirlwind meet- utes, far longer than any of us might case. Indeed, many Arab countries,
man, “the most diplomatically inept … ings in New York during UNGA, I have expected. openly or just below the surface, are
government in Israel’s history.” said: “Counterintuitive as it may sound The same eagerness goes for doing booming business with Israel, so
I disagreed at the time. I disagree to some ears, I cannot recall seeing Is- medical breakthroughs, cyber-securi- why should others, in Asia for exam-
today. To the contrary, I have repeat- rael in a stronger position bilaterally ty, defense, counter-terrorism, airport ple, deal themselves out of the game?
edly said that Israel’s diplomatic posi- than it is today.” security, national resilience models, Fifth, the fear of primary, second-
tion globally has been on the upswing. Obviously, each country is a story emergency responses, natural gas, ary and even tertiary boycotts was es-
That’s been proven dramatically in unto itself. But there are certain fac- investments and, perhaps most in- pecially felt among energy importers,
recent weeks, judging from the news tors that apply pretty much across the triguingly of all, the creation of inno- who relied heavily on Arab export-
about the UAE, Serbia, Kosovo and board. vation-based ecosystems. ers. The global energy glut, reflected
Malawi, but the trend began years ago. First, Israel is the quintessential Second, once hostile countries are both in supply and pricing, has total-
I say this not as a card-carrying 21 century country. It’s home to a now compartmentalizing their foreign ly changed the calculus. No country
st
member of the Likud Party or a spokes- vast knowledge industry and entrepre- policies more than in the past. They needs to fear a supply disruption today
person for the prime minister, but as a neurial spirit. This creates technologies may still not necessarily like Israel or because of commerce with Israel.
lifelong friend of Israel and the U.S.- and services needed around the world. its politics a whole lot, but they under- And sixth, Israel is seen by many
Israel relationship, who’s been fortu- When an arid country, Israel, is pre- stand they’re cutting off their noses to as a global powerhouse, with espe-
nate to witness many events firsthand dicted to run out of water as its pop- spite their faces if they define the sum cially strong ties to the United States,
and measure trends longitudinally. ulation swells, and instead becomes a total of their approach towards Israel as well as India, Germany, the United
In 1990, as geopolitics was being water exporter, it has something to of- through policy differences. Kingdom, Central and Eastern Europe,
upended by the collapse of the Soviet fer countries fearful of life-threatening Third, whether they verbalize it Central Asia, Japan, Brazil, Egypt and
bloc, the American Jewish Committee shortages. publicly or not, many now understand many other nations, not to mention
(AJC) began a new global advocacy As one Latin American foreign that they can’t continue to give the Pal- world Jewry.
campaign to encourage support for Is- minister said to us, “Israel has no rain estinians a veto on their attitudes to- As a consequence, in the minds of
rael’s rightful place in the community and yet it has flourishing agriculture. ward Israel. This is most evident in the some, having strong bilateral ties with
of nations. We have plenty of rain and a chronic Arab world, but not only. Israel could potentially yield added
Over time, AJC expanded its ef- water shortage. How can we learn from The Palestinians have been given benefits elsewhere. In my experience,
forts to engage nearly 120 countries, in- Israel?” one chance after another to make peace this factor reveals itself, whether di-
cluding as many as 75-80 alone during In the same vein, we met with a with Israel based on a two-state model, rectly or subtly, rather often.
the 10-day period of the UN General European prime minister, whose coun- starting in 1947. They haven’t. The bottom line is that today, Isra-
Assembly (UNGA) opening each fall. try rarely voted with Israel. Exhaust- Seventy-three years have passed, el has relations with all but a handful
Those countries included some ed by an all-night cabinet meeting to hence a desire to move on with Israel, of countries, and the number continues
which had no diplomatic ties to Israel, discuss budget cuts that could trigger even as rhetorical support for the Pal- to climb. In any given week, at least
some which consistently opposed Isra- street protests, he showed little inter- estinians might be unchanged. pre-Coronavirus, Israeli hotels were
el in UN votes, and some whose links est in seeing our AJC delegation, until Fourth, the Arab economic em- continued on next page

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