Page 50 - bne IntelliNews monthly magazine November 2024

50 Opinion bne November 2024
Israeli President Isaac Herzog (left) with his Serbian counterpart Aleksander Vucic during his first visit to Belgrade. / Predsedništvo Srbije / Dimitrije Goll COMMENT
Is the Balkan region Israel’s newfound
interest? Fuad Shahbazov in Durham
Israeli President Isaac Herzog concluded his historic first visit to Albania in September, shortly after his first-ever trip to Serbia, where both sides agreed to deepen bilat- eral cooperation amid Israel's extending military campaign against Hamas and Hezbollah in southern Lebanon. Although the recent intensive diplomatic dialogue between Israel and Balkan states is gaining more impetus, it is not a new phenom- enon. In the last five years, much has been done to ensure Israel’s expanding diplomatic, security, and economic ties with the Balkans, particularly with Albania and Serbia.
In light of the worsening geopolitical tensions in the Middle East after the Hamas attack on Israel in October 2023 and Israel’s large-scale military campaign in Gaza and southern Lebanon, Tel Aviv sought to build new alliances and partner- ships at a critical time. Hence, Israel's kinship in building security ties with Serbia is essential, given its well-established defence industry in the Balkan region.
For example, recently, independent sources confirmed that since October 2023, shortly after Israel launched the Gaza campaign
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against Hamas, Serbian military aircraft carrying weaponry and ammunition landed in Israel, with additional similar flights in February, March and May. Reportedly, Serbia’s main state-owned arms trader, Yugoimport-SDPR, exported arms to Israel worth €14mn in March 2024, ignoring the calls of the United Nations to halt arms exports to Israel to prevent further civilian death tolls in the Gaza Strip. The most recent data suggest that as of September 2024, Serbia has sent over $25.6mn worth of weapons to Israel since the start of the Gaza war.
For Serbia, strengthening military ties with Israel is a viable option for fostering relations with the West, which unilater- ally supports Israel's military campaign, referring to its right to self-defence against terrorism. However, the mounting criticism and isolationism of Israel amid devastating civilian casualties in Gaza and the most recent incursion into Leba- non could have long-term ramifications for Serbia. Therefore, Belgrade put enormous efforts into maintaining a relatively neutral position regarding the current war, avoiding making any anti-Palestinian statement, though it ruled out the possi- bility of ceasing arms supply to Israel.